DIDACTIC GAMES IN TEACHING

ENGLISH (1)
1.Compared to children adults have
different ways to process a foreign
language in their brains. According to a
research conducted by dr. Paul
Thompson and other neuroscientists from
UCLA children use a part of their brains
called ‘deep motor area’ to process
language information. Deep motor area is a
part of the brain which processes the
activity that is not thought about or
happens without thinking consciously such
as reading a sentence, blinking and
breathing. "It is like an automatic function
of the child’s brain which is used to
acquire language so it becomes a natural
process for the child. Children acquire
and learn language intuitively while
adults think about it actively so it
becomes ‘intellectual process’ for
them. "It is because when a person turns
18 the deep motor area narrowly shuts.
2.Adults are more conscious when they are
learning a foreign language. They pay
more attention when they speak a foreign
language so we can say that they learn a
second language in an analytic way.
They monitor speech and try not to make
mistakes. Children acquire a second
language in a more natural way. They
absorb language information from their
teachers, parents and other people around them.
Physical activity is a natural part of their development
so we should try to use games when teaching English to
young learners. Children are also more interested in the
lesson when they see a visual material so we should use
a lot of visuals.
3.Types of games:
1.Physical response activities
2.Vocabulary games
3.Grammar games
4.Speaking games
5.Reading and writing games

4.VOCABULARY GAMES

1. LAST MAN STANDING

To play the game, grab a ball and have all the students form a circle. Name a
category or theme, such as things found in a kitchen, food, professions, and so
on.

Begin by tossing the ball at a student. That student will shout a word related to
the theme and throw the ball to another student. As each person catches the ball,
they need to come up with another word that fits the theme. If they repeat a
word that has already been said or can’t think of a new one within a few
seconds, they are out and must sit on the sidelines.

A different version of “Last Man Standing”- instead of naming a theme, each

2.PICTIONARY

Write words on slips of paper for students to choose. Divide your class into two
teams. A student chooses a word. They must convey the word to his or her team
using only drawings. Students cannot use words, symbols or hand gestures.
Limit the time to three minutes maximum. Each correct word is a point and the
first team to get 10 points is the winning team.

3.MIMING GAMES

Write down words on slips of paper for students to choose. Verbs are likely to
be the easiest, but you can also use more complicated words, provided you are
sure most of the students know them. Divide the class into two teams and have
one person from each team choose a piece of paper and act out the word.
4.DEFINITIONS

Write down words on slips of paper for students to choose from. The students
choose the words one by one and they try to explain them. The person who
guesses the words

5. TABOO WORDS

Taboo Words helps students practice with synonyms and descriptions. Separate
the class in half and have the two teams sit on opposite sides of the room, facing
each other. Each team will choose a person to sit in front of their team, facing
them in the “hot seat.” You will stand behind the students and hold up a piece of
paper with a word on it. The students in the hot seats will not be able to see
these papers.

Teams have three minutes (or any amount of time you want to set) to get their
hot seat member to say the word on the paper. The catch is, they can’t say the
word under any circumstances.

6. 20 OBJECTS

Test your students’ memories and vocabulary at the same time with this fun
game. All you need is a clear desk and 20 common items from around the
classroom. You can even grab things from your backpack or purse.

Arrange the objects on the desk and let students gather around to look at them.
Cover everything with a sheet (or something similar) after one minute and send
everyone back to their seats. Each student should write out as many items as
they can remember on a piece of paper, all in English.

When everyone is done, write a list of the items on the board and allow students
to self-correct. Alternatively, you can call out the objects and give a point for
each one that is correctly written.

7. CATEGORIES

Have students draw six columns on their paper and write a category at the top of
each column. You can choose categories that fit what you’ve been studying in
class or go with some basics. Popular categories include food, names, cities or
countries, furniture, verbs and clothing.

Choose a random letter and write it on the board. Give students enough time to
write down a word for each category that starts with that letter. You can repeat
with new letters as many times as you like.
8. LETTER SCRAMBLE

Take a list of words that your students have recently learned and write a
scrambled version of each on the board. Allow students to unscramble the words
on their paper. The first one to finish deciphering all the words wins.

9.WORD BINGO

Make bingo sheets with a 4×4 grid and add words to each square. Hand these
out (each one should be unique) and have students mark the correct word when
you call it out. The first person to finish marking their entire page wins.

There are some fun variations to Word Bingo:

Picture Bingo: Use pictures on the Bingo card and call out the words that relate.

Synonym Bingo: Get those brains working by giving students a word that
means the same thing as a word on their card.

Antonym Bingo: This is just as it sounds. Call out the antonyms of words on
their cards and see how many students get it.

10.SHIPS OF WAR

Divide the students into teams of four or five. Explain that the students are
going to play a game of warships, but first they must choose a name for their
ship, a captain and a shooter. If necessary, brainstorm the names of famous ships
with the class, e.g. the Titanic, the Black Pearl, etc. When every team has chosen
a name, ask them to choose a captain and a shooter. The captain's job is to
memorize the ship's name. The shooter's job is to memorize the names of the
other ships. The remaining students in each team are the ship's crew. Arrange all
the captains in a circle. The ship's crew lines up behind their captain. The
shooter is the last crew member in each line. Give the students a category.
Words from the category are used to defend ships from attack. Give the students
time to think of words associated with the category. Every student (except the
shooters) must think of words. Then, start the game by calling a ship's name.
The captain of that ship replies with a word from the category. The crewman
behind the captain then says another word from the category and so on down the
line until it is the shooter's turn. The shooter then calls out the name of another
ship. The captain of that ship replies with a word from the category and the
process is repeated. If a captain or crew member is too slow to reply, can't think
of a word, repeats a word or the shooter calls out the wrong ship (e.g. their own
ship or a ship that has already been sunk), the ship is sunk and everyone from
the ship joins the crew of the ship that went before them. When a ship has been
sunk, change the category. The last warship left standing wins the game.

11.ONLINE VOCABULARY GAMES-DIFFERENT WEBSITES:

1)www.learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org,

2)www.kahoot.it

3)www.anglomaniacy.pl