Teach English in Mengmen Zhen - Luliang Shi

Games, when used correctly by a teacher, can be effective in helping students who are learning English as a second language. A game is an activity set up by a teacher that has a set of rules, competition, and an element of fun. When teachers use games for educational purposes, they engage the students, increase participation and motivation, encourage creativity, and reinforce learning. Students are often more willing to take risks during games and even make mistakes which an essential part of learning. In order gain the advantages that games provide, a teacher needs to incorporate games into their lesson effectively. Games being used ineffectively in the classroom can lead to potential problems such as only a few students doing all participation, bragging or unhealthy competitiveness between students, and too much unstructured time leading to problems with classroom management. There are several steps a teacher can take in order to use games effectively. The first step to using games effectively in the classroom is for the teacher to plan carefully. The learning objective of the lesson should be the main focus of the game both in the planning and in the playing stage. This means the game needs to have an educational purpose. A game used just for fun or as a time filler is not an effective use in the classroom. After establishing the learning objective, the teacher should select a game then adapt it to the lesson objective needs of the students. Examples of games used in the classroom are jeopardy, telephone, tic-tac-toe, Pictionary, and memory games. Almost all commonly known games can be adapted to the lesson to make it effective for learning. For example, a teacher may be teaching a lesson on active and passive voice and want to use a memory game to help teach these items. For the memory game, they could precut out sentences that match in both the active and passive voice. First the students could match the cards together. Then the students could play the memory card trying to flip the cards over and find pairs that match. They would then compete to see who could gather the most pairs. This game could be adapted to be done in partners or groups or even the class as a whole or with teams. When teachers are selecting which game to use, it is a good idea to find a few types of games that work well with the class and replay these games for different lessons. The reason this is effective is because the familiar games take less time to set up, less instruction, and the students will know what to expect from the game so they can get into the game more quickly. One trap a teacher, especially new teachers, may fall into is trying to think of a new type of game for every lesson. This is ineffective and causes more prep time and stress on the teacher. Students like playing familiar games where the material for the game is adapted for each lesson. It is also important in the planning stage of the lesson for the teacher to remember not to overuse games in the classroom. Overuse of games, for example playing them for every activity, can lower the effectiveness of that game as students will become bored and the activity will become redundant. Also, the teacher should prepare all needed materials in advance and make sure they are in the classroom ready for use on the day of the lesson. There are several things the teacher should keep in mind during the lesson while playing games. The first is to make sure the instructions are clear and concise. They need to make sure they are explaining on an English level that the students can comprehend. It would be good to demonstrate a round of the game to go with the verbal instructions. If the teacher is splitting the group into teams or pairs, make sure to do this before starting the game. Also, the teacher needs to hand out the materials after finishing the instructions. If the materials are handed out before the instructions, the students will be distracted while the teacher is explaining the game. If students have no idea how to play the game or are confused by the instructions, they will not effectively learn during the activity. While playing the games, it is important for the teacher to keep the competition healthy within the classroom. Potential problems could arise if students become over competitive or start bragging whereas a healthy competition can promote collaboration and teamwork between the students. To maximize the benefits and effectiveness from games, teachers should debrief the class afterwards. It is a time at the end of a lesson for teachers to connect the meaning or objective of the lesson back to the game. A good example of this is a class discussion or an exit ticket where students list items they learned in the lesson. After the lesson is over, teachers should review the class discussion or exit tickets along with their own observations taken throughout the game to reflect on the activity. This reflection should include what went well, what could be improved, what the students learned, any common misconceptions that need to be addressed in future lessons and if the objective of the lesson was achieved. Overall, games can be a great tool for a teacher to utilize in the classroom because when used effectively, they promote learning and growth in students through increased engagement and motivation.