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WHAT’S IN A GAME?
We play lots of games in class.Many years ago, when I first started teaching,
teachers rarely played games in their lessons. They had their students
sit and open their texts and read and write. The speaking part was mostly
repetition by the students. All the questions were asked by the teacher.
Students answered with one word.
These days, we know that an active lesson helps students learn and remember
better. For over 23 years I volunteered as the Chairperson of AETC (The
Association of English Teachers of Children). This was the first group
to address the needs of teaching children. We learned to integrate our
lessons with nursery rhymes, songs and games, and it grew as we gave workshops
on a regular basis in Tokyo and Osaka. Many groups were formed after AETC
and they also started to present songs and games. Teaching children’s classes
were full of games and teachers were always looking for new game ideas.
Playing games was and still is the main focus of many teachers, however,
teachers were faced with a big problem. Students liked to play games but
they did not like to learn the lessons. Teachers lamented how their students
brightened up during the game, but found it hard to make students concentrate
otherwise. Another problem was that students could not speak during the
games, and teachers were forever giving each student hints that were just
repeated. The students “won” the game, but the poor teacher was worn out
from “playing” the game for each student. I have seen teachers spend the
whole hour on games where students did not speak, that took too much time
or that were too complicated.
At the workshops, teachers had fun learning new games, but always asked me what to do to get students to “talk” during the games and, especially, how to get them to learn the lessons. This is when I started doing the MAT (Model, Action, Talk) seminars and later started the IIEEC Teacher Training Center in 1987. Instead of doing games as entertainment or using them so that kids would like English, or using them as rewards, MAT makes the entire lesson like a game. Each lesson is taught with game-like techniques so that even
drills were fun and students learned without even knowing they were drilling.
The lessons go so fast that students ask, “Is it time to go already?” when
class is over. We don’t have to use games to prevent them from quitting.
Students will like English if there is progress and if they are taught
so that they can remember and use the language with each other in class, and, if they can respect the teacher.
Although all MAT lessons are game-like, we do use “games”. However, MAT
games are called Learning Activities. This is because we want to differentiate a “game” for students from how a teacher will use the game. A “game” is fun, often has a winner, is often played without
much English in order to “finish the game” and it can take a long time
and be used as time filler or reward.
On the other hand, a Learning Activity has a purpose. It should reinforce what is being learned. It should be short with easy rules. It should be done within one or two minutes so that it
can be played many times during those minutes. MAT games sometimes are played in 10-20 seconds so that they can be repeated many times in a couple of minutes. Every student should have an opportunity to speak during each round. The activity
should also promote lots of pair practice so that your lesson is student-centered.
The intensity of the Learning Activity helps students to concentrate as they are playing and promotes OUPUT in a natural speed and rhythm.
Students learn to speak naturally as in their first language through these
Learning Activities. Instead of just a “game” students acquire the Four
Skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing through these activities
using the MAT techniques the 6-second DRILL GAMES. When students can say
the target language by themselves, then they are ready to do the “games”.
I hope teachers will review how they are treating games in their classes.
Do the students know what they are to say during the activity? Are the
students saying the words or sentences by themselves without the teacher’s
help? Are they able to do the activity in a short time (several seconds
to one or two minutes each) efficiently? Are they learning and reinforcing
lessons through the activity? Is every student getting a turn to speak
out? Do they speak to each other in Q&A activities? Is the activity
part of the lesson, not a reward?
Are your games Learning Activities? |
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