The role of games in teaching foreign languages

Banana Race: Children just love this! It is basically a QUIZ game in which teacher asks children questions (Target Vocabulary) like: "What's this? What fruit is red and round? How many chairs are there in the classroom?" or the Teacher simply draws items on the board, makes animal noises so that they guess. She can work with Ss or split the class into small groups/teams if she has a large class. The Teacher draws on the board a race track and each team or pupil will be a BANANA waiting at the Starting Line. They will approach the Goal line as they answer each question. Each right answer equals a step towards the Goal Line. The BANANA who arrives there first, WINS! (Submitted by Salvador Domingo).

Board Scramble: Teacher puts the whole alphabet on the blackboard in a scramble of letters here and there, but low enough that the pupils can reach it. Have two teams and call out a letter. The person that is able to find and circle it first wins a point for their team. To make things harder have capitol and small letters. Even more challenging- have four teams all looking for the same letter. The kids just love it. Teacher can do it with numbers and also words. (Submitted by Susie).

Buzz: A counting game. Have the pupils sit in a circle. The pupils pass the ball around while counting (1, 2, 3, etc.). When the number reaches 7 the one pupil must say buzz. Any number with a 7 in it must be buzz (7, 17, 27, 37, etc.) and any multiple of 7 must be buzz (14, 21, 28, 35, etc.).

Color Circles: A good activity for young kids. Get some pieces of A3 paper and draw a large circle on each one. Pin the circles on different walls in the classroom. Model the activity: Say "Blue", take a blue crayon, walk over to one circle and color a small part of the circle. Do this for each color you plan to teach. Then, say a color ("Blue") to a pupil and s/he should pick up the blue crayon and go over to the circle you colored in blue. Let him/her color it a little and then call him/her back. Continue with other pupils.

Can You Actions: Use this game for teaching "Can you...?" "Yes, I can" "No, I can't". These actions are fun: wiggle, dance, run quickly, hop, skip, do a star jump, do a handstand, touch your toes, cross your eyes, snap your fingers, whistle, sing. E.g. Ask a student "Can you cross your eyes?". If the student replies "Yes, I can" then say "Ok, go!" and she/he does the action. If the student says "No, I can't" say "Too bad. Ok, can you (wiggle)?".

Cross the River: Place flashcards on floor in winding manner. Each card represents a stepping stone in the river, as students must say word/phrase/question/etc in order to step on it and cross the river! (submitted by Michelle K).

Do as I say, not as I do: A 'Simon says' game with a difference. First practice Simon Says with the pupils so that they understand the game and body parts. Now tell them to do as you SAY, not as you do, and repeat playing the game - only this time, when you say 'touch your knees' etc, touch your ears instead, or any other part of your body. This is a good way to see who is listening to you correctly and who is just copying your movements. Pupils find this game much more fun than the original. (submitted by Lisa Coleman).

Draw and Roll: Split class into 2 teams. Teacher says Draw a ______ and students should draw that vocabulary word. If the drawing is correct then the student rolls a dice for points. This game can be played 2 ways: The fastest person to draw the picture rolls the dice. Or the other way is too allow any student to roll the dice as long as the picture is recognizable and correct. (Submitted by Tania Bibbo).

Exercises: This one is great for over excited pupils who need to burn off a bit of energy. It's also good for classroom commands and numbers. Stand the students in a line and call out instructions: "Jump 10 times", "Turn around 4 times" etc. Other good ones to use are: run (on the spot), hop, hands up & down, touch your (body part), stand up & sit down and star jump.

Explosion: Give the students a topic and an object to pass around. Each student has to say a word in that topic (e.g. food - apple, cake etc.) before the time runs out. If the time limit ends the student left holding the object loses. (submitted by Ben).

Fish: Before this game you need to have the students in pairs draw and cut out a picture of a fish for each pair. While they are doing that put 2 parallel lines of tape on the floor a few meters apart. Have students play in twos - each student behind a different line. Teacher asks the one pupil a question. If the pupil answers it correctly s/he can blow once to propel the fish forward. Next, teacher asks the second pupil. The pupil who blows the fish over the tapped line is the winner.

Give Me Game: You can use with objects or flashcards. This works well with plastic fruit: Gather and elicit the different kinds of plastic fruit you have. Then throw all the fruit around the classroom (it's fun just to throw the whole lot in the air and watch the chaos of the pupils scrabbling to pick them up). Once the pupils have collected the fruit (they'll probably do their best to hide it in their pockets, etc.) Teacher says "Give me an apple". The pupil with the apple should approach the teacher and hand him/her the fruit "Here you are". Avoid having the fruit thrown back to you as they can go anywhere and takes a long time to finish this game.

I spy: Teacher says "I spy with my little eye something that begins with B". Students try to guess the object (e.g. "book"). Colors are a good alternative for younger students ("... my little eye something that is red").

Knock-Knock: This can be used at the beginning of each class. Teach the students to knock on the door before entering the classroom. There are 2 variations for the next step: 1. When the student knocks, teacher says "Who's there?". The student replies "It's (Koji)" and then the teacher says "Come in (Koji)". 2. When the student knocks the teacher must guess who it is "Is that (Koji)?". The student replies yes or no - if no, the teacher continues guessing. Having your students develop their own knocking styles makes this even more fun.

Label It: This works well with newcomers of all ages who need an introduction to basic vocabulary. As long as the learners are able to identify beginning letter sounds, they should be able to do this activity. To familiarize my students with names of objects found in the classroom, I label everything with an index card that has the item's name on it. Then I have them repeat what I read as they point to the item. The next day, I remove the cards and go through them one at a time and we place them on the correct item together. The third day, I let them label whatever they can on their own. I continue this for a few days. When they are able to independently label most of the items, I surprise them by having them labeled incorrectly. Then they have to straighten out the mess. You can adapt this to any noun-based vocabulary list (e.g. types of foods, body parts, parts of a room in a house, animals, etc.) that you can post pictures of. Your website has amazing flashcards and pictures that can be printed out and used for this. (submitted by KMMP).

Last Letter, First Letter: (A popular Japanese game called Shiri Tori). Have the students sit in a circle with you. Teacher starts by saying a word, then the pupil to the teacher's right must make a word that starts with the last letter of the word that the teacher said (e.g. bus --- steak --- key --- yellow --- etc.). Continue around the circle until someone makes a mistake.

Line True or False: Put a line of tape on the floor and designate one side "True" and the other "False". Hold up an object or flashcard and say its word. If pupils think the you have said the correct word they jump on the True side, if not they jump on the False side. Incorrect pupils sit out until the next game.

Machine: This is good for practicing emotions and sounds. Pick one pupil to start. Give that S an emotion or a feeling to act. They must do an action and make a noise. One at a time students can add to it and you essentially create a "machine". This is a really fun game! (Submitted by N. Budoy)

Make Words Game: Write a few random letters on the board. Have the students work in pairs/small groups to make up as many words from the letters as possible (e.g. letters: g, h, a, t, p, e, c. Possible words: cat, peg, tea, hat, get, etc.). The team with the most words is the winner.

Months March: For some reason my kids LOVE this game and request it every week! You'll need a fairly long classroom with space for everyone to march up and down. Teacher stands at one end of the room against the left wall. Line the students up alongside the one pupil and she/he says "Go!". As you all march together, that pupil starts calling out the months in order ("January", " February", etc.). Students repeat each month (T:"January" Ss:"January"). March along at a slow pace, but smartly (backs straight, arms swinging). At certain points that student suddenly shouts "Stop!". Everyone must stop and be EXACTLY in line with him. If someone is out of line order them back in line and then continue marching where you left off. Turn around each time you reach the end of the room and continue the march. Once finished start again, but this time walk briskly. You can do it the final time running! This is even more fun when there are tables, etc, in the room that the Ss need to climb over/under. After a few lessons you shouldn't have to chorus the words - just get the students to chant together as they march.

Name Memorizing Game: Have children sit in a circle. Start by saying "my name is.." and then answer a question about yourself. For example "My name is Jo and I like the color Purple." The next person says "This is Jo and he likes the color purple and my name is Rose and I am 8 years old." The next person says "That is Jo he likes Purple, this is Rose and she is 8 and I am Jeremy and I like the color blue." It's a chain and the kids have to repeat what the last people have said about themselves. It's really hard to be the last person in the circle! (Submitted by Danielle)

Odd-One-Out: Write 3 or four words on the board. Students must circle the odd-one-out (e.g. cat - horse - cake - bird).

Preposition Treasure Hunt: For prepositions of location and yes/no question practice. You need something sticky, like 'Blue Tack' (used for sticking posters to the wall) that you can roll into a ball and stick on anything. Model first: give the Blue Tack to a student and indicate that they should put it in a difficult-to-find place. Leave the room and give them a few moments to hide the Blue Tack (e.g. on the underside of a desk, on the wall behind a curtain, etc.). Then come back in and ask yes/no questions to locate it (Is it on the desk?, Is it near the desk? Is it in the front half of the classroom? Is it under the chair? etc.). When you finally find it have a student take the questioner's role. In a large class try having students play in pairs.

Picture Fun: Have students cut out a picture of a person in a magazine. Students should describe the person, how old they are, what their job is, what their hobbies are, etc. and then present that person to the class. This is good for practicing adjectives. (Submitted by Kelly).

Question Chain: Have the participants sit in a circle. Teacher asks the student next to him/her a question (e.g. "What's your name?" "Do you like chocolate cake?" etc.) and the student has to answer the question and then ask the student next to him/her the same question. Continue around the circle and then start a new question. It helps to use a ball to pass around as the questions are being asked and answered.

Rhythmic Reading: This activity is fast-paced and lively, and improves their word recognition, speed, and confidence in reading. Choose a reading passage (one page if using a basic text, maybe one paragraph if using a more advanced one). Start a rhythm (clapping or tapping on your desk). Choose one student to start. Each student must read one sentence (or word, if you want), exactly on the beat and pronounced correctly. Immediately after the first student finishes, the next one starts with the next sentence, and so on. If someone misses a beat or stumbles over words, they lose a 'life' or they are 'out'. If you use the 'out' method, it isn't so bad, because the 'out' students help to keep the beat and follow along. In my experience, all students, whether 'out' or not, have focused intently on the reading - waiting like hawks to hear someone's mistake. Of course you can vary the tempo, making it much easier or much harder. This can also be played as a team game (which team can make it to the end of the passage, on beat, with no stumbles or mispronunciations?). Good luck! (Submitted by Melanie Mitchell).

Story Pass: Put up a picture or a first sentence as a writing prompt. Divide students into small groups and have them create a story from that prompt. Each student takes a turn writing one sentence to add to the story and passes it on to the next student. Keep it going around in the group until they have finished it (it may be helpful to have a length limit or time limit so the stories don't get too out of control!). Vote on the best story, based on creativity and flow. (Submitted by Christina Deverall)

Spelling Bee: Have all your students stand at the front of the class. Give student1 a word to spell. The student orally spells the word and the teacher writes it on the board as it is being spelt. If the spelling is wrong the student is knocked out of the game. The last student standing is the winner. This also works well as a team game.

Secret S: Students form 2 different groups in the class, each group prepares 3 questions to ask. Other group members try to give answers to these questions without saying the letter 'S'. The group which does not say this letter wins the game. (Submitted by Gamze Yэldэz).

There is/there are: To practice there is/there are. Give your students a list of questions, and have them go around the school, park in order to answer the questions. Questions could be:

How many doors are there in the school?

how many teachers are there in the school in this moment?

how many plants are there in the hall?

how many tables are there in the classroom?, etc. (Submitted by Claudian Torres)

Time Bomb: you need a timer (such as an egg timer) for this exciting game. Set the timer, ask a question and then throw it to a student. S/he must answer and then throw the timer to another child, who in turn answers and then throws it to another one. The student holding the timer when it goes off loses a life. This can also be done with categories (e.g. food, animals, etc.).

Tingo Tango: sit with students in a circle after teaching any topic. Give a bean bag to one student in the circle to start passing around when another student (sitting looking out) begins to chant "tingo, tingo, tingo, tango". When s/he says "tango" the student who ends up with the bean bag must either answer a question or ask one about the topic learned. (Submitted by Maria Pineda)

"Uhm" Game: One student at a time is chosen and given a specific subject (pickle, grass, football, etc). The objective is for the student to talk about/describe the subject for as long as possible without pausing or using fillers such as "uhm". This is a great game for building speech skills and kids love it! (Submitted by Maggie)

Unscramble: Write a word on the board that has all its letters mixed up (e.g. "lrocsmaos" = "classroom"). Students have to unscramble the word. This works well in a team game. Variation: use letter blocks / letter shapes instead of writing on the board.

Vanishing Objects Game: place a number of objects in front of the students. Give them a few moments to memorize the objects and then tell them to close their eyes. Take away one of the objects and then tell the students to open their eyes again. The first student to guess the missing object can win that object (for 1 point) and take away an object in the next round.

Word Chain: have the students to sit with teacher in a circle. Teacher says a word (or sentence) and then the next student repeats that word and adds a new word. Student2 then says the 2 words and adds another. Continue going around the circle until the list gets too long to remember!

What Time Is It Mr. Wolf (variation): This variation is easier to play in a classroom setting. Have students stand in a circle around Mr. Wolf (either Teacher or Student), who is blind-folded and facing one direction. The students ask 'What time is it Mr. Wolf?'. If Mr. Wolf says 'It's 4 o'clock,' then the students march in a circle 4 steps. If Mr. Wolf says, 'It's dinnertime,' then he or she grabs the student who is in front of them. And that student becomes Mr. Wolf. As another variation, and to teach students times of meals, 6 o'clock could be breakfast, 12 o'clock could be lunch and 7 o'clock could be dinner. So when Mr. Wolf said, 'It's 12 o'clock,' Mr. Wolf would eat a student. (Submitted by Wilhelm)

Whisper Game: Sit the students in a circle with you. Whisper a word or sentence in the next student's ear (e.g. "I'm hungry"). S/he then whispers that in the next student's ear and so on until the last student. S/he then says the word/sentence out loud to see if it's the same as the original message.

Zoo Game: This is a fun activity for young learners on the topic of animal noises. After teaching the animals and their noises sit each student in a different part of the classroom and assign them as different animals (to make it clearer you can give each student a flashcard of the animal they are representing). Walk around the room and talk to each student, who can only reply as an animal. E.g. Teacher: "Hello Yumi", Student1:"Moo! (cow). Teacher: "What's your name?" Student2: "Roar!" (lion). Teacher: "How are you, Kenta?" Student3: "Bow-wow!" (dog).

2.2 Using games in educational process

Games in the language classroom help children to see learning English as enjoyable and rewarding. Playing games in the classroom develops the ability to co - operate, to compete without being aggressive.

Integrating games into the syllabus. Although it would be conceivable to teach English course solely based on games, most teachers have an accompanying textbook which they are required to work through over the course of the year. Games can either supplement the core material or (depending on the flexibility of the programme) replace activities which the teacher dislikes or feels uncomfortable with.

It is important for teachers to read their coursebooks or syllabus closely. Are there certain areas which appear weak? Perhaps there are aspects of the language (often functions) which are not covered in the core curriculum. A game can fill the gap. If the syllabus is based on language structures, the topic - based games can make it more interesting for children.

But, most important, games can make the lesson planning easier. Once the teacher has played the games a few times and feel comfortable with them, she will be able to insert them into her programme with very little preparation, especially if she has made materials which can be used more than once. Games can serve as a valuable backup if teacher goes through her material too quickly or if something unexpected happens, for example, the colleague is ill and she needs to cover her class as well as hers. They can help to control the rhythm of the lesson and get a group of unmotivated children up and moving around, participating in the class, and being more receptive to the rest of the lesson.

Teacher can use language games to introduce new material, to practise recently learnt language items, to introduce or practise certain themes, or to relax or energize the class. Some can be used for all of these. Teacher must be very clear about what she expects of the children. The language focus alone is not enough to decide on a game. Also she must consider the children's active and passive language knowledge in relation to what the game requires. Are full sentences or one - word answers sufficient? How strict are the contexts? Is there a large amount of choice for the children or are the responses closely defined? Do the games require active language production or simply passive understanding?

How teacher uses a language game will ultimately depend on the `personality' of the group of children. Do the children have a long attention span? Are they very active? What is the boy/girl ratio? Sometimes girls and boys will refuse to play on the same team or to hold hands. Also she should consider external factors such as the time of day the English lesson is held, and what happens before and after it. Is her lesson a part of the regular school day, or is it held in the late afternoon after a long day of school, homework, and other activities? Every teacher must to distinguish between `rousing' and `settling' games.

`Rousers' wake a class up. They get the adrenalin going. Typical `rousers' are movement games and games where there is an element of competition. Guessing games also tend to get children excited, as do games which require the children to speak. Bear in mind that an active game may get excess energy out of one group actually and settle them. However, it could backfire and excite another group so much that they go wild and lose control.

'Settlers', on the other hand, calm a class down. Typical `settlers' are craft activities and games which focus on listening. Writing games also tend to settle a class, unless, of course, they are combined with other stirring elements, for example, running to the blackboard. Board games can settle a group as well.

The difference between `rousers' and `settlers' is not always clear. It depends on how the teacher decides to play the game. Splitting a large group into pairs can make a `rousers' into a `settlers', and can prevent children who are waiting for their turn from getting bored.

Before choosing a game, the teacher should also consider safety. Is the space big enough for a lively movement game? Can the children fall and injure themselves? Is the floor dirty and not fit for sitting on?

Safety is also a matter of control. The children must know their boundaries and respect your authority. If a class is particularly unruly teacher should consider leaving out activities which could led to pushing or throwing objects. These are really questions of common sense.

Of course all language games should be fun, but always keep the language component at the forefront of teacher's planning. This may seem obvious, but it is easy for lessons to become a string of `highlights' which lack coherence and fail to take the children further. She must try and keep the focus on some clearly recognizable objectives rather than jumping from theme to theme in order to introduce popular games.

Teachers should vary their repertoire. Children will always ask for their old favourites, but she shouldn't give in. The children call for games they know because they are familiar. However, one can have too much even of a good thing. Therefore, teacher mustn't overdo a game, especially since many of the games can be adapted for use with various themes and differing levels of ability. If a game is over - used on one level, it will be difficult to motivate the children to try it another way.

While a certain amount of routine in a lesson is useful, since children like to know what's going on, too much predictability will stifle a class as much as playing the same game over and over again. She should avoid the repetitive trap of song - drill - game - craft, song - drill - game - craft and mix things up a bit. Teacher should surprise the children from time to time. Sketching out lessons as mind maps instead of linear progressions can help her move away static lesson plans while keeping the focus of the lesson clearly in sight. In this way, she can insert the game when energy and understanding are at their best.



It is very important not to play game for too long. Children will begin to lose interest and wander off. Chaos may ensue. Finding the right moment to switch activities is not easy. Each child has a different attention span. Therefore it is important that teacher has extra material for children who finish an activity quickly or who don't seem interested in continuing to play. Give them a job to do, like shuffling the cards or doing the calling for `Bingo'. If a child still wants out, let him or her go. If a child is very unruly and disturbs the rest of the group she may also want to consider introducing a time - out chair, off to the side, where the child can go to calm down without losing touch with the group activity. Be careful when excluding a child in this way. The time - out chair can sometimes cause a child to play up to get attention, disturbing the game even more. So she should decide for each individual class and child.

The best - designed game will backfire if teacher is not fully sure about all aspects of the activity. Children are relentlessly honest critics who expect her, the teacher, to know everything. If she mix up the rules or get flustered, the children will rebel. The class can collapse in mayhem. With younger children teacher has no time to pause, rethink and reorganize as she might with classes of teenagers or young adults. To avoid such problems, test - play games herself and or with friends before introducing them into the English lesson.

Teacher must double check that she has everything she needs. She must note the `Materials' heading for each game. If she has asked the children to bring materials, she must be sure to have a lot of extras herself. Children will forget. She must try and get into her classroom before the children arrive. Teacher should choose a table to one side and lay out everything she needs before she starts. Fishing for things in bags is a distraction which can lead to a loss of discipline - her eyes and attention are away from the children.

Does the classroom space fit the requirements of the game teacher has chosen? Is the classroom full of chairs and tables? If so, can they be moved around? Is the space large enough to put objects around the room or for two teams to run in? If she has the opportunity to arrange the room in her own way, dividing it into a sitting area and empty space, perhaps with a carpet to sit on, is a good idea. This way, teacher can move between activities without having to interrupt the flow of the lesson.

One of the best ways to get children interested in a game is to have them participate actively in its creation. Producing a game gives the children a sense of achievement while integrating the game into other areas of the language class and the children's general education. Game creation involves many skills as well as active decision making on the part of the children. It is a rich field in which to practise some basic English. For instance, in deciding rules for games, teacher could integrate phrases such as How many… (players, cards, turns) What happens when …(you land on a red space, roll a six, have no more cards) Can you… (roll twice with doubles, jump over another player). Depending on the children's language level, she can require full sentences in a loosely controlled context, or focus on passive understanding and answers with yes/no or single word utterances. On the non - linguistic level, the rules can be as simple or hard as the children's general development and imagination allow.

Creating games is also an excellent craft activity and can involve a lot of language use. The children can make their own dice (they can have any set of symbols, not only numbers), create cards (you can make this into a listening task by telling the children what to draw), and, of course, design a game board based on rules they have already agreed upon. The game creation project should stretch over a couple of lessons, but not too many, perhaps as a closing activity when concentration is low. Game making almost always excites the children. The project culminates on a special day when the game is played.

Language level. Determining a learner's language level is at best an inexact science, especially if the learner is a young child. Traditional terms such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced suggest a linear progression which is really not applicable to the 4 - 12 age group, as it is difficult to filter out the language component from children's general development. Children at pre - school and early primary level are meeting English for the first time. Most will probably not learn intensively. Some will start in kindergarten while others may only begin when they are ten years old. If traditional terminology is to fit at all, we would need to list `pre - school beginners, early primary beginners, primary intermediate', etc., which would only make things more complex for a teacher looking for a suitable game.

We thought long and hard about whether to include language level in the details of each game and reached the conclusion that any attempt to classify the games in this way would very artificial. Language level does not reflect the real challenge of the games, which teacher will find in the nature of the activity itself rather than in the language component. In addition, since most games have numerous variations with different language input aimed at varying age groups, giving a language level could lead readers to overlook activities which might be just what they need.

Class size. Controlling large size (25+ children) is one of the hardest tasks facing even the most experienced teacher. It is a simple fact of teaching life that the larger the group, the more difficult it becomes to set up activities which promote active language use. The teacher can play some games with large classes, especially those based on total physical response, such as line - ups, `Simon Says', but they tend to elicit passive responses to prompts. Giving the teacher's role to the children can counterbalance this to extent, but the shortcomings of the large class still remain.

Rather than spending time looking for activities which allow for 25 and more children to participate simultaneously, it is best to divide a class up into smaller, more manageable groups which can play games more effectively. Here are some ideas which have worked for teachers we know.

Turn players into teams. If the teacher has a game which is suitable for eight players, she can expand it to 24 players by playing in group of three. She should to try and encourage English as the means of communication between team members and insist that one player from each team must produce the target language. She could also get each team to respond in chorus if the game permits.

Set up `game stations' in the classroom. `Game stations' enable groups of children to play different games at the same time. Teacher must set up everything she needs for each game in a different part of the room. The stations should be clearly marked with bright and colourful signs which the children can make. Split the class into four groups and assign them each to a station where they should play a game. Take care to ensure that the games do not interfere with each other. Depending on the space available, loud lively games could disturb children working on something quiet. In all cases teacher should make sure that:

- The games are familiar in concept to the children. She can vary the language components.

- The children move briskly from station, spending no more than 10 - 15 minutes at each, and less for the young, who may require further guidance.

There needn't only be games at each station. Teacher can set up a book station with lots of interesting picture books to look at or read, a listening station with a tape - player for listening to songs or stories, a computer station if available, and a game station. She can also create a `teacher station' where the children can come and speak to her.

The teacher and a few children should demonstrate a game to the whole class, after which the class splits into groups to play. She should circulate from group to group acting as a monitor and source of information.

The beauty of the `stations' idea is that once it has been explained and practiced it can easily be modified for use with any topic. The children will know what to expect, making classroom management easier.

Dealing with children who are `out' of games. Many games have winners and losers and often losers are `out' of the game. Also, in non - competitive games, some children may simply finish quicker than others. These children need to be occupied in case they wander off and disrupt those still playing. Two interesting strategies are:

1. A `consolation' round. Teacher can split the class into small groups to play the game. Rather than being `out', losers from one group go on to compete with the losers from another group. They can either play a new round of the same game or move into a completely different game, running parallel to the first one. In this way the stigma of losing reduced and an interest in the game is maintained even after a child is `out'. (Who and what will I play next?) The same principle can be applied in the opposite direction. Winners can also go on to play other winners, or the winners of game A play the losers of game B. In this way no one is ever `out' - each team or player gets another chance.

2. The central game board. On a large sheet of cardboard create a bright and colorful game board. Children who are `out' roll the dice and move across the board, landing on different spaces. Each space represents a particular activity or game which the children must play. Some spaces can tell the children to take a card with instructions written on it which they must read and carry out. The children go off and play that game. When they finish, they return to the game board, roll the dice move on to something new.

There are some games which do not require mother - tongue explanation if they are introduced systematically, with simple games coming first. The more complex games will build on the easier ones. This is important if the teacher has a multilingual class.

Nevertheless, there are times when a mother - tongue explanation can be helpful. This is especially true if the teacher wants to use a game which includes concepts and procedures the children have not yet learnt.

If the teacher starts explaining a game in English and realize the class simply does not understand what he or she means, a short prompt in the mother tongue will get the teacher over the hurdle and on to the game in question. Resolutely sticking to English regardless of the situation will test the children's patience and spell trouble for classroom management. She should take note of what the children didn't understand and try and introduce the game differently the next time around.

It is inevitable and logical that young children will speak in their mother tongue during a lesson. Pre-school and primary-age children seldom have enough English to communicate freely with their classmates. And why should they if their friends speak the same language? Be aware of the distinction between the target English the teacher should require in the lesson and the off-task mother-tongue talking that will take place. While the teacher should encourage the children to use English amongst themselves, don't press the issue. The more the children learn, the broader the use of the target language becomes.

What is important is that teacher sticks to English as much as possible. If a child addresses teacher in the mother tongue, it is fine to acknowledge the question, but respond in English. The teacher may even want to tease some English out of the children by responding to a mother-tongue question with: Sorry? Could you say that in English? I don't speak Kazakh, and using gestures.

Useful game-playing terms. Here are some phrases which are essential to playing games. When the teacher first plays games with her or his class she must be sure to demonstrate the meaning of phrases while saying them.



The children will pick it up very fast. You may have to remind them in the next lesson, but after a brief warm-up, the phrases will come back quickly.

It's my/your/her turn

Whose turn is it?

You're out

Roll the dice

Shuffle the cards

Take…

Give…

Wait…

Don't peek (look)

No cheating

Move…spaces forward/backwards

Make a circle

Line up

Turn around

Shut your eyes

Pass the (ball, cup,etc)

Spin the…

Discard (throw away)

Deal the cards.

Essential materials. It is a good idea to build up a stock of picture cards showing people, food, common classroom and household objects, animals, etc. Although the materials teacher needs are listed with each game, here is a list of core materials which she or he should collect and always have handy in the primary classroom.

· Large thick cardboard sheets (such as A1 size) to make game boards (coloured and white)

· Small cards such as index cards

· Coloured pencils and pens (washable)

· Children's scissors

· Children's glue

· Blu-tack (This is a kind of putty which teacher can use to stick paper or small objects to walls or boards without ripping the material. Blu-tack or its equivalent is not available everywhere and simple tape will do the trick as well)

· Lots of colourful magazines (preferably in English but others will do as well - it's the pictures we need)

· Lots of dice, as varied as possible (can be found in speciality and toy shops)

· Small toys or figures to be used as counters

· Dried beans

· Old clothes

· Egg cartons

· Scrap paper

· A soft ball for indoor use

· A stop - watch

· A whistle

· A buzzer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we want to say that all English lessons must involve games, as the games are best set up by demonstration rather than by lengthy explanation. The game is the most important and essential element in developing the person or all the society. Every child has a great opportunity to imagine himself as an adult, to copy all the actions which he saw and consequently to acquire the skills, which can be useful in his future. Children analyze definite situations in the games, so they draw conclusion and distinguish the positive and negative sides. The child's imagination can easily turn the stick into horse, the chair into the car, thus the games develop child's abstract thinking. Another important factor is the child's development. In addition, every game for the child - is a great world, the world which is very personal and sovereign for him, where he can do all that he wants.

Educational games are learning and recreational environments that try to increase learner motivation by embedding pedagogical activities in highly enjoyable interactions. This kind of applications is particularly interesting for learning activities which involve routine and repetitive tasks, because student needs an extra motivation in order to successfully complete them.

Every teacher should remember when she conducts the games:

ь The child, who played games at schools, is more prepared to the cognitive activity;

ь The game and its form must be available by its content for all children and it must be correspond to their levels of development;

ь The wide use of visual methods cooperates to the carrying out the games;

ь The playing and entertaining material must be various; also it must be closely connected with learning materials.

Thus, children will discover the world by playing. The necessity of games and the wish of playing must be used and directed rightly with a view of solving definite problems in educational process. The game will be the means of upbringing and teaching, if it will be involved into the all pedagogical process. When teacher conducts the game and organizes the pupil's life in the game, she influences for the all sides of pupil's developments: sense, consciousness, will and behavior.

List of used literature

1. Alan Maley, “Games for children”, Oxford University Press, 1999

2. Rogova G.V., “Methods of teaching English”, M., 1970

3. Sarah Philips, “Young learners”, Oxford University Press, 1999

4. Jill Hadfield , “Elementary grammar games”, Longman, 2001

5. Jill Hadfield, “Elementary vocabulary games”, Longman, 2001

6. “The role of games in cognitive development of pupils in English lessons” - “The foreign language at school”, 4/2006, 22-24 pages.

7. “Using didactics games on the lessons in elementary schools” - “The foreign language at school”, 5/2007, 22-24 pages.

8. “The role of the games software at schools on the basis of creative thinking” - “The foreign language at school”, 3/2006, 20-21 pages.

9. “Great games for the elementary school classroom”” - www.helium.com/channels/116-Primary-school

10. “Report on the educational use of games” - www.teem.org.uk

11. “ Game Based Spelling Learning” - rcrespo@it.uc3m.es, cdk@it.uc3m.es, mcastro@ieec.uned.es

12. “Ten games for the classroom fun” - www.educationworld.com

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