Some experience of using games in english lessons grade 5

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCAITON AND TRANING Office of education and training Thanh Hoa city WORK EXPERIENCE SOME EXPERIENCES OF USING GAME IN ENGLISH LESSONS GRADE Performer: Tran Thi Huyen Job: Teacher School: Dong Hai primary school Subject: English THANH HOA YEAR 2019 CONTENTS Content Page INTRODUCTION 2.SOLVING PROBLEM 2.1.Theoretical basic 2.2.The actual situation 2.3 Solutions Which game to use When to use the games Using some simple games in English lessons a Falling clouds b Big Describer 11 c Unmusical chairs 12 d Find a Person Who… 14 e Dictionary 16 2.4 Results 18 3.CONCLUSION 20 3.1 Experience lessons 20 3.2 Suggestions 20 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons of choosing the topic Language has always held a central place in the primary curriculum and since the foundation of the State , both Vietnamese and English have been taught to all students Language teaching has a number of dimensions , which include the development of oral expression, written skills, literature and creativity All are part of the language curriculum in our schools Our aims in primary schools is to encourage and assist students to use language fluently and freely to express their ideas clearly We teach children to read both for information and for pleasure Early learning is based on sensory experience There is a growing body of evidence that children begin to form concepts at an early age This is based directly on a range of interactive sensory experience The rate and extent of children's learning in the early years is greater than at any other period in life Therefore, improving the quality of education in general and quality of English in primary schools in particular is one of the prior concerns in current education Teaching English in primary schools gives children the capacity to use English, forms the basic English skills to communicate Through the English classes , students can develop thinking and form good qualities such as : charity, love, respect, love of humanity However How to make students pay attention to learning is not an easy problem Enthusiastic, creative teachers always concern to find out the best methods for their students to improve educational quality and effect In fact, many teachers in Vietnam apply the old and traditional teaching methods in which the teacher is the primary speaker and the learner is the primary listener This method creates boredom in learners and encourages a passive study habit On the other hand, teachers are also under high pressure to strictly follow the curricula governed by the Ministry of Education and Training ,which are dense and out of date Such a curriculum limits the creativity of teachers and constricts teaching capabilities and effectiveness From given reasons above, I decided to write topic "Some experiences of using games in English lessons -grade 5" to contribute to improving quality of teaching and learning English in Dong Hai Primary School in particular and in educational career in general 1.2 Purpose of studying Encouraging students to use English in English lessons through some simple games and applying for other grades next years 1.3 Time and place of studying The topic is carried out from August 2018 to March 2019 at Dong Hai Primary School, Thanh Hoa SOLVING PROBLEM 2.1 Theoretical basic In recent years language researchers and practitioners have shifted their focus from developing individual linguistic skills to the use of language to achieve the speaker's objectives This new area of focus, known as communicative competence, leads language teachers to seek task-oriented activities that engage their students in creative language use Games, which are task-based and have a purpose beyond the production of correct speech, serve as excellent communicative activities (Saricoban & Metin 2000) On the surface, the aim of all language games is for students to "use the language"; however, during game play learners also use the target language to persuade and negotiate their way to desired results This process involves the productive and receptive skills simultaneously Games offer students a fun-filled and relaxing learning atmosphere After learning and practicing new vocabulary, students have the opportunity to use language in a non-stressful way (Uberman 1998) While playing games, the learners' attention is on the message, not on the language Rather than pay attention to the correctness of linguistic forms, most participants will all they can to win This eases the fear of negative evaluation, the concern of being negatively judged in public, and which is one of the main factors inhibiting language learners from using the target language in front of other people (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope 1986) In a game-oriented context, anxiety is reduced and speech fluency is generated thus communicative competence is achieved Games are also motivating Games introduce an element of competition into language-building activities This provides valuable impetus to a purposeful use of language (Prasad 2003) In other words, these activities create a meaningful context for language use The competitive ambulance also makes learners concentrate and think intensively during the learning process, which enhances unconscious acquisition of inputs Most students who have experienced game-oriented activities hold positive attitudes towards them (Uberman 1998) The benefits of using games in language-learning can be summed up in nine points Games • are learner centered • promote communicative competence • create a meaningful context for language use • increase learning motivation • reduce learning anxiety • integrate various linguistic skills • encourage creative and spontaneous use of language • construct a cooperative learning environment • foster participatory attitudes of the students Among numerous sources of students’ interest in the language learning process, games seem to be very important Obviously, there are a lot of other sources, such as pictures and stories Pictures serve as a visual stimulus, while games use both visual and oral channels and activate language production and, sometimes, physical movement Young learners love to play, and they participate in a game with more enthusiasm and willingness than in any other classroom task Yet, games are sometimes perceived as entertaining activities, playing which students are not really learning There are teachers who fail to realize the importance of games, considering them not a wealth of various techniques and an opportunity for real communication but an uncontrolled and noisy waste of time However, students in general learn better when they are active Thus, when learning is channeled into an enjoyable game, they are very often willing to invest considerable time and effort in playing it Moreover, in view of diverse learning styles and preferences the students display, benefits from games seem to care for everyone as children find playing activities much richer language studying work than doing other kinds of practice If games are properly designed, they may become an excellent and essential part of a students’ learning program The more variety we can introduce into teaching, the more likely we are to meet the needs of all the different learners For games are activities with rules, a goal to achieve, and an element of fun; they seem to be challenging and interesting enough to keep the young students occupied and eager to complete the task Furthermore, as they use English for real purposes, they make the children play and learn at the same time Moreover, games help to create a context in which children’s attention is focused on the completion of a task without realizing that language items are being practiced As a result, language learning takes place in a context that children can directly relate to However, it is always necessary to keep in mind the interests and needs of the learners Games can provide a valuable learning experience in which the children practice and revise language only if they are carefully chosen, according to students’ styles of learning II/The actual situation 1.General situation Many students not pay much attention to learning English, prepare the lessons sketchy Since then, they ignore studying English In class, most students sit passively, are lack of flexibility, afraid to read, speak English and less raise their hands to give their ideas Vietnam has a serious shortage in teaching staff in quality Many teachers not meet the requirements of teaching Teachers often not have time to any further research improve their skills or broaden their knowledge to improve their teaching skills Most schools in Vietnam not have qualified labs, libraries for students With the cooperation of various industry sectors and the investment from society as a whole, the school infrastructure has been upgraded day by day, but it is still not enough to significantly change enrollment and the learns' needs, especially in the remote mountainous and isolated areas of the country 2.2 Situation of teaching and learning English at Dong Hai Primary School Students not concern much about the subject They as well as their parents consider English as an optional subject However, many students are interested in learning English They find out happiness and excitement in studying By myself's effort, I tried to look for games on the internet or in books ,I used some simple games to warm-up, check vocabulary, grammar Surprisingly, students enjoy playing and play excitingly They also participate in more activities Although results are not really high but what I gained is not little Examination results at the beginning of the school year Grade Total 72 Quality Exellent Percent Good Percent Average Percent Weak 15 20.8 22 30.6 30 41.7 Percent 6.9 I realized that this result was not high, so during the lessons I applied some methods in which some simple games have been used to improve education's quality and efficiency 2.3 Solutions 1.Which Games to Use Teachers should be careful about choosing games if they want to make them advantageous First of all the teacher should decide on the purpose of a game A game may seem appropriate and useful However, when its value is considered from the view point of foreign language teaching, it may have little or no purpose Nedomová (2007, p.19) underlines the fact that we “should consider whether the game-like activity is for children only to make the lesson more attractive and protect them from being bored or whether we tend to revise and practise some particular part of grammar, vocabulary, etc.” when they choose a game Considering the level of the game is equally important while choosing games Teachers must decide whether the level of the game fits students’ language level because a game may become difficult when it is beyond the learners’ level or it may become boring when learners find it too easy to carry on When a game’s value in grammar teaching is considered, teachers tend to use them for practice or to reinforce a specific grammatical aspect of language only if a game is suitable for learners’ level so that the grammatical knowledge can be used easily as they are playing the game The fact that games enable social interaction and participation is also important Learners, especially the young ones, learn better when they interact with their peers Some games may include both cooperation and competition together While students cooperate within a team, they, at the same time, compete against another team (Rixon, 1991, p 5) Hence, what teachers should consider while choosing a game is the fact that children learn best with games which require physical action, interaction, competition and participation In addition to all these, there are many other factors such as the size and the physical properties of the classroom, the equipment, materials and the time available for a game (McCallum, 1980, p 12) In conclusion, teachers should take all these factors into account while choosing a game because a game which seems to be most appropriate may turn into a complete failure in the end 2.When to Use the Games Games are mostly used when there is some time left at the end of the lesson to keep students quiet However, Lee (1979, p 3) proposes that “games should not be regarded as a marginal activity, filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do.” With this in mind, games should be put into the center of classroom teaching and they should not be treated as a merely warm-up activity Rinvolucri (1990) clarifies that a game can be used in any of these three stages while using them as a part of grammar instruction or revise vocabulary Teachers should be well aware of their roles while using games in their classes Since it is rather difficult to find a game that meets all the needs of the learners, careful preparation of the teacher is necessary McCallum (1980, p 21) suggests that the teacher should organize the game before the instruction The teacher may need some extra equipment or materials to play the game and most of the time these equipment and materials are not available in the classroom Before explaining the rules to the class, the teacher should first understand how the game is played Especially when working with children, the teacher should always be prepared to adapt the game to the givens of the class After choosing the game, the teacher should explain its rules to the learners in a direct and noncomplicated way Especially for young learners, it may be necessary to use the mother tongue because if these learners cannot understand how to play the game, there is no educational purpose in playing it Therefore, demonstrations may be beneficial because they can help young learners understand the rules clearly and easily Moreover, the teacher is not recommended to interrupt a game to correct the mistakes of young learners According to Celce-Murcia (1979, p 54), “interruptions should be as infrequent as possible so as not to detract from the student’s interest in the game An alternative to immediate correction is to make note of errors and discuss them when the game is over” In other words, as sudden interruptions may distract learners’ attention, it is better to wait until the game is over to discuss and correct the mistakes of the learners In addition, appropriate class organization increases the success of a game Many games require the class to be divided into groups or pairs This gives the teacher a chance to monitor the activity of the learners while they are playing the game McCallum (1980, p 12) asserts that learners should be in the same team during the year because it both saves the teacher’s time and helps learners develop team spirit that promotes exchange of ideas among themselves Pair work is also beneficial as it develops learners’ communication skills In short, dividing class into pairs and groups enables learners to improve their language and communication skills while promoting competition among the teams or pairs As such, the teacher may find more time to focus on students’ language development Using some simple games in English lessons- grade After looking for games on the internet, TV or books, I renewed them to match with my students Then I organized and guide them to play Below ,I am going to present some games I always use in the lessons and the efficiency is outstanding a Falling clouds This is a game for learning English focusing on vocabulary items You listen to the sound or read the word and then point to the matching pictures It’s really easy, fun and hopefully a great way to learn and review words Example: Unit 18-What will the weather be like tomorrow?- Lesson I use this game to check new vocabulary + Time allowed: minutes + Preparation pictures describing different kinds of weather and stick them on the board words about the weather: rainy, cloudy, snowy, windy, sunny, foggy, stormy 10 +Practice Choose 10 students then divide into teams Let them stand at the equal place 11 After teacher reads a word- sunny , Student have to run as fast as possible to reach the right picture Continue to the end +Result The team which is faster and has more correct words is winner Games are fun and children like to play them Through games children experiment, discover, and interact with their environment (Lewis, 1999) b Big Describer In this game you practice English reading You have to read the brief description and then point to the image that is described First you choose a set of images and the quickly read the text and point to the matching picture This game practices reading for understanding and hopefully can be used to learn some new vocabulary too Example: Unit 2- I always get up early, How about you?- Lesson I use this game to check new structure + Preparation pictures with different activities and sentences presenting those after that stick them on the board 12 sentences about activities 1.She always brushes her teeth in the morning She sometimes watches TV in the evening 3.She usually cooks dinner in the afternoon 4.He always listens to music in the evening 5.They often morning exercise in the morning 6.They usually brush their faces in the morning 13 +Implementation Divide class into teams Let them select sentences at random“She usually cooks dinner in the afternoon” After that point to the correct picture which are described in those picture as fast as possible Continue to the end +Result The team which is faster and has more correct words is winner Through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn their mother tongue without being aware they are studying; thus without stress, they can learn a lot c Unmusical chairs This easy listening game works great with young learners Arrange chairs as if to play musical chairs Students will walk around them, they will be a conversation Students walk around the chairs as you play the audio and the student/s who hear the answer to the question sit/s down Stop the audio Those who are seated answer the question, and if it’s correct they will remain seated If several students sit down at the same time, that’s fine, but ask them to whisper the answer in your ear to make sure they all heard the answer from the audio Example Unit 18- What will the weather be like tomorrow? –Lesson I’lI use this game to consolidate all the lesson + Preparation A short conversation about the weather Peter: It’s so hot today Is it always like this in summer, Nam? Nam: Yes, it is Nam: It’s ussually hot in summer And it rains a lot Peter: Really? I like summer here because I can swim in the sea 14 Nam: What’s summer like in your country, Peter? Peter: It’s cooler than here But it’s very green There are lots of flowers and plants Nam: Really? I’d like to visit your country in summer +Practice Choose students Have them stand at an equal place First, Teacher read the question: What’s summer like in your country? Next, Teacher plays the audio Students run round the chairs as the teacher read the student/s who hear the answer to the question sit/s down Pause Those who are seated answer the question, and if it’s correct they will remain seated Continue to the end +Result Person who is faster and more correct is winner To learn English, you have to speak in English but not every student is comfortable blurting out unfamiliar phrases, taking risks or making mistakes The teachers want everyone to be involved, so how can the teachers reach out the shier, quieter students? The teachers will use every games they know to help their students paricipate in learning activities more actively 15 d Find a Person Who… Build confidence by starting with a comprehension game There is less speaking involved, but everyone will have to pay attention, understand what is being said, and interact with the class Have everybody begin in a big circle The teacher calls out: “Find a person who is wearing glasses.” Everyone runs to grab the hand of a person wearing glasses Assuming each student has two hands, only two people can be partnered with each glasses wearer Whoever is left without a hand to hold stands in the middle The youngest one of the middle group must now call at the next turn Possibilities are endless! Find a person who: Is wearing red Has words on his/her shirt Can curl his/her tongue Can touch the floor without bending knees The teacher can have a prepared list of finds or can ask the students to make up their own The shy person either must be quick to follow the English instructions or find themselves in the middle, where must take a turn at calling out the next “Find a Person.” Either way, all students are engaged Example Unit 17- What would you like to eat? –Lesson I’lI use this game to warm up + Preparation - Some cards about the drink and food 16 +Practice - Let some students hold the cards about food and drink and the other don’t - Teacher calls out: -“Find a person who is holding two bowls of rice -Everyone runs to grab the person holding two bowls of rice -Who find the person holding two bowls of rice is winner -Continue to the end +Result 17 Person who is faster and more correct is winner e Dictionary Don’t worry about the more vocal students taking over Every student gets to be the leader and judge in this game If you’ve played the game Balderdash, you’ll recognize Dictionary Divide your class up into groups of five or six If your class has fewer than ten students, you might be able to play with everyone at once Give each group a packet of sticky notes and the biggest dictionary that you can find You can also create your own advanced vocabulary list for the class to use For each group, select a leader and a judge You can pick the most shy students to steer the group The leader finds a word in the dictionary (or vocab list) that he or she does not believe anyone else knows The leader writes the correct definition of the word on the sticky note Then, he or she spells the word out loud, and everyone except the judge will write the word down The other players make up definitions of their own and write them on sticky notes as well They can be funny and come up with a silly definition They can try to guess the correct definition They can try to fool the judge with something that sounds convincing The leader collects all the definitions and hands them over to the judge The judge reads each definition out loud If your judge has a flair for the dramatic, all the better After reading all the definitions, the judge decides which definition he or she thinks is correct The leader identifies which answer is really correct If the judge picks the leader’s answer, then the leader gets a piece of candy or other taken If the judge picks another player’s answer, then the player gets the candy Here’s a rundown of how this might play out: The leader picks the word “sundry.” She tells all the players the word and spells it for them The leader writes the correct definition on her note, “miscellaneous.” 18 Another player thinks about literal meaning and writes, “wet clothes left outside Another player guesses and writes, “popcorn.” Another player decides to be silly and writes, “lying to your teacher.” The leader mixes up the definitions and hands them over to the judge The judge reads each definition out loud, and if all goes well, everyone gets a good laugh out of this The judge in this case decides he likes the “wet clothes left outside” definition The leader awards the player who wrote this definition with the candy and explains that the correct definition is miscellaneous The roles switch up and the judge becomes leader in the next round Play as many rounds as you can so that every student has a chance to be the judge and the leader The nice thing about Dictionary is that you can adapt to most English learning levels And students who are shy about speaking out loud in class may be more comfortable in these smaller groups Example Review I’lI use this game to recover all the vocabulary they have learnt from unit to 10 + Preparation - a lot of cards of words and phrases they have learnt from unit to 10 - Divide class into groups -Give each group a packet of sticky notes and the biggest dictionary - The leader pick up one word and spell it aloud, all of them write the definitions down The judge choose the best definition 19 -Continue to the end +Result Person who has more correct definitions is winner My experience creating a competition for our students taught us that games stimulate communicative skills Competitors revealed that they felt less afraid of using their English during game play I also observed that they were more willing to ask questions and think creatively about how to use English to achieve the goal The competition gave students a natural opportunity to work together and communicate using English with each other Furthermore, by integrating playing and learning, students practiced the learned linguistic knowledge in a vivid and meaningful context And finally, the competition stimulated their interest in foreign culture 2.4 Results Through the application of simple games integrated into the content of the lessons in the process of teaching English at Dong Hai Primary School I noticed the obvious changes of attitude in learning English A number of new words students have are increasing remarkably Students have applied grammar structure to exercises more exactly, some of them speak English more selfconfidently English lessons are becoming excitingly, most of them enjoy learning English When applying those measures, I realized that the result is getting better and better The number of excellent and good students has been increasing considerably while weak students have been decreased gradually Especially, some excellent students got high grades in English contests At the of March-2018-2019 school year ,I gained result as following Quality Grade Total Exellent Percent Good Percent Average Percent Weak Percent 72 20 27,8 28 38.9 24 33,3 0 3.CONCLUSION 3.1 Experience lessons 20 -Teacher must love career and children -T must have various knowledge -Preparing lesson plan carefully before class -Using visual aids to enrich , strengthen the lessons -Organizing simple games to enhance vocabulary and practice structures Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language -Encouraging and gifting children who have made progress -Making plan to help weak students so that they participate in class activities without any shyness and less difficulty 3.2 Suggestions In order to improve quality and efficiency of English lessons ,I would like to give some suggestions as following: - Providing more materials for teaching and learning English -Holding more professional meetings -Sharing out excellent experience initiatives so that the other teachers consult These are some experiences that I’ve applied at Dong Hai Primary School and achieved spectacular results during the last teaching Although they are not very excellent ,they, in partly, motivate students to practice English day by day I hope teachers and colleagues will contribute to my topic so that it is becoming better and better and will be applied widely Confirmation of headmistress Dong Hai, March 3,2019 I assure that this is my experience Initiative to write,do not copy other people’s content 21 Tran Thi Huyen REFRENCE BOOKS + Student’s book – English +Teacher’s book- English + Method of teaching + Doff, A 1998 Teach English : Trainer’s Handbook Cambridge + Material guiding teachers Phonics –Learning Box UK +Materials of Institute for Research on Educational Developments –Copyright by IRED 2011 +Uberman, A.1998 The use of game: for vocabulary presentation and revision English teaching Porum 36 22 23 ... experiences of using games in English lessons -grade 5" to contribute to improving quality of teaching and learning English in Dong Hai Primary School in particular and in educational career in general... application of simple games integrated into the content of the lessons in the process of teaching English at Dong Hai Primary School I noticed the obvious changes of attitude in learning English. .. students are interested in learning English They find out happiness and excitement in studying By myself's effort, I tried to look for games on the internet or in books ,I used some simple games to