Nationality Word Endings

Nationality word endings pelmanism and snap

 

Instructions for teachers

Cut up one set of cards per group of 2 or 3 students. Take out the section titles. Decide which sections from below you want to practise and then decide if you want to leave out any cards, for example countries that they might not have heard of or the trick cards.

Shuffle the cards and give out one pack to each group. Before you try any of the games, it is good to ask students to put the cards in columns by ending of the nationality word. If they get stuck, you can give out the column heading cards and/ or tell them how many cards are in each column. Then can then check with a copy of the worksheets.

Note that in all the activities it is only the ending of the nationality words which means that the words match, it doesn’t matter what is cut off the country word before the ending is added, changed in the country word before the ending is added, etc. 

 

Nationality word card games

Nationality word endings pelmanism

Students spread the cards out face down and take turns trying to find pairs of words which take the same ending when they are converted into nationality adjectives. If they are wrong, they put the cards back in the same place and play passes to the next person. They do the same round and round their group until all the remaining cards don’t match or the teacher stops the game.

 

Country and nationality words snap

Students deal out all the cards but don’t look at the words they have been given. They take turns turning over one card from the top of their pack and placing it on the table. If the nationality adjectives of the place on the last card and of the place on the previous card take the same ending, students race to shout “Snap”. If they do match, the first person who shouted “Snap” can take all the cards that are face up on the table. If they shout “Snap” when the last two words actually need different endings, they don’t win the cards and have to give two cards to the other players as a punishment.

 

After they have finished the game(s), students can write the nationality words for each country down and/ or test each other by:

• Reading out a nationality word and seeing if their partner can make the country word
• Reading out a country word and seeing if their partner can make the nationality word
• Reading out a nationality word ending and helping their partner say as many examples of adjectives with that ending as they can, giving their partner hints like first letters and locations of suitable countries if needed

 

 

Cards to cut up/ Suggested answers

-(i/e)an	-ish	-i
Belgium	Spain	Pakistan
Germany	UK	Iraq
India	GB	Israel
Norway	England	Kuwait
Canada	Scotland	Oman
Russia	Ireland	Qatar
Mongolia	Turkey	Somalia
Argentina	Poland	Yemen
Australia	Sweden	-ch
Austria	Denmark	France
Brazil	Finland	Holland
Egypt	-ese	-k sound
Indonesia	China	Greece

 

 

Korea	Japan	Czech Republic/ Czechia
Italy	Vietnam	Iceland
Peru	Portugal	Greenland
South Africa	Taiwan	trick ones
Singapore	Burma	Thailand
Ukraine	Lebanon	Wales
Georgia	Malta	Cyprus
Croatia	Senegal	New Zealand
USA	Sudan	Switzerland