NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH

Северо-Казахстанская область

Акжарский район

Бестерекская Средняя Школа

 

 

 

NEW   TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Выполнила: учитель английского языка Амирханова Сания Сатылгановна  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Талшик, 2015 г.

                             

  CONTENTS

I.INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………..

1.1 The benefits of using games in language-learning……………………………………..

1.2 The advantages of using games…………………………………………………………

 

II.PRACTICAL PART……………………………………………………………………..

2.1 Lexical Games………………………………………………………………………….

2.2

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………..

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I.INTRODUCTION

          Language learning is hard work ... Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a long period of time. Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work.'
          Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. The learners want to take part and in order to do so must understand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information.'
         The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years. A useful interpretation of 'meaningfulness' is that the learners respond to the content in a definite way. If they are amused, angered, intrigued or surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus the meaning of the language they listen to, read, speak and write will be more vividly experienced and, therefore, better remembered.
If it is accepted that games can provide intense and meaningful practice of language, then they must be regarded as central to a teacher's repertoire. They are thus not for use solely on wet days and at the end of term!'

          Games offer students a fun-filled and relaxing learning atmosphere. After learning and practicing new vocabulary, students have the opportunity to use language in a non-stressful way.      While playing games, the learners' attention is on the message, not on the language. Rather than pay attention to the correctness of linguistic forms, most participants will do all they can to win. This eases the fear of negative evaluation, the concern of being negatively judged in public, and which is one of the main factors inhibiting language learners from using the target language in front of other people. In a game-oriented context, anxiety is reduced and speech fluency is generated--thus communicative competence is achieved.

        Games are also motivating. Games introduce an element of competition into language-building activities. This provides valuable impetus to a purposeful use of language (Prasad 2003). In other words, these activities create a meaningful context for language use. The competitive ambiance also makes learners concentrate and think intensively during the learning process, which enhances unconscious acquisition of inputs. Most students who have experienced game-oriented activities hold positive attitudes towards them (Uberman 1998). An action research conducted by Huyen and Nga (2003), students said that they liked the relaxed atmosphere, the competitiveness, and the motivation that games brought to the classroom. On the effectiveness of games, teachers in Huyen&Nga's (2003) reported that action research reported that their students seem to learn more quickly and retain the learned materials better in a stress-free and comfortable environment.

 

           1.1 The benefits of using games in language-learning

 

The benefits of using games in language-learning can be summed up in nine 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.

 

                  

          

 

1.2 The advantages of using games

 

           Many experienced textbook and methodology manuals writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value. W. R. Lee holds that most language games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme. A similar opinion is expressed by Richard-Amato, who believes games to be fun but warns against overlooking their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language teaching. There are many advantages of using games. "Games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely" (Richard-Amato). They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings (Hansen). They also enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language which are not always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore, to quote Richard-Amato, they, "add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice, "[but also] they are used to introduce new ideas". In the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games, students remember things faster and better (Wierus and Wierus). Further support comes from Zdybiewska, who believes games to be a good way of practicing language, for they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in the future.

         Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems.

         There are many factors to consider while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must correspond to either the student's level, or age, or to the material that is to be introduced or practiced. Not all games are appropriate for all students irrespective of their age. Different age groups require various topics, materials, and modes of games. For example, children benefit most from games which require moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups and the like. Furthermore, structural games that practice or reinforce a certain grammatical aspect of language have to relate to students' abilities and prior knowledge. Games become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the student's experience.

          Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time necessary for its completion. Many games have a time limit, but the teacher can either allocate more or less time depending on the students' level, the number of people in a group, or the knowledge of the rules of a game etc.

          Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee observes, a game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do". Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon suggests that games be used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen. At different stages of the lesson, the teacher's aims connected with a game may vary:

          Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in this article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate fluency. However, can they be more successful for presentation and revision than other techniques? The following part of this article is an attempt at finding the answer to this question.

Here we can’t help speaking about the games which arouse pupils’ interest to the language, they make the atmosphere of the lesson more emotional, more lively. They give the possibility to even a weak pupil to take an active part in the game.

 

        

1.3 Organizing games

        

         It is very important that before organizing a game the teacher must introduce some words and expressions to the pupils.

Introduction:

Let’s play a game.

Today I am going to teach you how to play a game called…

Now we’ll play a guessing game.

This game will give you practice in the use of…

Do you know how to play this game?

Has anyone played this game before?

No? I’ll explain it to you then.

Now, the rules are quite simple.

Arrangement of the classroom:

Put your chairs together.

We can put 2 chairs back to back.

Play in twos (threes, fours, fives…)

Split into 2 teams.

Split into pairs.

Play with the boy (girl) sitting next to you.

You’ll be the team captain.

I’ll be the referee.

Taking turns:

You’ll take it in turns to begin…

Now it’s your turn to come out.

Now it’s your turn to ask questions.

You do it first (next).

It’ll be your turn next.

Scoring, winning, and losing.

You can keep the score, Marina.

That’s one point for you.

That’s another point for you.

That’s right. One point for your team.

No point for your team if I hear anybody whispering.

A point for team B instead.

One point is awarded for every correct sentence.

The team which answers the most questions wins.

Some expressions for guessing games:

Guess what this is.

Guess what I am drawing.

Each team can also make a guess at the word.

One point for a guess…and so on.

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

  II.PRACTICAL PART

 

          2.1 Types of games

          As you know there are different kinds of games: lexical, grammar, role plays, the ABC games, phonetics games and so on.

          Lexical Games

1. The aim of the game is drilling the usage of the prepositions and the question ‘Where was…?’

There are some objects on the table: a book, a pen, and a pencil-box. Then the teacher puts the pen into the book, the pencil-box in the table. Then he/she puts these objects on the table and asks:

T. - Where was the book?

P1 - The book was on the table.

T. - Where was the pen?

P2 - The pen was in the book.

T. – Where was the pencil-box?

P3 - The pencil-box was in the table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. Guessing Game “Who Am I?”

Today we’ll learn a new game. It’s called “Who Am I?” Has anyone played it before? No? I’ll explain it to you then. Now I am showing the pupils a card with the name of a character out of the book. And you have to guess who you are. You can ask the pupils any questions except of course the name of the character. You can ask questions like for example:

Am I an adult or a child?

Am I a man or a woman (a boy or a girl)?

Am I a pupil?

Am I working?

Am I married or single?

Am I old or young?

Do I live in the country in a city?

ABC games

 

Dd		Bb		Ii
	Ee		Gg		Ff
Aa		Hh		Cc
	Ss		Tt

1. Out You Go!

The player thinks of some word. He draws on the blackboard or a sheet of paper as many squares as there are letters in the word. The players in turn call out some letters. ‘Is there T in it?’ or ‘Has it B in it?’ someone asks. If the word contains this letter the player writes it in its proper square, if not, the one who gave it drops out of the game. The one who guessed the greatest number of letters wins. The other name of this game is “The Hanger”. The word is “ C H R I S T M A S”

2. The game is called ‘The Invitation’. One of the pupils leaves the classroom. The rest of the pupils decide where they are going to go. Pupil 1 must guess their decision.

P1 – Let’s go to the yard.

P2 - Thank you, I don’t want.

P1 – Let’s go to the cinema.

P3 - I am not well.

P1 – Let’s go to my friend’s birthday party.

P4 - Oh, with great pleasure.

 

Grammar Games:

1. A Boaster.

The pupils were studying the Future Simple Tense. They were to boast what they were going to do in summer.

T. - In summer all of you will go to some place. Let us boast.

P-s - In summer I shall go to Paris. In July I shall go to Hollywood.

T. - Express your doubt.

P-s - Will you go to Paris? Will you go to Hollywood?

T. - Disagree with him (her).

P-s - You will not go to Paris in summer. You will not go to Hollywood in July.

 

 

 

2. Think of the Future.

The teacher says a statement and throws a ball to a pupil. The pupil must catch the ball and give the answer very quickly.

 

Teacher:

Pupil:

You are in a lovely place.

I shall sit and listen to the

Ann. Birds.

 

The flowers are dry. --

I shall water them.

I see many berries. --

You will pick them.

3. The teacher asks a question: “What is spring?”

The members of the teams must say as many sentences as they can: “ Spring is a season. It comes after winter. It has three months. They are March, April and May. It is not cold in spring. The sky is often blue. The trees are green, etc.”

 

4. Don’t forget.

There are 8 or 10 toys (objects) on the table. The pupils have a look on them for 1-2 minutes. Then the table is covered with a cloth. The pupil’s task is to name all the objects.

 

5 .The teacher gives the beginning of the story and the pupils must finish it.

 

     E.g. Yesterday I was at home. I was waiting for my friend Nick who promised to come, but did not come. I was lonely and decided to go out. I put on my cap and overcoat and went out into the yard. But as soon as I closed the door I heard a terrible cry. I turned round and saw…

How would you have finished the story if you had been the author?

 

 

 

        CONCLUSION

         Games are fun and children like to play them. Through games children experiment, discover, and interact with their environment. Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language. For many children between four and twelve years old, especially the youngest, language learning will not be the key motivational factor. Games can provide this stimulus. The game context makes the foreign language immediately useful to the children. It brings the target language to life.
The game makes the reasons for speaking plausible even to reluctant children.
Through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn their mother tongue without being aware they are studying; thus without stress, they can learn a lot.

         Even shy students can participate positively.A game must be more than just fun. A game should involve "friendly" competition. A game should keep all of the students involved and interested.A  game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather than on the language itself. A game should give students a chance to learn, practice, or review specific language material.

         Dear teachers, don’t be afraid to play with you children, because the game arouses children’s interest to English, their outlook, even the weak pupil can remember the words and grammar structures through the game. Don't forget, the atmosphere must be always friendly, you must keep the score, because the game is always a competition. The teacher must know the aims and tasks of each game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1.Games for Language Learning' (2nd. Ed.) by Andrew Wright, David Betteridge and Michael Buckby. Cambridge University Press, 1984.

2. Афанасьева О., Михеева И. «English Language Course», М.: «Фолиант», 2001

3.Соловова Е.Н. Методика обучения иностранным языкам. Базовый курс лекций. М.,2002.С.46.

4.Сахарова Н.Г.Эффективный подход к обучению фонетике английского языка // Школа. -2005. - № 1. - С. 56-60.

5.Полат Е.С. Новые педагогические и информационные технологии в системе образования. – М., 2000.