Обучающие игры на уроках английского языка

В книге дается подробное  описание различных языковых игр. Попутно даются указания о том, с какой возрастной группой учащихся, на каком этапе изучения языка рекомендуется проводить ту или иную игру, и подробные инструкции о том, как ее провести. Книга состоит из шести частей, приложения со списком английских имен собственных и предметного указателя в алфавитном порядке. Первая часть книги -- предисловие, в котором автор говорит о важном методическом значении игр в обучении иностранным языкам и раскрывает психологическую сущность языковых игр.

Вторая часть книги «Oral Games» содержит игры на развитие навыков устной речи. Представленные здесь игры предназначены для тренировки навыков слушания и говорения. Обучение этим навыкам невозможно без длительного повторения одних и тех же образцов, что само по себе вносит однообразие, уроки становятся скучными, внимание учащихся рассеивается. Применение игр дает возможность незаметно для учащихся в интересной форме снова и снова повторять материал. Основой для игр этого раздела служат, прежде всего, вопросы и ответы как наиболее простая и употребительная форма устной активности.

Но и самые простые  формы вопросов и ответов должны употребляться безошибочно, поэтому  их следует хорошо отработать. Уже  на первых уроках для закрепления  ограниченного языкового материала  полезно ввести игру на называние знакомых предметов.

Для закрепления речевых  образцов, указывает автор, необходима постоянная устная практика. Очень  важно развивать речевую активность на протяжении всего периода обучения языку. Учитель должен требовать  от учащихся сознательной речевой активности. Поэтому в любой разговорной практике следует исходить из содержания. Преподаватель должен тщательно продумывать содержание беседы, сделать ее доступной и интересной для школьников.

Автор рекомендует преподавателю  темы для устной практики систематизировать и планировать на весь учебный год.

Третья часть пособия -- «Pronunciation Games». Здесь подобраны  игры на развитие навыков произношения и выработку правильного логического  ударения. Автор рекомендует предварительно отрабатывать отдельные, звуки с объяснением артикуляции, для того чтобы в игре упражнять эти звуки в словах. Игры на произношение должны проводиться регулярно, но не следует тратить на них много времени. Для фонетической зарядки достаточно пяти минут.

Для упражнений на произношение необходимо использовать знакомую учащимся лексику, а новые слова вводить только тогда, когда нужно обратить внимание на дифференциацию звуков, от которой зависит смысл слова, что возможно на более продвинутой стадии обучения.

Игры на произношение должны проводиться в быстром темпе, четко. Большую помощь окажут учителю наглядные пособия Четвертая часть «Reading and Writing Games» содержит игры на развитие навыков чтения и письма.

Орфографические игры представлены в пятой части книги «Spelling Games». Создание навыка грамотного письма- важная часть обучения, как на начальном, так и на более продвинутом этапе.

Для обучения орфографии очень важно правильное закрепление  зрительного образа слова. Орфографические  игры достаточно проводить два раза в неделю. По содержанию эти игры сочетаются с устной практикой и строятся на уже знакомой учащимся лексике. В заключительной части «Mixed Bag» собраны игры, синтезирующие самые различные языковые умения

Большое количество учащихся в классе, по мнению автора, не является препятствием для проведения игр, поскольку классы делятся на команды. Состав команд автор рекомендует определять на целый год, в их состав должны входить по возможности ученики одного уровня знаний. Полезно за каждой командой закрепить определенное название. Систему названий в течение года рекомендуется менять. Это вносит разнообразие в жизнь класса. Каждая игра требует предварительной подготовки. Иногда правила игры лучше объяснить сначала на родном языке. Игры следует планировать так, чтобы они точно соответствовали по времени уроку или части урока.

Далее мы представляем некоторые  игры из данной книги, которые учитель  может использовать на уроке.

ORAL GAMES

1. IDENTIFYING GAMES

Pupils in turn hold up or touch or point to objects or other pupils, ask questions such as what's this (that)? Who's this (that)?, and What are these (those)?, and then name a pupil in another team to answer. The game is most easily played with two teams. If there are four teams and room enough, it is best to have two games in progress simultaneously.

Those who answer correctly ask a similar question in return. If an, answer is incorrect, the questioner or perhaps another pupil from the same team asks another question. A point may be scored for every correct question and answer. If yes- no-questions are asked, such as Is this (that) a box (doll, star, banana)? Am I a pupil? Are you John? Is she a girl?, the answers can be Yes, it is. No, it isn't, or Yes, you are. No, you aren't or Yes, I am. No I'm not, or Yes, she is. No, she isn't, etc. To questions in the plural, such as Are they boxes (my pencils, your marbles, red gloves)? the answers are Yes, they are, or No, they aren't. At a slightly less elementary stage a game can be made, out of the following kind of sequence:

A. (to В.): What's this?

В. It's a ....

A. (to class): Is it a .. . ?

Сlass: Yes, it is (or No, it isn't if B.'s answer was wrong).

«Choice» questions also lend themselves to this game. Is this (that) a banana or an orange? (It's a banana.) Are those bananas or oranges? (They are bananas.)

Experienced teachers will recognize that there are very many language «items» in the above examples. They are not all taught at once, but over a period of some weeks or months. In what order they are best taught is not our concern here, but they cannot be mixed together in a game until they have been properly mastered. Thus the examples are illustrative of how such a game can be played at various stages of achievement.

d. Unfinished drawings. The teacher draws a few objects simply on the board, e. g.: a ship, a house, a ball, a car, a pram, an aeroplane, and asks as he goes along, «What's this?». Then he rubs out some of the essential lines in the sketches, goes back to one of them (the ship, perhaps), and says, as if puzzled, «Now what's this? Oh yes, I know, it's a ship». And quickly draws in the remaining lines. He does the same with a second drawing, and then asks the class about the others, «And what's this?». They tell him, «It's a pram». «It's an aero plane», etc. Then he draws the first line of something new, and again asks, «What's this?». The pupils guess, «It's a hat». «It's an umbrella», etc the teacher says «No» until the right guess is made, and then draws in the remaining lines.

Five minutes is long enough for this, but children greatly enjoy guessing and at the same time exercising their elementary knowledge of the language.

2. WHERE?

e. Where can it be?

Teacher: I've dropped my watch (pen, brooch -- any small object) somewhere. Now where can it possible be?

Various pupils: In the bus. At home. In the corridor. Behind the radiator. Between the cupboard and the stove. In B.'s desk. The practice is brisker and more plentiful if nobody looks in these places, but more realistic if someone does. It can sometimes be taken one way and sometimes the other. If there is searching, the game still need not drag.

Teacher: Where can it be?

1st pupil: Behind the cupboard.

Teacher: Elizabeth, look behind the cupboard... What's Elizabeth doing?

Class: She's looking behind the cupboard. Teacher: Yes, she's looking behind the cupboard. Is it there?

Elizabeth: No it isn't there, Mr. Williams.

Teacher: Where is it, then? Where can it be, Derek?

Derek: In the drawer of your table.

Teacher: Come and look. Where's Derek going to look, Sheila?

Sheila: In the drawer of your table.

Teacher: Everybody, where's he looking? (D. is now there.)

Class: In the drawer of your table. Teacher: Is it there, Derek? Derek: No, it isn't.

Teacher: Then where can it be?

h. Where were you? One pupil in front of the class is a «visitor» and says something like: «I called at your house at ten o'clock last Saturday morning, but you weren't in. Where were you?» Each pupil gives an answer, e. g.: «I was at my uncle's house». «I was at the airport». «I was on holiday». «I was in the mountains». If every pupil's answer is to be different, a considerable vocabulary is required, and the game m therefore not suitable at an elementary stage. For still more advanced learners it gives practice in using the Past Perfect: I had gone to the station, etc. Other people can also be brought in: I called at your house ...but I nobody was in. Where was everybody? My father had gone to a football match, my mother had gone out shopping, my brother was on holiday, and I had gone to my' friend's house. For relatively advanced learners, also, the reason for being elsewhere might be added, e. g.: I had gone to the station to meet my brother, who was coming home on holiday.

i. Out of place At least twenty familiar objects are placed beforehand about the room in unfamiliar positions, all being in full view. The pupils are not told that the objects are, but are given a minute or two to look about them, and then are asked (taking one pupil from each team in turn) to say what they have noticed. They may say, for instance: «There is a book on top of the door». «There is a bag in the waste-paper». «There is a hairbrush on the gramophones». «There is a ruler in the vase», etc.

At another stage in the course the past tense could be used, if the objects have been taken away from these positions. Thus: There was a book on top of the door. Was there? Yes, there was. Is there a book on top of the door now? No, there isn't.

Or, if some of the objects have been removed and not others, one of the uses of still can be practiced. Is it still there? No. Is my bag still here? Yes, it is -- it's still in the waste-paper-basket.

3. LISTEN AND DO

h. Face to face. Every pupil has a partner, and the two stand facing each other at the circumference of a large circle. Somebody in the centre of the circle gives commands, which all the players obey, e. g.: Stand back to back. Run round each other. Shake hands. Touch each other's shoulders, etc. Suddenly the pupil in the centre calls out «All change», and everyone must seize a new partner. The centre pupil tries to do so too. The one left without a partner goes into the centre and gives commands. This can be played wherever there is room enough, and best outdoors. If the total number of pupils is even, have two in the centre giving commands.

4. WHAT AM I DOING?

a. The teacher performs an action of some kind and asks the class what he is doing. Answers: You're cleaning the board. You're drawing a man. You're walking round and round your table. You're touching John's hand. You're writing. You're pinning up a picture, etc. The action must, of course, still be in progress when the reply is given. Thus only actions which can be prolonged are suitable here. c. Perhaps. The teacher whispers something I to one of the pupils and sends him out where he I cannot be seen. The class must guess what he is doing -- or should be doing. Perhaps he's sharpening a pencil, washing his hands, fetching some chalk, running round the playground, feeding the animals, looking for a box, moving your bicycle out of the sun, etc. The teacher asks for suggestions and a considerable vocabulary is needed if every pupil is to make a different sentence and the answer is not to be guessed too soon. A team point is awarded for the first one to guess exactly. Then someone else goes outside with another secret. If the pupils are inventive enough, they need not depend on the teacher for this, and the teacher will have to guess too.

5. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?

Guessing-games can give excellent practice of the going to construction when the action is to 1 take place in the immediate future, so that everyone can see it. If the teacher picks up a piece of chalk, he is probably going to write or draw on the board. «I'm going to draw something». The teacher says. But what? That's anybody's guess - and everybody guesses. You're going to draw a giraffe, a tree, a lake, an island, a map, some houses, etc. The first to guess takes the teacher's place, and perhaps scores a point. Drawing is, of course, only one thing: there are all the other actions that can be performed or mimed, singly or one after the other. Every pupil thinks of something to do and keeps quiet about it. «Dick». Says the teacher.

Dick comes forward. «Tell me what you're going to do». Dick whispers it. «All right», the teacher says (or «No. think of something else». if it isn't suitable). «Now, what's Dick going to do?». Answers are taken from the class; is hands go up. He's going to sit on your chair, open the door, unlock (he cupboard, put his books on you're table.

Teacher: Is that what you're going to do, Dick?

Dick: No.

Presently someone guesses: «He's going to put the waste-paper-basket in that corner. »

Dick: Yes.

Teacher: All right, put it there, Dick.

Performance of the action completes the context.

9. GETTING TO KNOW NUMBERS

e. Number on the board. The teacher has written numbers all over the board, at a height the pupils can reach; or bettor still, pupils have written them there themselves, so long as they can write firmly and clearly. There are two or more teams, and one member of each stands at the blackboard, coloured chalk in hand (each team has a different colour). The teacher calls out a number and the first to put a ring round it scores a point. The players should be changed after they have ringed three or four numbers, and any player who rings one wrongly is replaced.

The numbers may be simple or difficult. They can also be clock times, weights and measures, dates, sums of money, telephone numbers, etc. Circle touch Space is needed. The players form a circle and join hands. They number off in fours (or possibly in threes, fives, or sixes, according to the number playing). The teacher calls out a number -- for instance, 4 -- and all the 4's run clockwise round the outside of the circle and back to their places, if possible without being touched by the 4 behind. Each number is called the same number of times. The player who has touched the largest number of other players is the winner. Ordinal numbers may be used instead of cardinal. Thus the players number as first, second, third, etc. and the teacher calls, for example, «fourth» instead of «four».

m. The main in the moon. The players stand or sit in a ring and number off. There is a player in the middle of the ring who says clearly:

The man in the moon

Has lost his hat.

Some say this

And some say that.

But I say (slight pause and then quickly)

That number ... has it.

All the players then count aloud together up to the number mentioned; for instance: «One - two - three - four - five - six - seven». Number 7 say, «I haven't got it». «Who has it, then?». Demands the centre player. Number 7: «Number three has». Everybody: «One - two - three». Number 3: «No, I haven't got it». And so on, until every player has been accused. The conclusion can be:

The man in the moon, etc.

And I say

That nobody has it.

Everybody then counts from 1 to 20 (or whatever the number of players is).

10. WORDS, WORDS, WORDS.

b. Going a w a y. This can be going abroad or, of course. Going to London, or Packing my) bag, or Packing my grandmother's trunk, or whatever seems suitable. Let us take the first idea. «I am going abroad», says player No. 1, «and I shall take with me a suitcase». Player No. 2 continues: «I am going abroad, and I shall take with me a suitcase and a camera». Player No. 3 says: «I am going abroad and I shall take with me a suitcase, a camera, and some films». And so on. Each player repeats the items in list and adds one of his or her own.

PRONUNCIATION GAMES

1. THE SAME, OR DIFFERENT?

a. The teacher says two sentences and the pupils have to judge whether they are the same or different. Examples:

Teacher: You must leave there You must live there -- You must leave there. Are they all the same? I'll say them once more. (Says them.) Peter?

Peter: The second one was different. Teacher: Good. A point for your team. I'd like to look at your back -- I'd like to look at your back. John? John; Different.

Teacher: Are you sure? Listen again. (Repeats them.) John: Oh, the same. Teacher: yes how what about this? I like to look at you back - I like to look at you bag. Hands up.

And so on.

B The same procedure, except that word - pairs and not sentence - pair are used. Examples: leaf - leave, men- men - man, thin - thing - thing - thin. Again, it is important to pronounce each word of the pair or set in the same way and not, for instance, on with a rising intonation and another with a falling intonation.

2. PICTURES AND SOUNDS.

Pictures are useful for a variety of purposes in the foreign-language course, and some pronunciation difficulties lend themselves to pictorial illustration. For instance, it is fairly easy to have simple sketches of a pot and a port, of a sheep and a ship, of a hat and a hut, a cart and a kite, of somebody thinking and somebody sinking.

These are, of course, merely examples. The teacher, or course-maker, must be familiar with the pupils' difficulties, perhaps not those illustrated above, and should keep within the vocabulary they have matered at a given stage. There will be some difficulties which do not lent themselves to pictorial treatment and for these other games and drills must be used. Such sketches can be put on the blackboard in a few seconds, but it is probably better to have them on cards, since they provide useful test-material as well as practice-material. Be sure that the sketches are big enough and clear enough to be seen properly from the back of the class.

Pronouncing games or contests can be played with pictures of this sort in the following ways. Let us take pictures of a hat and of a hut as examples.

The teacher says, «point to a hat», or «point to a hut», and calls a pupil's name. the pupils points to one of the pictures and scores a point if he is right.

READING AND WRITING GAMES

6. OTHER WORD-GAMES

d. Word Lotto. Each pupil has a word-card, on which there are several words -- perhaps three or four -- arranged one under the other.

If the class is an intermediate or advanced one and has done a lot of reading, the children's vocabulary will be extensive, and every child can have a different set of words. In a class of 40 pupils, this means finding 120 to 160 words which are not too easy to read. They can be typed on paper and gummed on the cards: engine flight early descent airport arrive

Small single-word strips, one for every word on the cards, are put on a tray or in a bowl or bag. (If the. class still has a small reading-vocabulary, not all the pupils' word-cards need be completely different; if they are not, some words will occur a number of times, and therefore there must be a corresponding number of repetitions among the single-word strips). The teacher takes one of the strips at a time and cither reads it out or shows it, or both. (If the class is small, he can show it, but it must be big enough for everyone to see without peering). Any pupil who has the same Word on his card as he sees on the teacher's strip can claim the strip by putting up his hand or saying the word. If two pupils claim a word, the first to do so o-ets it. The game is taken smartly, with only a Few seconds between each word. The first team to have all its words covered is the winner. This is suitable for older as well as younger children, and can also be played in separate groups.

Shipwreck list s. Each group has a pencil and paper and the group leader does the writing. First, the names of foods must be written down. Allow two or three minutes for all the groups to do this, then ask for the names of drinks, and finally for articles of clothing.

Group A. leader reads out Group A.'s list, while other group leaders cross out on their lists anything he mentions. Then Group B. leader reads out what his group still has, and the other groups cross out those items if they have them, and so on with all (he groups. The result will be that the items not crossed out on any list will be those no one else but a certain group has thought of. «You have been wrecked on a desert island». Says the teacher, «and this is all the food, drink, and clothing you have». The surviving items are read out, and a point given for the longest list (none will be very appropriate.

SPELLING GAMES.

2. WRITE WHAT YOU HEAR

a. A list of words which have been giving trouble is first studied, with or without teaches help. The teachers calls a word, names a pupil from each team, and says “Go”. These pupils each write the word on the blackboard. The first to finish correctly and with full legibility wins a point.

3. SPELL ALOUD WHAT YOU HEAR OR KNOW

e. Word- guessing. The teacher huts on the board a number of dots ask questions such as «Has it an a? Is there a t in it? Does it contain a g? (there is practice here in using two types of yes - no - question). If the answer is «Yes it has» or «Yes there is», or «Yes, it does», the teacher writes in the letter where it occurs. If the answer is «No?», the letter is either written at the side (which makes the games much easier) or an x or o is put against the name of the team concerned. The team which has the fewest x's or o's by the time the word is complete scores a point.