TEACHING VOCABULARY THROUGH GAMES

Teacher Pinti Adriana Codruta Ana I!ate"cu# Theoretica$ Hi%h "choo$ Gher$a& C$u' Count( No)e*+er ,-.-

Teachers of English as a Secondary Language know how important vocabulary is; they know students must learn thousand of words that speakers and writers of English use in order to communicate. Fortunately, the need for vocabulary is one point on which teachers and students agree. Furthermore, it is known that teaching vocabulary and the techni ues implied have been neglected in the past or !ust commonly known as bilingual lists of words. "n a traditional classroom situation, the vocabulary which is important for each student will vary according to their own interests, personality and previous knowledge. This means a LE#$%E$&'E%TE$E( approach to learning words or )chunks* of words is needed, rather than one in which the teacher dictates important words and functions to be learnt. "n addition, students need help in processing and remembering language and increasing their personal le+icon. ,ften they go about this learning in a disorganised way. For e+ample, many students write down new words but have no system for storing them. -oreover, a key element in learning vocabulary is the way in which it is reinforced in the classroom until it gets into the long&term memory and the students can use it to communicate. 'ommunicative Language Teaching today focuses on teaching and reinforcing vocabulary not only in order to be practical for the students, but in a practical way. #nd the practical way we will discuss here is nearest to the students. environment/ GAMES.

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"n teaching vocabulary, games represent short activities that are vital for an English classroom. They can be used/ as a uick warm-up for the beginning to get our students into the right mood for learning to review or reinforce material 0vocabulary, grammar, etc.1 as a light filler to provide relief after a period of intense effort and concentration as a brief orientation activity to change the mood or topic to round off the lesson with a smile

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"n an English lesson, as in everyday life, games e+ist in a variety of forms and with a variety of difficulty levels, suitable for different age levels. Therefore, the target learners are our students of all ages and levels. 2owever, we must consider the fact that certain vocabulary games are to be applied to certain age levels.

Point" to con"ider 1hen u"in% %a*e"2

Learning value: games are used in an English lesson because they have a learning value. The learning value is fle+ible and can be chosen or built by the teacher, taking into consideration the target students. The most common learning values are closely related to reviewing or reinforcing vocabulary, listening to and using thematic vocabulary; Careful preparation/ every game must be well prepared in order for the student to understand each rule and each step to follow until the end of the game; Level/ as shown before, each game must be adapted to the English level of the class and the age of the students; Clear instructions/ provide a uick and total comprehension of what students have to do, avoiding confusion. The teacher must be prepared to offer an e+ample if necessary. Timing/ must be set at the beginning of the activity and it shouldn.t be very long 0especially for young learners, which tend to get bored uickly1; Size of class/ this is very important when we need teams3groups; Physical space/ must be taken into consideration when the activity implies moving around or performing; Materials/E uipment/ if a game re uires any materials, the teacher must be prepared with everything he3she needs in order for the game not to be interrupted;

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.4 !ortunately / "nfortunately/ & students have to say a sentence beginning with fortunately3unfortunately referring to what they did 3 what they will do, etc. This activity is a good way of reviewing tenses. ,4 The rain game & the rain game will appeal to those students who learn from movement and get restless when obliged to keep still. The class stands in a circle, facing the middle and the teacher. 4y copying the movements made by the teacher, which are listed below, the effects of a storm can be created to set the scene for a role play or perhaps a story. "t takes the form of a 5-e+ican wave. in that the participants only perform the actions when the teacher turns to face them and the teacher is constantly turning on the spot/ .4 rub hands together 0the wind1 ,4 snap fingers 0the rain1 54 slap hands on thighs 64 stomp feet 0full&blown storm1 then order is reversed as the storm blows past, then silence. 54 Concentration game & students have to rela+ and start counting with their eyes closed. They are supposed to count in turns without overlapping. ,nce they make a mistake they have to start it again. This game is e+tremely useful when the students are noisy 0for e+ample after a group&work activity1 and it is hard for the teacher to calm them down or as a pleasant way to pass from a 0noisy1 activity to another one. 64 #octors an$ %urses & the class is divided into groups 6 0doctors, nurses, and patients1 & have a word and listen to a story. The teacher or a student reads the story. The students have to stand up when they hear their word. This is a fun game to use when studying a 2ealth unit, when the students seam without energy or !ust as a listening for specific information 0word1 activity.

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.4 Chain story & Teacher says the first sentence of a story and then students continue it by adding one sentence each. 0in parallel a group of students may perform3mime what they hear1. The chain story is e+cellent for reinforcing grammar structures such as 7ast Simple Tense or Second 'onditional, or for practicing vocabulary in general. ,4 Colla'orative $rawing & (raw a head. Fold the paper and give it to your partner. (raw a body and arms. (raw legs. (raw feet. 8rite a name. ,pen the paper. 9. (eopar$y 6 the game of :uestions and answers. The teacher gets the students into groups and presents them four categories 0Literature, English language, ;eography, -usic1. Each category has four uestions, rated according to its difficulty, from <== to >== points. "n turns, each group has to choose a category and a uestion. "f they know the answer, they receive the points. "f they don.t, the other group can answer and they receive half of the points the uestion had. This game is preferred to be used at the end of the semester, as a vocabulary reinforcement of all the lessons. "t can, of course, be adapted to students. age, level of English and interests. 64 )ingo & several vocabulary sets are chosen and each pupil covers the card with ?&@ words from the sets in front of him. The teacher reads out the words at random and the first child who covers all the words on his card calls 4ingoA This is one of the best ways to review a vocabulary theme such as parts of the body, animals, vegetables, furniture and rooms of the house, etc. "t is a game recommended for the primary and secondary school students. 74 %either *es nor %o & one student must answer the uestions asked by peers but it is not permitted to use yes or no. 0e.g. Do you live in Romania? I live in Gherla.)The game clearly states its learning value/ asking uestions. 84 +or$ guessing game & The class is divided into two teams. ,ne representative of each team comes in front of the class facing it. The teacher behind his back writes a word on the blackboard. The B students guess the word with the help of the B teams. The team members describe, in turn, the word, but they are not allowed to name it. The first to guess the word scores the point for his3her team. This activity can also be used

thematically, phonetically 0if the teacher chooses to focus on specific phonemes1 or to built the students. capacity to give an English definition to a word. 9, +or$ chain & or 'iting your tail & the teacher writes a word on the board and children take turns to add a word beginning with the last letter of each word. The game.s learning value is that of revising vocabulary. #ll the games presented above can give us further ideas regarding vocabulary activities. ,ne first point teachers should remember is the fact that students need to have fun when learning a foreign language. Second of all, if you like what you do, you do it better. Thematic and fun activities can be made with all items to be learnt. For e+ample, " observed that eight graders encounter difficulties with tenses referring to the past and with the se uence of tenses. 4ut if the e+ercises that they solve are thematic 0about football players, singers or actors they love1 their results increase visibly. Even if the work is double for the teacher, the results will worth the effort. English teachers, don.t be afraid to e+ploreA

4"4L",;$#72C/ -ihaela LaDar, Making Learning Enjoyable and Memorable, Steps to Success handout, 4ritish 'ouncil 'lu!&%apoca, B=<= Eirginia French #llen, Techni ue! in Teaching "ocabulary, ,+ford Fniversity 7ress, B==9 -ichael 2arris, #el$ing %&uden&! Learn "ocabulary, 7earsonLongman.com, B=<= #udrey -c"lvain, Teaching Engli!h &o "ery 'oung Learner!, 7earsonLongman.com, B=<=