Language Resource Center
Kutztown University
Kutztown, PA 19530
T 484-646-5865
F 610-683-4618
lrc@kutztown.edu
http://www.kutztown.edu/Language
ResourceCenter
Taboorades
2015 World Languages Meet
Description:
Taboorades is a mixture of the games Taboo and Charades. It requires the interactional communication skill of
circumlocution and paralinguistic use of body language. Students can use associated vocabulary, descriptions,
body language and examples that are not listed on the card as “taboo,”, to try to get their teammates to guess
the main word.
Rules for Taboorades:
The objective of this game is to make one’s team members say the target word or phrase by means of paraphrasing, other forms of circumlocution, or body language without using any of the “taboo” words.
1. First member of team A picks a “taboo” card and silently reads the target word/phrase and the two other
related “taboo” words/phrases.
2. Without saying the target word/phrase or “taboo” words/phrases out loud, the team member describes the
target word using the target language or body language.
3. You may not point to the item.
4. You may not draw or write the item on a piece of paper.
5. You may not use words from any other language than your language of competition.
6. Only team members may help guess the word or phrase. (No supervisor, teacher, parent, volunteer or
audience member may assist).
7. You may not use forms of the actual word (e.g., slow for slowly).
8. Once the word has been guessed by members of team A, team B will then pick a card and begin their turn.
Scoring Procedures:
30 seconds or less: team will be awarded 5 points.
60 seconds or less: team will be awarded 2 points.
More than 60 seconds: team will be awarded 0 points.
Any violation of the rules above will forfeit the turn and the team will be awarded 0 points.
Hints for Success:
The vocabulary is common everyday words that can be described or acted out: no abstract words. Here are
some ways to practice the necessary skills:
• Create vocabulary clouds: when learning vocabulary, brainstorm related vocabulary students already know.
• Practice playing at your school: create your own taboo cards using vocabulary you have been studying.
• Have students define new vocabulary in the target language.
• Look up target language definitions in dictionaries and synonyms / antonyms in a thesaurus.