STARTBODY

Teach English in Mangui Zhen - Hulunbei'er Shi — Hulunbuir

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Mangui Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Hulunbei'er Shi — Hulunbuir? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.

Games are fun! For this very reason, games in the classroom are considered unnecessary and frivolous. Games, by definition, are entertaining activities structured by rules and competition. Grammar drills might be seen as more respectable in learning a language. Role playing could be regarded as the only practical rehearsal. Some would say debates are a necessary practice in English fluency. However, playing games gives students the practice and skills for effective language and also the motivation and confidence to use English. The following are three classroom games that benefit both students and lesson goals. Telestrations [1] is a game that uses the productive and receptive skills to promote fluency in a low stress environment. Players sketch a prompt and then guess what others have drawn for several turns. In reading another’s sentence or creating their own, students must revisit learned grammar while practicing their writing and reading skills. Even by illustrating the prompt, this play adds extra reinforcement of memory. Also, different intelligences such as logical reasoning and visual learning are used by inferring meaning from pictures or from another student’s grammatical mistakes. Competitiveness is added by awarding points for fluency, therefore motivating students to use English correctly. On the other hand, misunderstandings from picture to words are common even among monolingual speakers, so an encouraging atmosphere is created for students making grammatical mistakes. Therefore, Telestrations reduces the fear of mistakes in this controlled practice, helping students use English in a meaningful way. The second game, Heads Up [2], uses cooperative tactics to reach the satisfaction of understanding. Team members must give verbal clues and/or gestures for a player to produce the vocabulary. Not only is this good language practice, but it is similar to situations in which two parties have limited language skills in relation to each other. Such as, someone wants fries but the other thinks chips. Therefore, when the student says the correct phrase from the clues, they gain confidence in achieving a communicative purpose. Listening and speaking skills are used in this game, and the verbal clues forces connections between similar words. The use of gestures also adds a kinesthetic element, akin to the Total Physical Response method, to engage different parts of the brain for learning. In short, Heads Up is a confidence booster preparing students to explain when a gap in understanding exists. The final game to be discussed is One Night Ultimate Werewolf [3], a game that uses discussion tactics to use produce a consensus. Each player secretly employs a special skill and then cross examines other players to deduce the secret minority. Like an informal debate, students practice listening and speaking skills with the intention of evaluating information, sharing their opinion, and persuading others to align with their agenda. Grammar with these purposes are used repeatedly, so this context provides a compact practice in critical thinking skills. They can win by using the language effectively. Also, because each player has a special skill that presents different information, the motivation to participate and communicate increases. Withholding certain information decides a win or a loss. Likewise, interplay between listening and speaking proves crucial in gaining an agreement, which improves fluency. Ultimately One Night Ultimate Werewolf encourages students to focus on using the language instead of the pressures of the language itself while keeping them involved and interested. In short, the positive benefits of games in the classroom are more complicated than “games are fun.” While enjoyment is a great factor for students, advantages such as controlled practice, promotional skills, increased motivation, and active engagement provide reasons to use games in the classroom. For example, Telestrations promotes the language skills but also teaches other skills such as creativity. Heads Up provides vocabulary practice in a controlled, comfortable environment. One Night Ultimate Werewolf increases motivation by encouraging fluency. A great multitude of games exists, so adapting these games or even a different game can best suit students and lesson goals. Although these are three mere games, these three are widely known enough to provide common interest among the native and non-native speakers. In the future, together they can play purely for fun.   Footnotes: Game Rules [1] Telestrations 1. One person writes a sentence and passes it. 2. The second person reads then illustrates the sentence. Before passing, the sentence is hidden. 3. The third person makes a sentence about the second’s illustration. Also before passing, the picture is hidden. 4. Repeat. The fourth person draws, the fifth person writes, etc. 5. Reveal the process of sentence to picture to sentence. 6. The first person awards points to the best picture and sentence, and is awarded as well if the first prompt is the same as the last guess. [2] Heads Up 1. Break into teams of at least two. Start the timer for one minute. 2. One person displays a card with a word or phrase. 3. Other team members give clues, sounds, or gestures about the secret word until the other member guesses correctly or passes. 4. Continue guessing cards until time runs out. 5. The team with the most correct guesses wins. [3] One Night Ultimate Werewolf 1. For four players, prepare cards of two werewolves, two masons, a seer, robber, and troublemaker. 2. Each person gets one card as their role and three cards remain in the center. 3. Everyone closes their eyes and roles are given a turn to perform their special skill and close their eyes again. Werewolves look at each other. Masons look at each other. Seer looks at two center cards. Robber switches their own card with another player’s. Troublemaker switches the cards of two other players. 4. Everyone opens their eyes and discuss what happened. Since cards were switched, roles switched as well. After a time limit, one player is chosen. 5. The chosen player's card is revealed. A werewolf card means non-werewolf players win. If it is not a werewolf card, the werewolves win.


ENDBODY