Games in English Classroom 王默君 June 2007

ESL games ideas in : Joel Bacha's Curriculum Guide Book Heather Tanaka's downloadable "Big Blue Book“Curriculum Guide BookBig Blue Book Shelley Vernon “ English Language Games English Language Games

Why English Language Games are essential in a teacher's toolbox? Many people think using English language games in the ESL/TEFL classroom is a trivial time-filler, but teachers experienced in using the right types of games will tell you otherwise.

Why People Do not Like Games? Lloyd Rieber, author of Seriously Considering Play: People view work as respectable and play as easy – even though many of the things we "play" are actually quite difficult (such as chess, sports and music). This is why many people balk at the thought of pupils playing games in the classroom – it is not respectable or rigorous enough to be useful.

How Pupils Benefit From English Language Games? 1. Using games can help students tap into different learning styles (or intelligences) such as visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, naturalistic, and intrapersonal.

2. Games require children to interact and speak with each other. They have to negotiate rules, take turns and correct and challenge each other.' This helps your pupils use and improve their thinking, problem solving, listening and speaking skills.

What Types of Games are Best and Why? Sally Flood, in her article All Play and More Work highlights four components of successful games: 1.competitive elements to engaging content 2. Reward 3. Objective relevant content 4. The needed motivation

. What kinds of games work best? Don't just pick something to be a "time filler" that does not have any linguistic purpose.

Think about these questions : *Which skills do the games practice? *What type of game is it and what is its purpose? *Does the difficulty level of the game match the students' ability level? *Does the game require maximum involvement by the students? *Do the students like it? Do you like it?

*What specific vocabulary or grammar are you introducing or practising with this game? *Can you keep control of your class and play this game? *What materials do you need for the game and can you obtain these easily? *What controls, if any are needed, will you have in place to ensure the children are on track? * Are the rules easy and clear?

*Competition is not always appropriate. Can you play a game for the sake of the game and not in order to define winners and losers?

Some ways play down competition: Some ways play down competition: -Do not keep score all the time. -Make sure the teams tie. -Play down any "winning“. Praise everyone. -Play until everyone has finished - the winners are those who finish, not those who finish first, and everyone finishes. Etc.

Make Learning Fun! Teaching English games address these problems: *Games make learning fun so your class and children are willing participants. *Students pay more attention because they are enjoying themselves, so they do better, they feel better about themselves, and do EVEN better. *Playing a game has a purpose to it, an outcome, and in order to play students have to say things.

*Games stimulate and motivate children to new levels. If they do not pay attention,they will not be able to play the games well, and they will let their team down, so they make more effort to join in and learn as much as possible. *Students get to use the language all the time during the games *Repetition is the mother of skill, it can be BORING, but thanks to these games it is FUN.

* If you use games to revise two or three topics every lesson, as well as teach the new language, imagine how well your kids will do at exam time, and how proud you will feel. If you throw in a game with movement you will prevent kids from getting restless and bored. *Games allows all students, including the less good ones, to gain in confidence.

*You do not need many materials to play games. *You can easily control the class by switching to calming games when you need to calm everyone down or throw in an exciting game when you want to pick up the pace.

Bad games: - Complex or big amounts of materials - Arts and crafts type activities – they are too time-consuming - Complicated rules to learn - Preparation time

EFL Games sharing 低中高年級通用 : 1.Write the word-circle the word-erase the word on the board. 黑板寫圈擦 2. Alphabet/ Vocabulary Bingo ( 聽 ) 3. Phonics Bingo ( 聽 ) 4. Tic-tac-toe: “May I help you?”“ I want an apple.” ( 說 + 聽 + 讀 )

5. Musical chair 大風吹 game 1) Walk around vocabs (ABC)cards in music, say the word beside your foot when music stops. 6.遠離鯊魚(bomb) ( 說 ) 7.Card game: 心臟病 (alphabet)(數字1—20), (12 months) 8.Matching game 吃掉相同卡 9.Swap 拍拍樂

中高年級 1. 單字變型蟲 : “desk” ~ “kdse” ( 寫 ) 2. 單字接龍 ( 寫 ) 3. 精忠報國 ( 寫 ) 4. 傳聲筒 ( 說 ) - body part, clothes 5. TPR—what time is it? (說) 6. London Bridge Is Falling Down+老師抽字卡問單字 7. Twister 8. Jeopardy 9. Treasure hunt 10.比手畫腳 11. 拼字接力 12.Board game: 大富翁. 摘水果. 爬格子.

13. 買菜 ( 點餐 ): 2 組字卡貼黑板 兩邊, “ May I take your order?” “Yes, I want an egg, please.” 看 哪 1 組最快拿完卡 ( 說 ) 14. Musical Chair Game 2)Lunch Time: 同組學生圍圈環坐, 每人分到 1 張字卡, 全組問 “It”: “May I help you?” “Yes, I’d like to have a hamburger.” “hamburger” 起立. 學生持續問 “May I help you?” It 繼續點餐好幾樣食物. 最後大喊 : “Lunch time!” 大家搶位子. 沒搶到的當 “It”. Optional themes: “What are you doing?” --- “Mommy is back!” “Where are you from?” ----“Go abroad!”

Just can’t wait for more fun!