Resource centre - Young Learners - Learning games
Teaching English grammar can be hard going - for the teacher and the students. It doesn't have to be difficult or painful, however. You can teach English grammar using fun learning games and before you know it your students will be more than willing. Shelley Vernon shows us how...
How does it work, you ask. Well, there has been a movement away from the
traditional methods of teaching English grammar through writing, rewriting and
worksheets to using a more active approach through games. Researchers have also
begun to look at how and why these new methods work.
Four sound reasons to teach grammar with games
1. Arif Saricoban and Esen Metin, authors of "Songs, Verse and Games for
Teaching Grammar" explain how and why games work for teaching grammar in an ESL
classroom. They say, "Games and problem-solving activities, which are task-based
and have a purpose beyond the production of correct speech, are the examples of
the most preferable communicative activities." They go on to explain that
grammar games help children not only gain knowledge but be able to apply and use
that learning.
2. Additionally, games have the advantage of allowing the students to "practice
and internalise vocabulary, grammar and structures extensively." They can do
this because students are often more motivated to play games than they are to do
desk work. Plus, during the game, the students are focused on the activity and
end up absorbing the language subconsciously. One can also add that fun learning
games usually contain repetition, which allows the language to stick.
3. While games are motivating for the students, probably the best reason,
according to Saricoban and Metin, to use games is that "the use of such
activities both increases the cooperation and competition in the classroom." One
can use games to add excitement through competition or games which create
bonding among students and teacher.
4. Aydan Ersoz, author of "Six Games for the ESL/EFL Classroom" also explains
more reasons why games do work for teaching grammar. Learning a language
requires constant effort and that can be tiring. Ersoz says games can counter
this as because:
* Games that are amusing and challenging are highly motivating.
* Games allow meaningful use of the language in context.
Children are more motivated to learn grammar with games
The theory of intrinsic motivation also gives some insight as to why teaching
grammar through games actually works. Intrinsic motivation refers to the
internal factors that encourage us to do something. Most young learners will not
internally decide that they want to learn grammar. They don't yet understand the
concepts of why it's important to know proper grammar, so these external factors
won't affect them much either. Instead, intrinsic motivation can lead encourage
them to play games. If these games are good then they will be learning while
they are playing.
Using some movement is crucial because movement helps activate the students'
mental capacities and stimulate neural networks, thus promoting learning and
retention. If you have a large class with no space you still have options.
Children can stand up, sit down, move various body parts and pass things around
to each other. Movement does not only mean children tearing around the
playground.
What Kinds of Games Work Best?
When you are looking for games to use in your classroom, don't just pick
something to be a "time filler" which does not have a definite linguistic
outcome. These games may entertain the students, but when you don't have much
time with them each day as it is, you want your game to do double duty to get
the most out of the time you spend playing games.
Have a clear linguistic outcome for each game. The game can be a listening game
to allow the students to repeatedly hear a new grammatical structure in use, or
it can be a speaking game to allow practise of the grammar once it has been
absorbed through listening beforehand. There are degrees of difficulty with
speaking games from basic repetition in a fun context to more creative sentence
creation for revision or more advanced practise once the basics have been
mastered. The teacher should lead the children through this progression so that
the game at hand is always well within the grasp of the students. This makes
games fun rather than laborious. It is a mistake to play a speaking game
immediately after the new grammar has been presented. Ideally reading, spelling
and writing games come after the new grammar has been absorbed and the students
can use it orally.
Another thing to watch out for with grammar games is that a maximum of students
are involved simultaneously. If you have thirty children you want to avoid a
game where only one child is speaking at a time. What are the other twenty-nine
children supposed to do in the meantime other than get bored? On the other end
of the scale however are games that cause chaos in class and make teachers
unpopular with colleagues because of high noise levels. A variety of suitable
games are available for you to try free in the resource box below the article.
Now you can stop the eye-rolling and complaining from your students when you
even THINK about teaching them a grammar lesson, and have some productive fun.
Shelley Vernon has helped 1000s of teachers be an inspiration to their pupils and achieve results 2x as fast. Improve the effectiveness of your lessons by up to 80%. Receive free English language games now on http://www.teachingenglishgames.com
What do you think of this article? Add a comment ยป
First of all, I have to tell
you that what I have read is a very interesting article not only for me as
English Teacher and Head of English Department of my school but also for all of
my partners who obviously will get it tomorrow morning in our weekly teacher
meeting.
Second, the ideas shown here are demonstrating that teaching English grammar in
this way allows teaching and learning to be very easy and fun for our kids and
teenagers.
Thanks a lot for this article.
These games are very useful
and good for teachers & students. Thanks a lot.
Thank you for your insightful
ideas!!! Grammar is completely necessary in the language learning process, and
by doing it this way it makes it quite appealing to our students!" Adrian, Costa
Rica
Dear Shelly, I totally agree
with your approach towards teaching grammar in a fun way! I try to introduce
grammar using pictures. Some of my students think that Grammar is a Big MONSTER!
Here is what I wrote about it in my Online CELTA Diary (Grammar is not a
monster!): http://www.eslbase.com/diaries/hilalhastaoglu
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