Revista simpozionului Eficienta si calitate in educatie 2018 Revista simpozionului | Page 20

TEACHING ENGLISH THROUGH GAMES
Antonela Cornelia Corina Dobrin, Școala Gimnazială „Sava Popovici Barcianu”,
Rășinari, Jud. Sibiu
Abstract:
The didactic game is one of the most useful and efficient modern didactic methods used by foreign
language teachers at primary and secondary school levels. The didactic activities based on games
have numerous advantages, the main one being the fact that learning is disguised, students being
thus motivated to participate. Here are examples of games used in foreign language classroom
activities:” Bingo!”, “I spy with my little eyes”, “Simon Says!”, “Picture dictation”, “The conversation
chain.” Using didactic games when teaching English can increase the attractiveness and the
efficiency of the classes if they are adapted to the students’ age and needs on the one hand and if
they are naturally incorporated in the stages of the lesson, on the other hand.
Key words : games, teaching, efficiency, attractiveness, motivation.
The didactic game is one of the most useful and effective modern teaching
methods used by language teachers at primary and secondary levels. There is a
widespread preconceived idea that learning is a solemn activity by its nature, in a
strict and closely controlled teacher environment, and an educational climate that
includes fun and amusement does not imply proper learning. The present article
joins the didactic approaches aimed at combating such prejudices.
The game has always been children’s favorite activity, creating the climate in which
the child is the one who decides how to unfold the events, being free of constraints
of any kind. Therefore, by using teaching activities that include playful elements,
the teacher has the opportunity to observe behaviors and attitudes that students
would censor in a climate controlled by the teacher.
In teaching English at secondary and primary levels, game-based didactic activities
have many advantages, the main being that learning is disguised as having an
attractive character, so pupils are motivated to participate. On the other hand, the
use of such activities encourages the participation of more retired, shy pupils who
will feel more motivated to perform a task in the shoes of another person.
The importance of this type of activity is gradually accepted and supported by the
specialty literature, the didactic games being included in the newly published
textbooks, with the instructions and recommendations of the authors for the
teachers who will apply them in the class, detailed in the teacher's textbooks.
Thus, the teacher has the certainty that his / her didactic play is adapted to the
lesson and correlated with the objectives pursued by the author of the textbook.
Teaching can be used successfully in English primary school lessons at any stage.
It can be used as a way of increasing interest and attracting attention at the
beginning of the lesson, introducing new words or grammatical structures that will
be taught at that time, as a method of exercising and consolidating knowledge, or
at the end as an assessment method. Also, the didactic game can be used to
practice all the essential linguistic skills - oral expression, written expression,
receiving written messages and receiving oral messages.
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