Teaching Children By Using Games

TEACHING CHILDREN BY USING GAMES

Why use Games in Class Time?

·        Games are fun and children like to play them. Through games children experiment, discover, and interact with their environment. (Lewis, 1999)

·        Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language. For many children between 4-12 years old, especially the youngest, language learning will not be the key motivational factor. Games can provide this stimulus. (Lewis, 1999)

·        The game context makes the foreign language immediately useful to the children. It brings to the target language to life. (Lewis, 1999)

·        The game makes the reason for speaking plausible even to reluctant children. (Lewis, 1999)

·        Through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn the mother tongue without being aware they are studying; thus without stress, they can learn lot.

·        Even shy students can participate positively.

How to Chose Games (Tyson, 2000)

·         A game must more than just fun.

·         A game should involved “friendly” competition.

·         A game should keep all of the students involved and interested.

·         A game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather than on the language itself.

·         A game should gives students a chance to learn, practice, or review specific language material.

General Benefits of Games

Affective:

-          lowers affective filter

-          encourages creative and spontaneous use of language

-          promotes communicative competence

-          motivates

-          fun

Cognitive:

-          reinforces

-          reviews and extends

-          focuses on grammar communicatively

Class Dynamics:

-          students centered

-          teacher acts only as facilitator

-          builds class cohesion

-          fosters whole class participation

-          promotes healthy competition

Adaptability

-          easily adjusted for age, level and interests

-          utilizes all four skills

-          requires minimum preparation

Using Word Games in the ESL classroom

Instruction to the English teacher

These games are a fun way to spend the last30 minutes of a lesson, or to celebrate the end of a course.

Word Association

Start with a word. One by one go around the class and ask the students to say another English word that they think links to the previous word. (e. g. If you begin with ‘car, the next bus might be ‘bus’, and then ‘train’ and so on). Write down the words on the board. If a student hesitates for too long, uses a word that has already been used or calls out a word that does not really fit with the previous one, they are out of the game. The next person can then picks a new topic and starts with a word of their choosing. Continue the process until there is just one student left.

A-Z

Write the alphabet out on the board. Pick a topic and start with a word beginning with A (e. g. topic animals- first word aardvark). Go round the class and ask for another animal beginning with B (badger) and so on, write down the words next to the letter on the board. The students could use their dictionaries for this game. If a student hesitates for too long or can not think of a word, they are out of the game. Sometimes there may not be a word X/ Y/ Z etc. leave a blank for these words.

Bingo

Use numbers, letters of the alphabet, or word families: furniture, fruits, sports, jobs, colors, actions.

Memory

Put 10 everyday objects on a tray. Say what they are in English, cover them. Can our child remember what's there and tell us in English? We can also use photos from magazines or newspapers of different word families.

I-Spy

Say that you are thinking of something beginning with a letter. Your child has to guess what it is.
Example. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with W." "Is it water?" "No." "Is it Window?" "Yes!"

Twenty Questions

Think of an object or animal. Our child has to ask questions to find out what it is.
Example: "Is it big?" "No." "Is it very small?" "No." etc…

Definition Game

Give our child a definition, they have to guess what we have defining.
Example: "It is very big and it has a long nose." "Is it an elephant?" "Yes!"

Treasure Hunt

Our child has to find the things, or follow the clues we have written in English.

Swap a letter

Start with a four or five letter word and then go around the class and ask the students to say another English word to uses all the letters of the main word (they can move the letters around). If a student hesitates for too long or can not think of a word, they are out of game. The next student then starts with another word.

How many words?

Start with a long word and then go around the class and ask the students to make up new words that use some of the letters of the main word (they can move the letters around). See how many words they can make. We need to prepare this in advancing, use in online anagram finder to get an idea of how many words can be made.