Ok guys, here I want to share you
information that very useful for us as a teacher in teaching learning process.
Why use games in language teaching
Games have long been advocated
for assisting language learning. Here are some of the reasons why:
- Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting. Sustaining interest can mean sustaining effort (Thiagarajan, 1999; Wright, Betteridge, & Buckby, 2005). After all, learning a language involves long-term effort.
- Games provide a context for meaningful communication. Even if the game involves discrete language items, such as a spelling game, meaningful communication takes place as students seek to understand how to play the game and as they communicate about the game: before, during, and after the game (Wright, Betteridge, & Buckby, 2005).
- Games can involve all the basic language skills, i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and a number of skills are often involved in the same game (Lee, 1995).
- As many games can be played outside of class, they provide a means for students to use the language outside of class time (Ellis, 2005).
- Games can connect to a variety of intelligences (Gardner, 1999), e.g.,
- Games played with others involve interpersonal intelligence
- Games involving drawing connect with visual/spatial intelligence
- Games often have a hands-on element, such as cards, spinners, or pieces, which connect with bodily/kinesthetic intelligence
From all information based on many expert games I conclude
that game is the best solution to teach children, because many games we can
choose for children to improve their skill. When we teach students use games,
student will be more cooperative, more interesting to follow up our instruction
in teaching learning process and children do not fell bored with teaching
learning process.
When and how to use games
Games constitute a more substantial part of language courses (Lee,
1979; Rixon, 1981, Uberman, 1998). In the Presentation-Practice-Production
framework (Mauer, 1997), (in which language items are first presented for
students to listen to and/or read, then practiced in a manner in which the
language used is controlled, e.g., students read out a dialogue from the
textbook in which the two characters compare study habits, and then produced by
students in a less controlled manner, e.g., two students discuss their own
study habits), the games can be either for practicing specific language items
or skills or for more communicative language production. Similarly, games can
also be used as a way to revise and recycle previously taught language
(Uberman, 1998).
