A terrific tag game that will get your students’ hearts and minds racing!

Game Type: Physical Education

Recommended Ages: 8+

Number Of Players: Whole class

Equipment Required: Nil

Where To Play: Outdoors (Ideally a large open space)

Duration: 10 minutes

Language Note

Coupe is French for cut. Get your students’ French vocabulary started and enjoy the inexplicable joy of finding a teachable moment in the most unlikely of places.

Objective

The objective of Coupe as the chaser is to tag another player, simple!

How To Play

Step One: Identify the boundaries of the game and choose one person to be the chaser. All the other students spread out around the game area.

Step Two: Play begins when you blow the whistle. The chaser must choose another player to chase and tag, they are the target. Hint: It is useful to quickly explain the difference between a tag and a push to ensure safe play.

Step Three: This is the fun part. Imagine there is an invisible string between the chaser and the target. If another player runs between these two and says ‘coupe’, it is as if they have cut the string and the chaser must tag this new player as they become the new target. Hint: Encourage your students to say ‘coupe’ nice and loud so that all the other players can hear.

Step Four: The chaser can not tag any other player except the one who cut the string and said ‘coupe’. This can happen repeatedly so the person being chased can change continually.

Step Five: Note that if a player runs between the chaser and the target but does not say ‘coupe’, they do not become the new target. They must say ‘coupe’.

Variation

So Frenchy, So Chic: Add a little extra French. The chaser becomes the predateur (pronounced pred-a-tur) or predator. The target becomes the proie  (pronounced pwa) or prey.

 

Credit

Thank you to Simon Bragg for teaching me this great tag game!

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