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THEME 18 GAMES
INTRODUCTION
At this theme, we are going to show the main characteristics of games and
how to use them in order to get some educational purposes mostly related
to foreign language teaching.
So, let’s start showing the relationship between games and creativity and
their functions in the English classroom.
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THEME 18 GAMES
Games are creativity are absolutely matched because games are the natural
environment where creativity thinking lives, and without a creative attitude
would be impossible to develop any kind of game.
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THEME 18 GAMES
(Limitations)
All children are born creative, they need to explore, investigate, and
discover new things but this capacity is usually limited by:
a. Environmental factors: physical structure of the classroom
b. Social values: a creative child is usually nor rewarded in class
c. Personality: the attitude towards oneself affects the creative
process.
However, all these limitations can be minimised with the careful planning
carried out by the teacher.
GAME’S ADVANTAGES
Let’s see now the different kind of games involved in the teaching of
foreign languages.
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THEME 18 GAMES
When pupils play games they do it just for pleasure; teachers are who must
try to use this amusing tool for educational purposes and, we are who make
the classification of games taking into account these educational goals:
1. PURPOSE
2. DEGREE OF COOPERATION
3. TECHNIQUE
4. TYPE OF GROUP
5. MEDIUM
6. LEARNER AND TEACHER’S ROLE
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THEME 18 GAMES
o Communicative games:
These games focus on the overall message of the players. The
content is much more important than the form. However, it could
be thought that communicative games don’t improve accuracy but
the range of language needed can be limited so that students are
repeating structures many times.
The two types of games are not in conflict. Each one has its place on a
teaching programme. Both type of games focus on acquiring proficiency but,
we, as teachers know that there are a wide number of games which can be
played in an integrated way with the purpose of proficiency.
Generally speaking, we can say that cooperative games are better than
competitive but we are sometimes pushed to use competitive games since
they are highly motivating with younger students who love competition. So
we have to bear in mind that competing groups must be equally balanced, so
none of them can always win.
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THEME 18 GAMES
Later we will see some examples of games which use these techniques.
4. According to the TYPE OF GROUP
- Individual
- Pair games
- Team games
- Whole class games
It is better for students to keep the same group throughout the year, they
will have a stronger sense of team.
Our pupils must always be participants while the teacher’s role varies
enormously. In fact, one of the aims of games is to reduce distance
between the teacher and students.
The Communicative learning theory says that the goal of language teaching
is communication and that communication is also the mean to that end, that
is to say, the most effective way of learning a new language is by using it to
communicate, using the four linguistic skills.
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THEME 18 GAMES
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THEME 18 GAMES
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THEME 18 GAMES
CONCLUSION
This phrase and a lot of research show that children were more receptive
to teaching where they had been given the opportunity to be actively
involved in the learning process. Games respond to these characteristics
and they also follow the famous principle of “I hear and I forget, I see and
I remember, I do and I understand”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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