Intternational Jou
urnal of Englissh Language Education
E
ISSN 2325-0887
2
2016, Vol. 4, No. 1
Gamee Metho
od in Prreschoo
ol Engllish Teaaching
W
Wan-Chuan Yu
Y
CLAL
L, Guangdoong Universsity of Foreiign Studies, Guangzhou
u Guangdonng 510420, China
IFLCR, Lingnan
L
Normal Univeersity, Zhanjjiang Guang
gdong 5240048, China
Receiveed: Decembber 21, 2015
5
doi:10.55296/ijele.vv4i1.8845
Acceptted: January
y 6, 2016
Published:: January 11
1, 2016
URL: httpp://dx.doi.orrg/10.5296//ijele.v4i1.88845
Abstract
Interestt is a great motivation
m
for the studdy of almostt everything
g, particularrly for L2 study. To
preschoool students, games aree quite attraactive. Thereefore game method is a good way
y to help
studentss to learn English,
E
esp
pecially in kkindergarten
ns. It fits th
he characterristics of prreschool
studentss, providinng learning
g motivatiion, loweriing studen
nts’ stress and offerring the
opportuunity for real commun
nication. Noowadays, more
m
and more
m
teacherrs are using
g games
effectivvely in classs to improv
ve their teacching. In orrder to applly game meethod effecttively in
teachingg English in kindergarrtens, gamees must be designed
d
pu
urposeful, iinteresting, various,
heuristiic and studdent-orienteed. During the coursee of games (pre-gam
mes, in gam
mes and
post-gam
mes), somee details sho
ould be paidd more atten
ntion to.
Keywords: game method,
m
mo
otivation, Ennglish Teach
hing, presch
hool student
nt
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1. Introoduction
In 19788, the 75th Nobel
N
Laureeates conferrence was held
h
in Pariis. Pyotr Leeonidovich Kapitsa,
the leadding Soviet physicist and
a Nobel P
Prize winner in Physicss laureate, ggot such a question
q
“Whichh period inn your who
ole life m
means most??” “In the nursery”, Kapitsa an
nswered
peacefuully. An enthhusiastic ap
pplause lastted quite lon
ng for this reply.
r
It refl
flects that prreschool
educatioon may givve people far-reachingg implications and im
mpact throuugh their liife. And
nowadaays, more annd more atteention are bbeing paid to
o preschool education.
With thhe boomingg tide of En
nglish learnning globallly, early L2
2 ELT attraacts more concerns
c
from paarents, nurssery schoolss and reseaarchers. Sin
nce 1990’s, early Engliish training
g classes
and maaterials havee flocked in
nto the publlic educatio
on area. Most Chinese kindergarteens have
opened English claasses to meet the needd. Now early
y English leearning in ccities has beeen very
popularr and so manny bilingual kindergarttens named “Chinese-E
English Biliingual Kind
dergarten”
and “Fooreign Langguage Art Kindergarten
K
n” have spru
ung up like mushrooms
m
s after rain.
Up to nnow, it is abssolutely nott a question whether orr not to teach
h English inn kindergarttens, but
what too teach and how to teaach it well. Most schollars, educators and teac
achers agreee on that
the objeective of kinndergarten English
E
teacching is to cultivate intterest in thee language, develop
basic coommunicatiion skills an
nd crude undderstanding
g of foreign culture.
Charless Darwin onnce recalled
d: “Lookingg back as well
w as I caan at my chharacter du
uring my
school life, the only qualities which at thhis period promised
p
well
w for the future, werre, that I
had stroong and divversified tasstes, much zzeal for whatever interrested me, aand a keen pleasure
p
in undeerstanding any
a complex
x subject orr thing.” (C
Charles Darw
win, 1887:66) It’s belieeved that
most leearning dem
mands intereest. To somee extent, lan
nguage learrning needss more interrest than
other suubjects. Hoow to evokee the learneers’ interestt and keep their passioon in learn
ning is a
teacher ’s initial tassk and challenge. Gam
me method is
i an efficieent way to aachieve thiss goal in
ns why we should usee games,
Englishh teaching. The article will mainlly illustratee the reason
what ruules we shouuld obey, an
nd how to deesign good games in prreschool Ennglish teaching.
2. Gam
mes and Teaaching
2.1 Deffinition of Games
G
There aare a varietyy of definitiions for gam
mes. Jill Haadfield (198
84) defined games as activities
a
in whicch players engage
e
in artificial
a
connflict, are defined
d
by rules,
r
and hhave a goall and an
elementt of fun, which
w
resullts in a quuantifiable outcome. Similarly,
S
SSpodek Berrnard &
Sarachoo Olivia (19994:271) deeemed that “games aree a different kind of pllay activitiees. They
are highhly structureed and inclu
ude specificc rules to bee followed.”” Brown (1 996:176) arrgued “a
game could be anyy activity th
hat firms a technique into
i
each un
nit that cann be scored in some
way.” JJohann Huizinga (1998
8) defined games as free
f
activitiies standingg quite con
nsciously
outside “ordinary”” life as beeing “not seerious”, butt at the sam
me time abbsorbing thee player
intenselly and utterlly.
In view
w of the abbove, we caan learn thhat a “gamee” means an
a activity which is done
d
for
amusem
ment, often with challenge, and an activity in which the learners
rs play and usually
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interactt with otherss.
2.2 Gam
me Method in Teaching
g
According to the explanation
n of Longm
man Dictio
onary of Laanguage Teeaching & Applied
nguage teacching can be
b defined as an orgaanized activ
vity that
Linguisstics, a “gaame” in lan
usually has the folllowing prop
perties:
a. a pparticular taask or objecttive;
b. a sset of rules;
c. com
mpetition between
b
play
yers;
d. com
mmunicatioon between players by spoken or written
w
lang
guage.
(Richhards Jack C,
C Platt John
n, Platt Heiddi, 1992:191)
Games are activitiees governed
d by rules, inn which thee player will enjoy andd have fun. They
T
are
not onlyy a diversioon, a break from routinne activitiess, but a meaasure in whiich learner uses the
languagge in the gam
me (Byrne, 1995).
Lu Ziw
wen (2005) points
p
out th
hat Englishh teaching games
g
are pllaying activvities with dramatic
d
conflictts, with thhe purposee of utiliziing Englissh knowled
dge and hhelping to acquire
commuunicative coompetence. He emphaasizes four indispensab
ble charactteristics of English
teachingg games:
a. Drramatic. Thee characteristics of “draama” are differing from
m the ordinaary activitiees;
b. Playable. Parrticipation, presentation
p
n, multi-sen
nsory, and multiple
m
inttelligence activities
a
aree compliantt to the players’ interestts and menttal features, and with cllear rules;
c. Edducational. Games
G
are played
p
for laanguage leaarning.
With thhose points, we can look game teacching upon as: an efficcient teachinng method in
i which
by utiliizing a set of playing activities, pplayers gett involved in
i certain taasks to acccomplish
teachingg purposes.. In some Chinese
C
kinndergartens, game teacching has ggrown into popular
teachingg techniquees most frequently useed. The teaachers emplloy various game activ
vities in
teachingg to help thhe children to
t develop ttheir Englissh competen
nce as well as consolid
date their
learningg.
2.3 Currrent Researrches in Chiina
In Chinna, extremeely great im
mportance hhas been attached to education
e
siince ancien
nt times.
Many eeducators nooticed the ro
ole of game s in early ch
hildhood ed
ducation lonng ago. For instance,
early inn Song andd Ming dyn
nasty, teacheers not onlly taught ch
hildren the daily routiines and
moral rrites, but also
a
manageed to fosterr children’ss interest in
n learning. They stresssed the
necessitty to make learning enjoyable.
e
C
Cheng Yi (A
A prestigious educatorr in Song dynasty)
d
noted thhat if your teaching
t
waas boring, nnobody coulld learn welll. Wang Shhouren (an educator
e
in Mingg dynasty) claimed
c
thatt early teachhing should
d make child
dren happy and enjoyeed. Thus,
a varietty of game elements
e
lik
ke singing, ddancing, an
nd story-telliing were addded to the teaching
t
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processs, in order too make child
dren learn kknowledge with
w a light heart (Wu Y
Yexuan, 199
96:33).
A numbber of recennt researchees also show
w their prefference and
d passion inn game teacching. Li
Shaoquun (2011) demonstrates
d
s that the aadvantage of
o games iss not only hhelping teachers to
finish thhe teaching objectives successfullyy, but attraccting studen
nts to take a more activ
ve part in
learningg English. Xie Guihu
ua (2006) pproves thatt games caan spur coooperation between
b
studentss and help them to leearn from each other and make progress ttogether during the
teachingg process. Hao
H Hong (2011)
(
dem
monstrates, “During
“
claassroom gam
mes, studen
nts focus
on the aactivity and end up with
h a subconsscious absorrption of lan
nguage know
wledge.”
The eduucational vaalue of gam
me method hhas been app
preciated ev
ver and agaiin. It is now
w widely
believedd that gam
mes are com
mmendablee teaching aids in En
nglish teachhing, especcially in
preschoool. Therefoore, it is of great
g
signifiicance to rev
visit and ex
xplore the prractical use in more
detail inn order to drraw on it more
m
effectivvely.
3. The V
Value of Game Teaching
3.1 Theeoretical Foundation
3.1.1 Thhe Multiplee Intelligencces Theory
The theeory of multtiple intellig
gences was pproposed by
y Howard Gardner
G
in 11983 to anallyze and
better ddescribe the concept off intelligencce. Gardner expounds that
t the conncept of inteelligence
as tradiitionally defined in psychometriccs (IQ tests)) does not sufficientlyy describe the
t wide
variety of humann cognitivee abilities. In fact, generally
g
individuals
i
have eigh
ht basic
intelligeences:
Verbal-ling
guistic
iintelligencee,
Musiical-rhythmi
mic
intellligence,
Logicall-mathematiical intelligence, Visuaal-spatial inttelligence, Bodily-kine
B
esthetic inteelligence,
Intraperrsonal intellligence, Inteerpersonal iintelligence and Naturaalist intelliggence.
The theeory of Mulltiple Intelliigences conncentrates on
n the diverssity, differennce and uniiqueness
of intellligence whhich validattes teacherss’ everyday experiencee: students think and learn in
many ddifferent wayys. It also provides
p
teaachers with conceptual frameworkk for organizzing and
reflectinng on curricculum assesssment and pedagogicaal practices. In turn, thiis reflection
n has led
many teeachers to adopt
a
game method thaat might beetter meet th
he needs off various leaarners in
their claass.
3.1.2 Thhe Construcctivism Learrning Theorry (CLT)
CLT reffers to the concept
c
that humans ggenerate kno
owledge and
d meaning ffrom an intteraction
betweenn their expeeriences an
nd their ideaas. Formalization of th
he theory oof constructtivism is
generally attributeed to Jean Piaget, whho articulateed mechanisms by wh
which knowledge is
internallized by leaarners. He suggested that throug
gh the proccesses of acccommodattion and
assimilaation, indivviduals con
nstruct new
w knowledg
ge from theeir experiennces. The core of
learningg process iss not the teaacher but stuudents. The teacher only plays a ro
role as an orrganizer,
a directtor, a helper and a promoter.
p
T
This method
dology focuses on m
making the students
activelyy construct their know
wledge learnning themseelves (Tobias, S.; Dufffy, T. M. 2009).
2
It
requiress the teacheers change their
t
roles tto be the gu
uiders, helpeers or prom
moters insteaad of the
knowledge fillers and
a suppliers. The studdents should
d be the con
nstructors oof knowledg
ge rather
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than passive receivvers.
3.1.2 Pssychology Theory
T
Early laanguage leaarning is likely to resullt in long-term outcomee if learningg is maintaiined and
reinforcced later. Penfield & Robert’s
R
(1 959) study on lateraliization dem
monstrated that
t
it is
better tto start to learn a foreign
f
lannguage befo
ore puberty
y. Howeverr, results of
o other
experim
ments indicaate otherwisse. Lateralizzation occurrs before four years oldd, and that does
d
not
interfere with the language acquisition (Krashen, 1973). Latteralization can take place at
d
people, and thhe critical period
p
is not a certain aage (Scovell, 1981).
differennt ages for different
Howeveer, researchh suggests that childrren do hav
ve advantag
ges in speeech percepttion and
mentaliity. Generallly speaking
g, preschoollers have so
ome psycho
ological advvantages wh
hich can
facilitatte the learnning of a foreign lannguage. Baased on preeschoolers’ psychology
y, some
teacherss have triedd to transfo
orm languaage learning
g to interesting gamess so as to offer
o
the
studentss with sufficcient comm
munication ccircumstance.
For thee sake of age,
a
most preschoolerrs’ ability to control and regulaate their mind
m
and
behavioors is still weak and they are ssusceptible to most distractions so that theey can’t
concenttrate for a long time. According to Cooperr, Moodley & Reynelll (1978), ch
hildren’s
attentioon develops as they gro
ow older. In the third yeear, single-cchannel atteention devellops and
attentioon must be fully obtain
ned to shiftt to a differrent task. In
n the fourthh year, child
dren can
control their own focus
f
of atteention to som
me extent. In
I the fifth year,
y
they ccan perform
m another
g directionss. By the sixxth year, th
hey have
activityy while listeening to thee teacher whho is giving
developped flexiblee and sustaained attentiion. To hellp kids sustain their aattention, a teacher
should manage to prevent theem from beeing distractted by irreleevant thing s and focuss on one
task.
3.2 Advvantages of Game Teaching
3.2.1 Beeseem the Preschool
P
Sttudents
Most off the studennts in kinderrgarten are aat the age of 3 to 6, wh
ho love fun aand playing
g games.
Mark P
Pennington (2008) stattes that moost studentss share the following characteristics: (1)
Curiouss and williing to learn things thhey consider useful; (2) Enjoy solving “rreal-life”
problem
ms; (3) Neeed to feel part of a ppeer group
p, consisting
g of boys and girls, and are
influencced by peer pressure and conforrmity to theeir group; (4)
( Prefer aactive over passive
learningg activities that involv
ve working with their peers; (5) Need
N
adult support, gu
uidance,
and calm
m directionn. In kinderg
garten, the 33-year-olds can sustain their attenttion for 3-5 minutes,
the 4-yeear-olds aboout 10 minu
utes, and thhe 5-year-oles 10-15 minutes. Thee praise and support
from thhe teacher caan serve as an importannt source fo
or self-regulation in thee kindergarteen. With
teacherss’ encouraggement and
d disciplinne, children
n are moree likely too develop positive
self-esteeem, becom
ming more responsible,
r
, and will fo
ollow through assignedd activities. English
teachingg which strresses gram
mmar learniing and meemorizing may
m make the kids lo
ose their
interest and motivaation. Games fit the pssychologicaal features of
o preschoool students, for they
can easily grasp thhe students’ attention aand improvee their interrest in learnning English
h. When
playingg a competittive game, students
s
aree trying their best to wiin or stand oout on the behalf
b
of
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their teeam. They may
m behave very actiively while playing beecause theyy want to have
h
the
chance to show, too score and to
t win. By means of games
g
teacher can accoomplish the purpose
of learnning in playiing, and plaaying in learrning.
3.2.2 Prrovide Learrning Motivation
One of the main reasons
r
why
y games aree considered necessary
y learning aaids is that learners
are mottivated to leearn the lang
guage whenn they are in
n a game. McCallum
M
(11980:9) emp
phasizes
that “gaames autom
matically stim
mulate studdent interestt, and a pro
operly introdduced gamee can be
one of the highestt motivating
g techniquees.” “Gamees spur mottivation andd students get
g very
absorbeed in the coompetitive aspects of games; mo
oreover, they
y try hardeer at games than in
other ccourses” (A
Avedon, 19
971). In otther words,, games sttimulate stuudents’ intterest in
classrooom activitiees and as a result,
r
studeents becomee motivated and are willling to learn
n.
To partticipate in a game, th
he studentss need to master
m
the new ideas , words, grammar,
knowledge, and soo on, which the teacher have presen
nted to them
m before. It can be cleaarly seen
that gam
mes can caapture studeents’ attentiion and participation. They can provide a learning
motivattion to studdents which
h urges theem to learn
n more. Ev
ven in a veery easy gaame like
dictatioon, students also must be
b very conccentrated in
n order to wiin.
3.2.3 Loower Studennts’ Stress
Anotherr advantagee is that sttudents’ anxxiety in lan
nguage learrning decreeases as games are
employyed. In convventional language classs, learners often feel stressful beecause they have to
be conffronted withh the unfamiliar target llanguage. Besides,
B
learrners may bbecome too anxious
about bbeing criticiized and pu
unished by their teach
hers when they
t
make a mistake. Schultz
(1988) argues thatt stress is a major hinndrance in language leearning proocess. This process
[Learninng language in traditio
onal way] iss by its natu
ure time con
nsuming annd stress pro
ovoking.
It raisess the stress level to a point
p
at whiich it interfferes with sttudent attenntion and effficiency
and unddermines motivation.
m
One methood has been
n developed
d to make sstudents forrget that
they aree in class, reelaxing stud
dents by enggaging them
m in stress-reeducing taskk (games).
Games are advantaageous at th
his point beecause they reduce anxiety, increaase positive feelings
and imp
mprove self--confidence because leearners will not be affraid of likkely punishment or
criticism
m while praacticing the target languuage freely in games (C
Crookal, 19990:112).
3.2.4 Offer the Oppportunity fo
or Real Com
mmunication
n
To deveelop an efficient and effective leaarning system
m, teacherss need to prrovide an op
pen, and
flexiblee learning environmentt for learnerrs, for learn
ning environ
nment playys an importtant role
in English class. Games
G
bring
g in real-lifee situations to the classsroom, provviding learn
ners with
more opportunitiess to use th
he target lannguage. In playing gaames, variouus contextss can be
ous learninng because learners’ attention iss on the message
m
created to enablee unconscio
conveyeed, not on the
t linguisttic forms. T
Therefore, when
w
studen
nts focus onn a game, they
t
can
acquire language to some extent
e
in tthe same way
w
they acquire
a
theeir mother tongue.
Celce-M
Murcia (19779:54) notess that “in ggames, langu
uage use taakes precedeence over language
practicee, and in this sense gam
mes help brring the claassroom to the real woorld, no mattter how
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contriveed they mayy be.” Play
ying games in the classsroom can enormouslyy increase students’
s
ability in using language beecause studdents have more chan
nces to usse languagee in the
situationns providedd.
4. Effecctive Gamee Teaching
4.1 Thee Principle of
o Designing
g Games
There aare a great number off games forr teachers to
o choose in
n language class (see Andrew
Wright,, 2006). How
wever, in deeciding whiich game to
o use in a paarticular claass and whicch game
will be the most apppropriate and
a most effficient with
h their students, teacheers must tak
ke many
factors into accounnt.
4.1.1 Puurposeful
First off all, games must be deesigned with
th specific purposes.
p
They should not be regaarded as
marginaal activities, filling in odd
o momennts when teaachers and class
c
have nnothing better to do.
Becausee classroom
m games arre devices ffor teaching
g, they must be closel
ely related with
w the
languagge knowledgge. If a gam
me designedd only to make
m
studen
nts happy, itt is only an
n ordiary
game nnot fit for language
l
teaching. A classroom game mustt be approppriate and carefully
c
plannedd. Brumfit, Christopher
C
r, Moon, Jayyne and Ray
y Tongue (1
1995:33) deemonstrate that
t “we
should consider whhether the game-like
g
aactivity is fo
or children only to maake the lesso
on more
attractivve and proteect them fro
om being boored or wheether we ten
nd to revisee and practice some
particullar part of grammar, vocabulary,
v
, etc. It is important not to wasste our timee. Some
activitiees have too complicateed rules or oon the otherr hand, some activities are too sim
mple, and
both thee cases makke children speak
s
their native langu
uage, which
h we definittely want to
o avoid.”
So, when designinng a classro
oom game, we should
d consider sufficiently
s
about the key and
l
leaning to covver, and wh
hat knowled
dge or abilitty we want students
difficultt points of language
to acquuire throughh the game.. In generaal, the following aspeccts are alwaays included in the
outliness of designinng the classsroom gamees for teachiing English in kindergaarten (Jiang
g, 2010):
a. Maake the studdents review
w the words they have learnt
l
and enlarge theirr vocabulary
y.
b. Im
mprove theirr interest in learning Ennglish and help
h them en
njoy learninng.
c. Deevelop the students’ abiility of listenning, speak
king and com
mmunicatinng.
d. Ennhance the cooperative
c
spirit.
4.1.2 Innteresting
One off the functioons of gam
mes is to im
mprove stud
dents’ intereest in learnning English
h. If the
games are boringg or dull, how can tthey implement this function? IIn addition
n, being
unt first.
interesting is one of the mosst prominennt elements that should be takenn into accou
When w
we designinng a game, we
w should m
make sure th
hat the gam
me is attractiive enough to grasp
studentss’ attention and make them eager tto take a paart.
Howeveer, it shouldd be kept in mind that tthe main fu
unction of gaames is teacching langu
uage, but
not justt making fuun. It is nott advisable to play gaames only for
f games’ ssake, that is,
i while
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enjoyinng playing, students miss
m
the oriientation to
otally to prractice the target lang
guage as
requiredd. What’s more,
m
if stud
dents get tooo excited, it’s hard forr teachers tto control th
he class.
The deggree of enjooyment shou
uld be evaluuated and ob
bserved accordingly.
4.1.3 Vaarious
Althouggh most gam
mes are inteeresting, it ddoesn’t imp
ply that teacchers can fixx on one orr several
games. If the teachhers don’t alter
a
the form
ms of gamees flexibly, students aree liable to get
g tired,
and gam
mes will beecome borin
ng and losee its amazin
ng function. For exam
mple, a teach
her may
choose the guessinng game to teach
t
vocabbulary in un
nit 1, unit 2, and unit 33. When it comes
c
to
unit 4, bbefore the vocabulary
v
class, the sttudents mig
ght already figure out w
what they arre going
to do annd lose the interest in it. But if thhe teacher uses
u
Bingo in unit 1, R
Riddle in un
nit 2 and
Compettition in unnit 3, then in
i unit 4, thhe studentss will be ex
xpecting som
omething no
ovel and
eager too get well prepared
p
forr it. So teachhers can ch
hange differeent forms oof games altternately
when ddesigning the class. Varrious and crreative Gam
mes can help
p to keep sttudents’ entthusiasm
in learnning Englishh.
4.1.4 Heuristic
It is a ccommon sennse now thaat in L2 claass teaching language knowledge
k
iis far from enough,
and devveloping stuudents’ com
mpetence foor communication has become thee main objeective. It
requestss that the teeaching activ
vities shoulld be closely
y related to real life, insspiring imaagination
and enlightening too innovation
n. So the gaame design
ned for the use
u in the cllassroom sh
hould be
heuristiic. When pllaying gamees, teachers are suppossed to give some tips oor directionss to lead
studentss to think inn English and
a use Engglish, insteaad of just prresenting thhem the new
w words
and struuctures and ask them to
o practice.
4.1.5 Sttudent-centeered
In the ttraditional class,
c
teach
hers used too play a rolle as a lead
der and dom
minator (Yu
u & Niu,
2010). A
And what sttudents need to do is liistening to them
t
and tak
king notes, trying to memorize
m
what iss taught annd recall it in examin ation. How
wever, Consstructivism theory deeems that
teachingg should bee centered on studentss rather thaan on teachers so as too achieve th
he main
objectivves of teachhing. Teach
hers are exxpected to give
g
more time to thee students to learn
throughh more com
mmunication
n practice inn class. On
ne of the fu
unctions of game meth
hod is to
developp students’ oral compeetence and tthe games are student-focused acctivities. In playing
games, learners aree encourageed to take m
more active role in theirr learning pprocess. As a result,
they caan have a chance to
o develop ttheir comp
petence rath
her than juust learn language
knowledge.
4.2 Thee Procedure of Game Teaching
Te
It is neccessary for those who want to usee games as a learning aid
a to be cooncerned about how
to use thhem effectivvely. What should theyy do in pre-g
games, whille-games annd post-gam
mes?
4.2.1 Prre-games
First off all, determ
mine the pu
urpose. We know that games are not just foor fun. The teacher
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should kkeep in minnd what stud
dents wouldd learn thro
ough these games.
g
So bbefore using
g a game
in class, teachers shhould confiirm the purppose of this game. If they want to uuse a game to teach
vocabullary, they shhould ensurre which woords studen
nts are requiired to mastter during th
he game
first. Buut what theyy should pay more atteention to is the
t knowled
dge they cho
hoose to teacch in the
game sshould fit thhe level off the studennts’. Here is an episo
ode excerptts from Cla
assroom
Activityy 5 Nov, 15, 2006.
Episodee 1:
Numberr game is a game to co
onsolidate tthe numberss. Accordin
ng to the teaaching mateerial and
teachingg plan, the simple
s
num
mbers are arrranged to bee taught in Unit
U 6 PEP11 for Grade 3.
T: Now let’s count the numberrs from one to ten then ten to one.
One, tw
wo, three, foour, five, sixx, seven, eig
ight, nine, ten,
t
ten, nin
ne, eight, seeven, six, five, four,
three, tw
wo, one. Haands up
Ss :(maany of the stuudents put their
t
hands up but som
me students do
d their otheers things.)
Ss: Onee, two, threee, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,, ten, ten, niine, eight, sseven, six, five,
fi four,
three, tw
wo, one.
S1: Onee, two, threee, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,, ten, ten, niine, eight, sseven, six, five,
fi four,
three, tw
wo, one. (O
Others laugh
h with hahahha)
T: Very good, a gam
me for you!!
Miss He says one (showing
(
on
ne finger), yyou should 一个人站。
。 Miss Hee says two (showing
(s
two finggers), 两个
个人站在一起
起，没有找
找到朋友的回
回到自己的
的座位上， back to youur seats.
Miss He says four (showing fo
our fingers),, 4 个人站在
在一起，没
没有找到朋友
友的回到自
自己的位
子上，back to youur seats.
Understand? Who is the winner? Come oon, leave your seat, 离开位置。
离
Ss: OK!!
(While 6 boy studeents sit all th
he same.)
T :( Sayy to the 6 stuudents) Com
me on, let’s pplay.
S1: 老师
老师，我不想
想玩，太幼稚
幼稚啦， 太简
太简单啦，不
不想玩。
S2:就是
是啊，我们大
们大了，才不
不玩这种游戏
游戏呢。
T: Neveer mind, now
w listen, onee.
Ss: Stannd lonely.
T: Two
nds with a bboy and a girl
g stands with
w a girl inn pairs and
d the last
Ss: Stannd in pairs. (a boy stan
boy hass to stand with
w the girl but they staand far aparrt.)
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T: Three
Ss: Stannd with otheer two child
dren (standi
ding with thee same gend
der as beforre. At last two
t boys
and twoo girls havee not found
d their friendds. They do
o not want to leave theeir friends with the
differennt sex. At lasst, two boyss go to theirr seats direcctly with thee words “ 我
我们回去好
好啦，不
玩了，我才不跟女
女孩子一组
组呢”。 Twoo girls havee to go back to the seatss too.
Since thhe game is too easy, some studennts lose inteeresting in playing
p
the game. In th
he same
way, iff the game beyond thee current linnguistic lev
vel too mucch, it also ddecreases students’
s
interesting.
Second, choose thee pattern. Because gam
mes are vario
ous, teacherrs should chhoose one paattern of
which is thee most suittable for thhe purpose of this gam
me. Such aas they can
n choose
them w
guessinng game, binngo, charad
des to teach vocabulary
y, use role-play, make ddialogues, su
urvey to
teach grrammar, or tongue twisster, songs, gossip to teeach oral En
nglish and soo on.
Then, m
make out thhe rules step
p by step. B
Before explaining the rules
r
to thee class, the teachers
should first undersstand clearly
y how the ggame is plaayed. It concludes when
en to use thiis game,
whetherr the studennts will be divided
d
intoo pairs or groups,
g
what the studennts are askeed to do,
what thhey cannot do,
d and so on.
The lastt one, makee the preparation. Sincee it is ratherr difficult to
o find a gam
me that meetts all the
needs oof the purpooses, carefull preparatioon of teacheers is necesssary. Teacheers may neeed some
extra eqquipment or
o materials to play thhe game, bu
ut most of the
t time thhese equipm
ment and
materiaals are not available
a
in the. So theyy should maake a good preparationn before plaaying the
game.
4.2.2 W
While-gamess
When iit is time too play the game, teacheers should explain
e
its rules
r
to stuudents first and in a
direct aand non-com
mplicated way.
w
If the students caannot underrstand how
w to play th
he game,
there is no educatioonal purposse in playingg the game. So it may be
b necessarry to use thee mother
t rules, ass they are juust preschool students who merelyy touch Eng
glish for
tongue to explain the
a short time. In adddition, dem
monstration s may also be necessaary, becausee they can help the
studentss to understtand the rulees clearly annd easily.
Episodee 2
T: Now let’s play a funny game, 我们来玩
玩一个有趣
趣的游戏。
Ss: Greeat!
T: Do aas T Say, 找
找我说的做. 当我说 A
Act like A, 你们就
你
2 个人或者三个
个
三个人合作，用身体
部位摆
摆出相应的字
字母 A。如果
如果我说 Acct like B, 你们该怎么做
你
做呀？
Ss: 两人
人合作摆出
出一个 B。
T：Greeat！ Now let’s begin。Act like A..
Ss posee A
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T: Act like Z.
Ss posee Z…
((Classroom Activity 8
Oct 31, 22005)
Then, inn playing thhe game, teeachers shouuld play a role
r
as a dirrector (lookk at episodee 2) or a
particippator insteadd of a lead
der. As a diirector, the teachers sh
hould contrrol the who
ole class
during the game, direct the students too play the game succeessfully andd then achieve the
purposee of the gaame. And in
i the makke dialogues, discuss, survey andd make rep
ports, or
role-plaay games, thhe teachers can play a role as a participator,
p
, they shoulld join in th
he game
with thee students. It
I can help the teacherss to know more
m
about the studentss, give som
me tips to
them annd help thee students to
o finish thee game. It can
c also lower the stuudents’ stresss if the
teacherss can join thhem.
Furtherm
more, teachhers are nott recommennded to inteerrupt to co
orrect the m
mistakes of students
during the game.. Accordin
ng to Celcce-Murcia (1979:54),
(
“interruptioons should
d be as
infrequeent as posssible so as not to deetract from the studen
nt’s interestt in the gaame. An
alternattive to immeediate correection is to m
make note of
o errors and discuss thhem when th
he game
is over””. Thus, if thhe students make mistaakes in gam
me, the teach
hers shouldd remember in mind
and corrrect the coommon misttakes in thee class or ask
a the stud
dents to try to correct them
t
by
themsellves after thhe game, butt not correcct them imm
mediately.
Besidess, during thee game, teacchers shoul d pay moree attention to
o the studennts who are shy and
often bee quiet in thhe class. Playing gamees is a good
d way to im
mprove the sstudents’ in
nterest in
learningg English annd lower their stress. Inn this situattion, the shy
y students w
will also be eager to
show thhemselves. So the teacchers shouldd give them
m more enco
ouragementt and chancces, help
them too be more coonfident in learning
l
Ennglish.
4.2.3 Poost-games
After playing the game,
g
the teachers shoould make an
a evaluatio
on and concclusion to students.
s
They shhould praisee the studen
nts who havve done bettter in the game and enncourage tho
ose who
are not active enouugh. The teeachers cann also give the
t winner some prizee – a little paper
p
of
flower which mayy not be of any significcance to ad
dults but forr the little kkids it may mean a
great hoonor and prride, they arre very fondd of it and glad
g
to tell their parentts they havee done a
good joob in the kinndergarten.
In addittion to all of these, th
he last thingg teachers should
s
do is
i to make a reflection
n of this
game. IIt contains the questio
ons of wheether the purpose of the
t game iis achieved
d or not,
whetherr there any problems
p
in
n playing thhe game, how
w to improv
ve it next tim
me, and so on.
In geneeral, these are
a the proceedures and some details should bee paid attenntion to wheen using
games eeffectively in
i the kindeergarten.
5. Concclusion
Game m
method is of great vaalue and caan be used to develop
p kids’ langguage competence,
becausee it fits in with
w the charracteristic o f kindergartten studentss, provides llearning mo
otivation,
lowers their stresss, promotees their com
mmunicatio
on in coop
peration, annd gives th
hem the
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opportuunity for gennuine comm
munication. Far more than
t
just beiing played ffor fun, it has
h great
educatioonal valuess in languag
ge teaching and learnin
ng. Since gaame methodd is such a precious
p
aid in teeaching English, teach
hers should pay more attention
a
to it and try tto use it efffectively,
instead of using it just
j in ordeer to make sstudents feeel funny or as
a a marginnal activity filling
f
in
a class haave nothing better to do
o.
odd mooments whenn teachers and
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