Some experience of using games in english lessons grade 5

How to make students pay attention to learning is not an easyproblem Enthusiastic, creative teachers always concern to find out the bestmethods for their students to improve educational

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCAITON AND TRANING

Office of education and training Thanh Hoa city

Subject: English

THANH HOA YEAR 2019

CONTENTS Content Page

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2.SOLVING PROBLEM 3

2.1.Theoretical basic 3

2.2.The actual situation 5

2.3 Solutions 6

1 Which game to use 6

2 When to use the games 7

3 Using some simple games in English lessons 9

a Falling clouds 9

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

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Reasons of choosing the topic.

Language has always held a central place in the primary curriculum andsince the foundation of the State , both Vietnamese and English have beentaught to all students Language teaching has a number of dimensions , whichinclude the development of oral expression, written skills, literature andcreativity All are part of the language curriculum in our schools Our aims inprimary schools is to encourage and assist students to use language fluently andfreely to express their ideas clearly We teach children to read both forinformation and for pleasure Early learning is based on sensory experience.There is a growing body of evidence that children begin to form concepts at anearly 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 anyother period in life

Therefore, improving the quality of education in general and quality ofEnglish in primary schools in particular is one of the prior concerns in currenteducation Teaching English in primary schools gives children the capacity touse English, forms the basic English skills to communicate Through the Englishclasses , 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 easyproblem Enthusiastic, creative teachers always concern to find out the bestmethods 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 primarylistener This method creates boredom in learners and encourages a passivestudy habit On the other hand, teachers are also under high pressure to strictlyfollow the curricula governed by the Ministry of Education and Training ,whichare dense and out of date Such a curriculum limits the creativity of teachers andconstricts teaching capabilities and effectiveness

From given reasons above, I decided to write topic "Some experiences ofusing games in English lessons -grade 5" to contribute to improving quality ofteaching and learning English in Dong Hai 1 Primary School in particular and

in educational career in general

1.2 Purpose of studying

Encouraging students to use English in English lessons through somesimple 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 1Primary School, Thanh Hoa

2 SOLVING PROBLEM

2.1 Theoretical basic

In recent years language researchers and practitioners have shifted theirfocus from developing individual linguistic skills to the use of language toachieve the speaker's objectives This new area of focus, known ascommunicative competence, leads language teachers to seek task-orientedactivities that engage their students in creative language use Games, which aretask-based and have a purpose beyond the production of correct speech, serve

as excellent communicative activities (Saricoban & Metin 2000) On thesurface, the aim of all language games is for students to "use the language";however, during game play learners also use the target language to persuadeand negotiate their way to desired results This process involves the productiveand receptive skills simultaneously

Games offer students a fun-filled and relaxing learning atmosphere Afterlearning and practicing new vocabulary, students have the opportunity to uselanguage in a non-stressful way (Uberman 1998) While playing games, thelearners' attention is on the message, not on the language Rather than payattention to the correctness of linguistic forms, most participants will do all theycan to win This eases the fear of negative evaluation, the concern of beingnegatively 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 isreduced and speech fluency is generated thus communicative competence isachieved.

Games are also motivating Games introduce an element of competitioninto language-building activities This provides valuable impetus to apurposeful use of language (Prasad 2003) In other words, these activities create

a meaningful context for language use The competitive ambulance also makeslearners concentrate and think intensively during the learning process, whichenhances unconscious acquisition of inputs Most students who haveexperienced game-oriented activities hold positive attitudes towards them(Uberman 1998)

The benefits of using games in language-learning can be summed up innine 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 learningprocess, games seem to be very important Obviously, there are a lot of othersources, such as pictures and stories Pictures serve as a visual stimulus, whilegames 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 moreenthusiasm and willingness than in any other classroom task Yet, games aresometimes perceived as entertaining activities, playing which students are notreally learning There are teachers who fail to realize the importance of games,considering them not a wealth of various techniques and an opportunity for realcommunication but an uncontrolled and noisy waste of time However, students

in general learn better when they are active Thus, when learning is channeledinto an enjoyable game, they are very often willing to invest considerable timeand effort in playing it Moreover, in view of diverse learning styles andpreferences the students display, benefits from games seem to care for everyone

as children find playing activities much richer language studying work thandoing 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 tomeet the needs of all the different learners For games are activities with rules, agoal to achieve, and an element of fun; they seem to be challenging andinteresting enough to keep the young students occupied and eager to completethe task Furthermore, as they use English for real purposes, they make thechildren play and learn at the same time Moreover, games help to create acontext in which children’s attention is focused on the completion of a taskwithout realizing that language items are being practiced As a result, languagelearning 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 childrenpractice and revise language only if they are carefully chosen, according tostudents’ styles of learning

II/The actual situation

1.General situation

Many students do not pay much attention to learning English, prepare thelessons sketchy Since then, they ignore studying English In class, most

students sit passively, are lack of flexibility, afraid to read, speak English andless raise their hands to give their ideas

Vietnam has a serious shortage in teaching staff in quality Many teachers donot meet the requirements of teaching Teachers often do not have time to doany further research improve their skills or broaden their knowledge to improvetheir teaching skills

Most schools in Vietnam do 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 stillnot 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 1 Primary School.

Students do not concern much about the subject They as well as theirparents consider English as an optional subject However, many students areinterested in learning English They find out happiness and excitement instudying 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 alsoparticipate in more activities Although results are not really high but what Igained is not little

Examination results at the beginning of the school year

Grade Total

Quality Exellent Percent Good Percent Average Percent Weak Percent

I realized that this result was not high, so during the lessons I appliedsome methods in which some simple games have been used to improveeducation's quality and efficiency

2.3 Solutions

1.Which Games to Use

Teachers should be careful about choosing games if they want to makethem advantageous First of all the teacher should decide on the purpose of agame A game may seem appropriate and useful However, when its value isconsidered from the view point of foreign language teaching, it may have little

or no purpose Nedomová (2007, p.19) underlines the fact that we “shouldconsider whether the game-like activity is for children only to make the lessonmore attractive and protect them from being bored or whether we tend to reviseand practise some particular part of grammar, vocabulary, etc.” when theychoose a game

Considering the level of the game is equally important while choosinggames Teachers must decide whether the level of the game fits students’language level because a game may become difficult when it is beyond thelearners’ 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 oflanguage only if a game is suitable for learners’ level so that the grammaticalknowledge can be used easily as they are playing the game

The fact that games enable social interaction and participation is alsoimportant Learners, especially the young ones, learn better when they interactwith their peers Some games may include both cooperation and competitiontogether While students cooperate within a team, they, at the same

time, compete against another team (Rixon, 1991, p 5) Hence, what teachersshould consider while choosing a game is the fact that children learn best withgames which require physical action, interaction, competition and participation

In addition to all these, there are many other factors such as the size and thephysical properties of the classroom, the equipment, materials and the timeavailable for a game (McCallum, 1980, p 12) In conclusion, teachers shouldtake 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 thelesson to keep students quiet However, Lee (1979, p 3) proposes that “gamesshould not be regarded as a marginal activity, filling in odd moments when theteacher and class have nothing better to do.” With this in mind, games should beput into the center of classroom teaching and they should not be treated as amerely warm-up activity Rinvolucri (1990) clarifies that a game can be used inany of these three stages while using them as a part of grammar instruction orrevise vocabulary

Teachers should be well aware of their roles while using games in theirclasses Since it is rather difficult to find a game that meets all the needs of thelearners, careful preparation of the teacher is necessary McCallum (1980, p 21)suggests that the teacher should organize the game before the instruction Theteacher 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 howthe game is played Especially when working with children, the teacher shouldalways be prepared to adapt the game to the givens of the class After choosingthe game, the teacher should explain its rules to the learners in a direct and non-complicated way Especially for young learners, it may be necessary to use themother tongue because if these learners cannot understand how to play thegame, there is no educational purpose in playing it Therefore, demonstrationsmay be beneficial because they can help young learners understand the rulesclearly and easily Moreover, the teacher is not recommended to interrupt agame to correct the mistakes of young learners According to Celce-Murcia(1979, p 54), “interruptions should be as infrequent as possible so as not todetract from the student’s interest in the game An alternative to immediatecorrection is to make note of errors and discuss them when the game is over” Inother 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 theteacher a chance to monitor the activity of the learners while they are playing thegame McCallum (1980, p 12) asserts that learners should be in the same teamduring the year because it both saves the teacher’s time and helps learnersdevelop team spirit that promotes exchange of ideas among themselves Pairwork is also beneficial as it develops learners’ communication skills In short, dividing class into pairs and groups enables learners to improve their languageand communication skills while promoting competition among the teams orpairs As such, the teacher may find more time to focus on students’ languagedevelopment

3 Using some simple games in English lessons- grade 5

After looking for games on the internet, TV or books, I renewed them tomatch with my students Then I organized and guide them to play Below ,I amgoing to present some games I always use in the lessons and the efficiency isoutstanding

a Falling clouds

This is a game for learning English focusing on vocabulary items Youlisten to the sound or read the word and then point to the matching pictures It’sreally easy, fun and hopefully a great way to learn and review words

Example:

Unit 18-What will the weather be like tomorrow?- Lesson 1.

I use this game to check new vocabulary

+ Time allowed: 3 minutes

+ Preparation

7 pictures describing 7 different kinds of weather and stick them on the board

7 words about the weather: rainy, cloudy, snowy, windy, sunny, foggy, stormy

+Practice

Choose 10 students then divide into 2 teams

Let them stand at the equal place