When learning English, games are a great and fun tool to practise the new language. It can motivate the students and it provides a great opportunity for children who are shy or worried about making mistakes to speak more freely and communicate in a safe and fun way, it will help them build their confidence.
Kids will pay attention during the game in order to be able to play, this way they will make a greater effort to memorise and will learn as much as possible.
Morover, games can be use to revise vocabulary and what else they might have learn in a fun way. Repetition is the mother of skill, but it can also be boring. Through games, kids will use the vocabulary learnt in a creative way an thus it will stick more to them.
It is active learning, most times it involves physical movement and that improves the chidlren's attention. It will help them from getting restless or bored, they will use their energy and enjoy themselves.
It helps create a positive learning environment and it gives the students a real chance at speaking and socializing with the class. They will associate fun with learning and will reinforce their self-esteem.
Some games to play in class can be:
-Crazy train
Ideal for primary and kindergarten kids, the crazy train is a choo-choo train with added fun.Number of players: Ten or more
You will need: Space to play
How to play:
- Line up the kids to form a human choo-choo train.
- Then shout-out commands such as ‘slow’, ‘fast’, ‘slow-motion’, ‘turn right’, ‘move backward’, and ‘stop’ randomly to make the train go ‘crazy’!
-The mime
The mime is a fun game to revise verbs or action words. It can be played with primary or middle schools kids.
Number of players: Ten or more
You will need: A list of action words
How to play:
- Write down a list of action words such as gardening, walking the dog, dish washing, eating, or reading on small pieces of paper. Put them in a bag.
- Divide the class into two teams.
- The student has to enact that word while the other students try to guess what the word is.
- The team that guesses the word correctly gets a point and the team with the maximum points, wins
-Buzz is an excellent game for younger kids who need to recite long lists such as a series of numbers, letters of the alphabet, and days of the month.
Number of players: Ten or more
You will need: A little preparation
How to play:
- Pick a series that you want the kids to list out – numbers from one to 100, prime numbers, or any other series of words or numbers they have access to.
- Decide what the buzz word or number is going to be. For instance, you can decide that every fourth number or letter is going to be the buzz word. You could also choose words starting with a specific letter or numbers divisible by a particular number.
- The word ‘buzz’ will replace the figures or letters.
- Get the kids to start reading the items on the list or the series in order, while replacing the chosen letter number with buzz.
Anyone who misses replacing the buzz word or number is out of the game.
-Pictionary can help students practice their vocabulary and it tests to see if they’re remembering the words you’ve been teaching.
- Why use it? Vocabulary
- Who it's best for: All ages; best with young learners
How to play:
- Before the class starts, prepare a bunch of words and put them in a bag.
- Split the class into teams of 2 and draw a line down the middle of the board.
- Give one team member from each team a pen and ask them to choose a word from the bag.
- Tell the students to draw the word as a picture on the board and encourage their team to guess the word.
- The first team to shout the correct answer gets a point.
- The student who has completed drawing should then nominate someone else to draw for their team.
- Repeat this until all the words are gone - make sure you have enough words that each student gets to draw at least once!
There are also many online resources that offer interactive games.
