РОЛЬ ИГРЫ НА УРОКАХ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Игра является инструментом преподавания, который активизирует мыслительную деятельность учеников, позволяет сделать учебный процесс привлекательным и интересным, заставляет учеников волноваться и переживать. Это мощный стимул к овладению иностранным языком. Об обучающихся возможностях игр известно давно. Многие выдающиеся педагоги справедливо обращали внимание на эффективность использования игр в процессе обучения. И это понятно. В игре проявляются особенно полно и порой неожиданно способности человека, ребенка в особенности.

Игра – особо организованное занятие, требующее напряжения эмоциональных и умственных сил. Игра всегда предполагает принятие решения – как поступить, что сказать.

Для школьников игра – путь к познанию, так как играя ученики без особых усилий, с удовольствием включаются в процесс обучения, забывая, что идёт урок.  Для них игра прежде всего – увлекательное занятие. Этим-то она и привлекает учителей, в том числе и учителей иностранного языка. В игре все равны. Она посильна даже слабым ученикам. Более того, слабый по языковой подготовке ученик может стать первым в игре: находчивость и сообразительность здесь оказываются порой более важными, чем знание предмета. Чувство равенства. Атмосфера увлеченности и радости, ощущение посильности заданий – все это дает возможность ребятам преодолеть стеснительность, мешающую свободно употреблять в речи слова чужого языка, и благотворно сказывается на результатах обучения. Незаметно усваивается языковой материал, а вместе с этим возникает чувство удовлетворения – «оказывается, я уже могу говорить наравне со всеми».

Игра позволяет преподавателю организовать деятельность учащихся, сделать ее более активной, заинтересовать их в изучении предмета и в поиске дополнительных средств для получения информации – то есть создать мотивацию, которой так часто не хватает детям. Игра способствует развитию таких качеств, как самостоятельность и инициативность.  Игра представляет собой небольшую ситуацию, построение со своими сюжетом, конфликтом и действующими лицами. В ходе игры ситуация проигрывается несколько раз и при этом каждый раз в новом варианте. Но вместе с тем ситуация игры – ситуация реальной жизни. Реальность ее определяется основным условием игры – соревнованием. Желание победить мобилизует мысль и энергию играющих, создает атмосферу эмоциональной напряженности. Несмотря на четкие условия игры и ограниченность использования языкового материала, в ней обязательно есть элемент неожиданности.

Игры, с точки зрения педагогов и психологов, способствуют выполнению важных методических задач:

• Созданию психологической готовности детей к речевому общению;
• Обеспечению естественной необходимости многократного повторения ими языкового материала;
• Тренировке учащихся в выборе нужного речевого варианта, что является подготовкой к ситуативной спонтанности речи вообще.

Также общеизвестно, что ошибки являются неотъемлемой частью процесса обучения языку, и возможность свободно делать ошибки на уроке скорее содействует обучению, нежели сдерживать его. Они постепенно исчезают, по мере того, как учащиеся становятся более компетентными и уверенными в себе.

Учащиеся на данном уровне обычно допускают ошибки  одинакового типа как в ролевой игре, так и при работе с любым другим изучаемым материалом. И поэтому учитель может предусмотреть наиболее  типичные ошибки и упредить их, продумав предварительные упражнения на использование определенных структур, лексических единиц, которые затем будут использоваться в ролевой игре. Во время игры учитель должен переходить от группы к группе, замечая ошибки с тем, чтобы после ролевой игры или на следующем уроке приступить к работе над ошибками. Очень важно при этом заставить учащихся самих дать правильный вариант фразы или слова, в котором были допущены ошибки, написать их на доске и сопроводить их при этом каким-то типом коррективных упражнений, которые могли бы наилучшим образом способствовать отработке правильного варианта самими учащимися.

Таким образом, игра представляет собой упражнение, где создается возможность для многократного повторения речевого образца в условиях, максимально приближенных к реальному речевому общению с эмоциональностью, спонтанностью, целенаправленностью воздействия.

В настоящее время в методической литературе существует достаточно большое количество классификаций, систематизирующих виды учебных игр в соответствии с тем или иным классификационным критерием.

Есть игры «разогревающие» (warmers), в них играют, когда нужно «расшевелить» детей, или когда дети плохо знакомы (ice-breaking games).

Другой тип игр, «coolers», наоборот, предпочтительнее, когда дети расшалились,

или пришли с другого урока, например, с физкультуры, и их нужно успокоить. В процессе игры это будет сделать легче, чем читая и переводя тексты или выполняя грамматические упражнения.

COOLERS

Chinese translations

Method:

Step one – (before the lesson). The teacher writes sentences on slips of paper. These sentences are

designed to possibly give the learners some translating difficulties.

Step two – If necessary the teacher divides the class up into subgroups of, say, 12 students (whatever

the number it must be even).

Step three – The teacher gives the first slip(s) to the first student(s) who must not show it to their

colleagues but must translate it into the mother tongue of the class on another slip of paper.

Step four – He/she then passes the translation on to the next member of the team who must translate it

onto another slip of paper into English and pass this translation on to the next student.

Step five – this process continues with the sentence being translated into and out of the learners’

mother tongue until it reaches the last person in the group.

Step six – The teacher retrieves the original and final English versions and, on the board or by dictating

them elicits comparison and discussion – if possible points in the multiple translation process where

significant changes occurred should be identified and discussed. N.B. Significant changes in this activity

are by no means always errors and the teacher must be careful to praise really good translation as

well as pointing out and correcting errors and noting changes that make little or no difference.

Note: This can sometimes be a rather slow process and the purpose of the readers is to give people

something to do while they are waiting for their turn or have had their turn and are waiting for the

feedback stage. The activity can also be played as a “background activity” while something else is going

on.

Anticipated problems: none

Word searches

Description

Level: all levels

Ages: all ages

Time 10 – 20 minutes

Materials: prepared word search grids – one for each student, OHT with the results

Purpose: Practice and revision of recently studied vocabulary

Type: cooler

Method:

Step one – (before the lesson). Prepare the grid. The framework can be made using the

Table facility on Microsoft Word but in the example on the next page there are 11 cells each

way. Alternatively a perfectly good framework can be made with a ruler and biro!

Step two – Fill in, say, ten words in the grid randomly placed and interlocking where

convenient.

Step three – fill in the remainder of the cells with fragments of words from the lexical set

being revised. Of course, you can make this more manageable for low level learners if you

list the target words at the bottom of the page.

Step four – if you are preparing on a word processor, colour the target words and use this

either via an OHP or an interactive white board.

Step five – distribute the completed grids and allow individuals five minutes to find the

words.

Step six – invite the students to pair up and share what they have found.

Step seven – Conduct a short feedback session using the OHP or interactive white board.

Hangman

Level: All

Ages: all ages

Time 10 – 15 minutes

Materials: board & board marker

Purpose: vocabulary review

Type: cooler but can get competitive

Method:

Everyone already knows this game.

tip: Many teachers find a quick burst of hangman a neat way of introducing the topic

of a lesson.

Warmers

The Rizla game

Level: Pre-intermediate +

Ages: all ages

Time 5 – 10 minutes

Materials: some post-it notes

Purpose: practice in question forms and general revision

Method:

Step one – The teacher prepares a series of labels on post-it notes, as many labels as there are

people in the class. Each label has the name of a well-known person. The labels are stuck onto

the students where they can’t read them – e.g., on their foreheads or backs.

Step two – The teacher drills and rehearses with the class the kind of questions they will need.

Step three – The class then mingles and each person tries to find out “who they are” by asking

questions.

Anticipated problems: gaps in general knowledge.

Note:

“Rizla” is the name of a company that manufactures cigarette papers for people who like to roll

their own cigarettes. Some resourceful teacher realized that these could be used for this

activity long before post-it note pads were invented. The name, like the object, has stuck!

My aunt’s cat …

Level: Pre-intermediate +

Ages: all ages

Time 5 – 10 minutes

Materials: none

Purpose: A bit of fun and activation of a random set of vocabulary, revision of the sequence of

the alphabet, conditioned choice between "a" & "an"

Method:

Step one – The teacher presents the sentence – "My Aunt's cat is an active cat", generates

practice in the pronunciation of the sentence and then writes it up as a marker sentence on the

board. It's worth highlighting and drilling the connected speech phenomena in this sentence.

Step two – The class then take it in turns to repeat the sentence, replacing the adjective with

another starting with the next letter in the alphabet – i.e. bellicose, crafty etc.

Anticipated problems:

Some letters present problems for most classes – for example, xenophobic and xylophoneplaying

may be a bit far-fetched as descriptions of cats for most classes.

The Yes/No Interlude

Level: Pre-intermediate +

Ages: all ages

Time 5 – 10 minutes

Materials: a watch with a second hand

Purpose: fluency practice

Method:

Step one – the teacher selects one “victim” at a time to sit at the front of the class.

Step two – the teacher appoints a time-keeper and makes sure they have a watch or a mobile

phone with a facility for counting a minute.

Step three – the teacher explains the purpose of the activity. The “victim” is to answer all the

questions they are asked without using the words “yes” or “no”. They must try to survive the

ordeal for 60 seconds (few people manage it). At this stage, a demonstration is a good idea.

Step three – as each person fails or succeeds another takes their place.

Step four – if the teacher feels students can do it, they should take over the role of question

master.

Classroom bingo

Level: Pre-intermediate +

Ages: all ages

Time 5 – 10 minutes

Materials: none really, though a generous teacher might like to give each student a sheet of A4

Purpose: familiar vocabulary practice

Method:

Step one – The teacher instructs the class to each make a blank “bingo card” with say eight squares –

like this:

Step two – the teacher instructs the class, working individually, to look around the room and write the

names of eight objects they can see – one in each box. As they are doing this, the teacher similarly

makes as long a list as possible of visible objects for use when s/he becomes the “bingo caller”.

Step three – The teacher calls out the objects and the first student to cross out all the words on their

card shouts out “bingo” and is the winner.

Hotel receptionist

Level: Intermediate +

Ages: all ages

Time 10 – 15 minutes

Materials: slips of paper with prompts on them

Purpose: fluency practice

Method:

Step one – the teacher prepares slips of paper with problems written on them – one for each

member of the class (there are some samples here but some may not be suitable for your

classes).

Step two – the teacher forms the class into groups of six and distributes the slips. Students

must not show each other the slips.

Step three – the teacher explains the scenario. They are all guests at a hotel where there has

been a sudden outbreak of laryngitis. They have all lost their voices except the receptionists,

who live outside the hotel and have not been affected.

Step three –in each group of six, two people are to be the receptionists.

Step four – students take it in turns to mime their problem to the receptionists – the

receptionists can, of course, speak and prompt the guest, check their guesses etc.

Step five – as each “guest” gets their message across, they replace one of the receptionists.

Anticipated problems: despite being a mime activity, this can get quite noisy!

Prompts for hotel receptionist activity:

1. You went on your balcony this morning. Unfortunately you sneezed and your false teeth

flew out and landed in the deep end of the swimming pool six floors below. You can’t

swim.

2. You woke up this morning and found a complete stranger in the bed next to you. It’s a

man. He’s very fat and smells strongly of alcohol. He’s still there now … snoring!

3. Your wedding ring has fallen down the drain of your shower.

4. The remote control of your television doesn’t work and you can’t switch the television off.

5. A large bird has flown into your room. It has eaten your breakfast and is refusing to leave.

6. It’s a very hot today but the air-conditioning in your room is blowing out hot air. None of

the windows will open.

My bonnie

Level: All levels

Ages: all ages

Time 5 – 10 minutes

Materials: none

Purpose: a bit of fun Description

I first witnessed this activity some years ago at an NLP conference in Edinburgh conducted by

Jane Revell (to whom thanks – I’ve used it on many occasions since).

Method:

Step one – the teacher divides the class down the middle of the room into two groups.

Step two – the teacher tells the class they are going to sing a song – “My Bonnie”

Step three – if the song is unfamiliar to the students they should rehearse it once with the

teacher.

Step four – the teacher instructs the group on the right to stand up and the group on the left to

be ready to stand up.

Step five – the teacher explains that every time they reach a “b” in the song, anyone who is

standing must sit down and anyone who is sitting down must stand up.

Step six – sing the song together and enjoy the chaos!

The words of My Bonnie

My Bonnie lies over the ocean

My Bonnie lies over the sea

My Bonnie lies over the ocean

Oh! Bring back my Bonnie to me.

Bring back,

Bring back

Oh! Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me.

Bring back,

Bring back

Oh! Bring back my Bonnie to me.

(My Bonnie probably means my darling)

Anticipated problems: Not an activity for the inhibited or the faint-hearted but second to none

as a warmer.

Peter’s coloured balls

Level: All levels

Ages: all ages

Time 5 – 10 minutes

Materials: three coloured balls

Purpose: a bit of fun and an opportunity for newly-formed groups to get to know each other’s

names

I was introduced to this activity by Peter Scaratt who at that time was making the transition

from a successful career in mainstream primary teaching to TESOL.

Using a ball for name games is something of a commonplace in TESOL methodology but this

technique adds a fresh dimension to the standard activity.

Method:

Step one – the teacher gets the class standing in a circle and checks names round the group.

Step two – the group throw a ball randomly to each other and as each person catches the ball

they announce their name.

Step three – the teacher interrupts the activity and asks the thrower now to announce the

name of the person who is to receive the ball.

Step four – the teacher interrupts the activity again to give fresh instructions. The receiver is

now to say Hello red ball (or whatever colour it is) as they receive the ball then name the next

receiver then say Goodbye red ball as they throw it.

Step five – as soon as a decent rhythm has built up, the teacher quietly introduces a green ball

somewhere in the circle and the activity continues with both balls.

Step six – as soon as a decent rhythm has built up again, the teacher quietly introduces a blue

ball somewhere in the circle and the activity continues with all three balls.

Anticipated problems: At first sight this might not look like an appropriate activity for

teenagers but it has proved surprisingly acceptable to all age groups. Typically it ends in chaos

with balls bouncing around the room.

Getting to know the teacher

Level: All levels

Ages: all ages

Time 20 – 25 minutes

Materials: white or blackboard and a selection of sentences

Purpose: practice of question formation (& indirect questions)

Method:

Step one – a selection of sentences about the teacher are displayed or distributed to the

students.

Step two – individually they must try to devise the questions that would have produced the

displayed sentences as answers.

Step three – the teacher elicits the questions from the class correcting and drilling as necessary

before writing them up on the board.

Step four – the teacher sets up pairwork for students to ask and answer the same or similar

questions to each other in order to introduce their partner to the class and the teacher.

Step five – the teacher invites students to introduce their partners.

Step six – the activity can easily be extended to practice indirect questions by introducing

phrases such as “Could you tell me …” “I wonder if you’d mind telling us … etc.

Murder

Level: All levels

Ages: all ages

Time 5 – 10 minutes

Materials: none

Purpose: ice-breaking

Method:

Step one – the students are arranged standing in a circle of, say, 10 or 12 (more than one group

in the case of larger classes).

Step two – they are instructed to stare at their own feet.

Step three – as the teacher says “one, two, three, up”, they look up and make eye contact with

one other member of the group.

Step four – if, by chance the person they are looking at is looking directly back at them they are

both deemed to have murdered each other and must leave the circle.

Step five – the teacher then says “down again” and the process then recycles until only two are

left.

Comment: This is an odd activity, which involves very little in the way of language. It does,

however, seem to work in that groups, particularly groups who are new to each other, seem to

find it reduces the tension of those first classes.

Список использованной литературы:

1. Степичев П.А. Лексические игры на уроках английского языка. Методические рекомендации. - М.: Чистые пруды, 2008 (Библиотечка «Первого сентября», серия «Английский язык»)
2. Жуковская Р.И. Игра и её педагогическое значение. – М.:  Педагогика,  1975.
3. Соловова Е.Н. Методика  обучения иностранным языкам. М.: Просвещение, 2002
4. Денисова Л.Г. Интенсивная методика на внеклассных занятиях в школе.  - ИЯШ, 1989, № 2
5. Ваулина Ю.Е., Фрейдина Е.Л. Английския язык для студентов факультета дошкольного воспитания. М.: Владос, 2005
6. Павлова  Т.П.  Игровые  приёмы  работы  на  внеклассных  занятиях  по английскому языку. - ИЯШ 1995, № 8.
7. Талызина Н.Ф. Формирование познавательной деятельности учащихся. – М., 1983
8. Максаков А.Н., Тумакова Г.А. Учите, играя: Игры и упражнения со звучащим словом. – М.: Просвещение, 1979.
9. http://eltoneducation.com/