Teach English in Qiongxi Zhen - Aba Zangzu Qiangzu Zizhizhou —

Games have always been associated with ‘fun’ and regarded as leisurely activities done for the purpose of amusement, especially in one’s free time. Having said that, more traditional and conventional approaches in classrooms frown upon games, and it was only in recent years that teachers started incorporating games more frequently in their lessons. In this summative essay, I will be listing down (quite) a few games I use regularly in class, how to conduct them, their purpose (language focus) and the suitable level of student proficiency needed (or, how to tailor them to suit different levels of student proficiencies). I will first start with games I use for beginners. For lower levels, my games mostly focus on basic vocabulary and sounds. Of course, I incorporate plenty of actions and movements as well. For example, after learning body parts, I get students to play ‘Simon Says’: Students touch a said body part only if the instruction starts with “Simon says…”. It is important to note, however, that this activity works better with space and with students standing. To test vocabulary of places, I make students sit in a circle and give them a place, such as a hospital. I then tell them to make noises/sounds or even say words/phrases they’d usually hear in this place. If students are more kinaesthetic than auditory, get them to act out what they’d usually see in a hospital. Another beginner’s game I like is called ‘Do as I Say, not as I Do’. This game tests students’ auditory processing, ability to follow verbal instructions and their impulse control. Students stand in a circle and watch the teacher, who is in the centre of the circle. They must follow what the teacher says to do, not what the teacher does. For example, the teacher says: “Jump left” but jumps right. By right, students should listen to instructions and jump left, too. As students are in a circle, it is easy to catch those who do not follow the correct instructions. The teacher can make instructions more difficult or use more difficult vocabulary as levels go up. Alternatively, the teacher may also flip the game: ‘Do as I Do, not as I Say’. I also use my background in theatre to facilitate learning in my classroom through a variety of theatre games. To teach intonation, I play a simple game called ‘Say Hello’. Students sit in a circle and they have to say hello based on a situation I give them. For instance: Say hello to a friend you’ve not seen for 10 years; or, say hello to a baby; or even, say hello when you caught someone doing something they shouldn’t. Again, situations can be changed to meet the desired level. For a more active class, I get them to do body spelling. Basically, they need to spell a word (ranging in difficulty) using just their bodies. To practice adverbs of manner, I will usually get students to pick a verb from one box (prepared by me in advance) and an adverb from another box (also prepared beforehand) and make them act it out. For example: run wildly, walk glamorously, sing beautifully, glare fiercely, stare frightenedly and pose triumphantly. This game of “Acting it Out” can also be changed to revise grammar. To do this, one student is picked and comes to the front of the class and is given the sentence he has to act out. I tell the class the tense of the sentence and they have to guess what he is acting out, using the tense I just gave them. To make it more competitive, students work in teams and score points. For students who are able to perform independently, a go-to theatre game I play is called ‘Mystery Theatre’. Students work in groups. I start off by asking them random questions: “What can you find in your pocket? What stinks? What do you call someone you love? Which genre of film do you like?” I write their answers on the board and assign one answer of each question to each group. They then have to come up with a short skit using each one of those words in the genre assigned to them. For example: “keys”, “gym socks”, “my sweet muffin” in a murder mystery genre. This game can be very fun if the teacher is able to guide the students effectively. Students find it entertaining and interactive, and they don’t mind being silly because every group has silly answers anyway! Another independent speaking game I play is called ‘Hands-Talk’. This game requires at least 4 students who should be paired according to gender. In each pair, the student in front (the speaker) crosses his hands behind his back while his partner (the person doing the hand actions) stands closely behind him and extends his arms below the speaker’s armpits, thus making his arms the speaker’s new makeshift arms. The pair is given a random situation and have to act it out, with the student in front only able to talk while the student at the back has to sync his arm action according to the conversation. The teacher should make sure there is as much hand action going on as there is speaking, as this activity is not just verbal but auditory and interactional as well. The teacher should also make sure both students get the chance to speak and act. An example situation could be: You and a friend are on a hike. It’s getting dark so you suggest setting up camp and cooking dinner. Of course, there are many other games teachers can incorporate and play in the classroom; many of which have already been covered in the course material such as Pictionary, Hangman, Taboo, Scrabble, 20 Questions and so on. From my experience, incorporating games into the classroom livens up the atmosphere, gets your students talking and even makes you a very popular teacher! In fact, as long as you make it fun, students actually ask for it and are very willing to put in hard work to revise in order to perform well in these games. Some common mistakes teachers make is in the choice of games, level appropriacy, resources available (space, etc.) and classroom management. My final thought is that it really is up to the teacher to discern what is best for a class. From my experience, it helps tremendously if you are able to work closely with another teacher who is seasoned in this practice, as I was fortunate enough to have been.