The role of games in teaching english

NOVATEUR PUBLICATIONS
JournalNX- A Multidisciplinary Peer Reviewed Journal
ISSN No:
 
2581 - 4230
 
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 6, June. -2021
 
390 | 
P a g e
which revolve around working together 
towards reaching a specific goal, can be an 
excellent way to foster the skill of working with 
others. In co-operative games the emphasis is 
not on winning or losing, and as a result 
nobody should have to suffer trauma to his or 
her self confidence which could lead to better 
results in the learning process.
Educational games can be categorized in 
many other ways, for example dividing games 
into groups depending on which age group 
they fit could be convenient, also a division into 
writing-, reading-, speaking-, and listening 
games could be a good idea. Some games will 
always fit into many categories, which can 
make categorizing games a complex project.
Games for dividing larger groups into 
smaller groups within the group: games for 
dividing larger group into smaller groups, there 
are games that can be used prior to some group 
activity in order to divide the whole group into 
smaller groups. A great game that fits into this 
category is the game “Group dividing by 
miming” and it goes like this: The teacher has 
prepared notes with a certain role written on 
them. If the teacher wants to have 4 students in 
a group he has made 4 notes of each role, for 
example 4 notes that say “teacher” or “clown”. 
The second step is to give each student a note 
and remember to tell the students that they 
have to make sure that nobody besides them 
sees their note. Once everybody has gotten a 
note then they can begin acting out their roles 
and while they are doing so they must watch 
the others in order to figure out who is acting 
the same role as them. Once they have figured 
that out they will have created their groups. An 
activity like this can also be very good because 
it “breaks the ice” and prepares the students 
for the group work.
This category might include games like: 
“Searching for people” where students have to 
walk around the classroom and find students 
that have for example lived on a farm, been to 
Spain or eaten Mexican food and of course they 
would have to use the target language in order 
to get the necessary information. Also a good 
game in this category is the game “Stating the 
names” where students sit in a circle and one 
by one they introduce themselves, but the only 
catch is that before saying their own name they 
always have to repeat the names of the 
students who have already introduced 
themselves, and as the game progresses it gets 
harder and harder for students to memorize all 
the names.