There are a lot of definitions what the game is. Everyone is able to imagine something when hearing the term “game” but to give a precise definition is difficult. The definition “Games are fun” is simple and exact (Celce-Murcia, McIntosh, 1979:53). Shelagh Rixon (1999) interprets the games like activities that involve play and enjoyment. I agree with the definition of Julia Khan who understands the games like “activities governed by rules, which set up clearly defined goals. The achievement of these goals signals the end of the game. Games involve a contest either between players or between the players and the goal, and games should lead to having fun.” Simply but expressing the same is the definition of J.H. Hadfield who explains the game as “an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun.” However the game in education must be more than just fun; learners have to learn through playing games, too. Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (1979) highlight that enjoyment of games is not restricted by age but it depends on the appropriateness of the games.
Fairy tale fun-jigsaw style!
Divide students into five equal groups. Each group will get one fairy tale to read. The stories are "The Ugly Duckling," "Snow White," "Hansel and Gretel," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and "The Three Little Pigs." Each group is responsible for collecting the following information:
- Who are the characters in the story?
- Where does the story take place?
- What are the major events of the story?
- Are there any magical or supernatural events? If so, what are they?
After the students read, discuss, and record the above information, split them into jigsaw groups. One person from each fairy tale assemble in a new group. In their new groups, students are each given three minutes to tell the other group members about the story they had read as well as the information they have collected. After that, the group has to create a poster and give a presentation that addressed two points:
1.What do all five stories have in common?
2.Using what you found in common, write your own definition for a fairy tale.
Children in primary school are keen on playing games. But not every game is suitable for every child so that the teacher has to be sensible with the selection.
And of course, games make the lesson more exciting. Each game has got a special activating circle which makes it more or less exciting. A game has to be undecided until the end to keep the excitement and it has to keep the balance between coincidence and language skills to make it more interesting for worse pupils.While playing a game the children are more relax and this is a good condition of an effective learning. It is important that the teacher is the game manager especially in the first years because the pupils have to listen to the right English pronunciation. If something is incorrect, the teacher doesn’t have to correct the children immediately this could interrupt the influence of the game.Games have a great educational value and it can be used in the classroom to make learners use the language instead of just thinking about learning the correct forms.
Games encourage learners to interact, cooperate, to be creative and spontaneous in using the language in a meaningful way. Learners want to take part in activities; to play games and are generally quite competitive. In order for them to take part they must be able to understand and communicate in the target language. Games also encourage learners to keep interested in the work and a teacher can use them to create contexts in which the language is useful.
Games are popular for the foreign language teaching especially for the first two years. Children in this age enjoy playing games and in the main point they should recognize that “language works”. And of course, games are motivating, socializing and important for the training of cognitive skills.The games for the first learner have to have easy rules and to be spontaneously usable. With a game you can repeat the new vocabulary in a new context. A repetition in this way is more exciting and motivating, as well. To create a game less complicated it is useful to take picture cards which show the new words like nouns, prepositions and verbs. The game’s objective and the learning target are not equal so that the children train or learn new words without recognizing it. The teacher can reach more than one learning target in the same game.
Bibliography:
- Jonassen D.H. Constructing learning environments on the web: Engaging students in meaningful learning. EdTech 99: Educational Technology Conference and Exhibition 1999: Thinking Schools, Learning Nation. – 1999 – p. 45-46
- Shaw, Corsini, Blake, Mouton, 1980; Horner & McGinley, 1998.
