During the summer vacation I went to the pre-service training of Hsinchu County to share some experiences of how I incorporate games andactivities intomy class. This semester, I am alsohonored to have another chance to share my teachingin Hsinchu City. Some ideas of the games are from the workshop I have attended. This article is a good chance to put what I’ve done into words. I hope it will become a reference for the foreign teachersto practice in the extended classes.

Introduction of Game-Based learning
What is Game-Based learning? It refers to the use of games as a platform for learning. Learners in the game solve problems to overcome the challenges.According to The Horizon Report (2011), "Gaming is an expansive category, ranging from simple paper-and-pencil games such as word searches all the way up to complex, massively multiplayer online (MMO) and role-playing games.”

The advantages ofGame-Based learning
Students having low academic achievements are still very common in the classroom. It is a very important issue to effectively improve the learning effectiveness and reduce learning frustration. Learners get a sense of accomplishment in the game because it is enjoyable and fun. The pictures and props of the game help draw children’s attention.

The examples of Game-Based learning

1. Kick it out
I learned this game from a popular and famous English teacher, Caroline Liu in Taoyuan. She uses it inside the small groups. I give it some change because we can also play it with the whole class. The following are the steps.

• (1) First, you need to demonstrate how to do this activity on the blackboard.
• (2) Before the game, you paste 12 picturecards or word cards on the board.
• (3) You paste the target Q/A sentence strips on the board to be embraced by the 12 cards.
• (4) You dive the class into 4 groups.
• (5) Each group can have 3 color magnets. (blue*3, red*3, yellow*3, green*3 )
• (6) Let the leaders from each group come out and paste the magnets on the cards they like.
• (7) For example, one of the members from team red rolls the dice.
• (8) If team red gets 3 dots, he/she can decide to go 3 steps forward or backward.
• (9) She/he takes the color magnet and goes 3 steps to other people’s picture.
• (10) She/he needs to ask and answers the questions and then kicks the other color magnet out.
• (11) Then, it’s other’s turn. (eg. Team blue rolls the dice, go _steps and read the Q/A to kick some other color magnet out)
• (12) After 2 turns. See which color has the most magnets left.
• (13) The team which has the most magnets left will be the winner.

Put the cards on the board

When you finish the game with the whole class, you can try it inside the small groups next time. The steps are as the following.

• (1) You divide students into 7 teams.
• (2) Each team has 4 people.
• (3) We needto print out the board paper in black and whiteand give students 12 chips in 4 colors.
• (4) Teachers need to walk around to make sure the students are speaking the sentences.
  

Take Lesson one as an example to teach students how to play it

2. Quick Speller
The game is also originated from the famous teacher Caroline Liu. But I add a sheet like this in order to record the process of the students’ learning ability and participation.

First, you need to divide the students into 7 teams. Each team has 4 members. Each member has 3 chips in hand. When you hear a word, put the magnet on the letter.For example, when you hear“cat”, put the color chip on c, a, and t. See whocan put the most color chipson the board.

If some of the words has the same alphbets, put two or three on it. It can be from the same or different person. For example, when you hear banana, everyone will compete to put his/her color magnet on b, 3 on a, and 2 on n.

You give them words from shorter to longer words. We can write down the points on the sheet. After three runs, you add up all the points. And students will find out who the winner is. We keep it as a record.

Introduce the game by e-board	Play the game with color chips

3. Find the wrong spelling
It’s a very easy and exciting game. It can be used in most of your teaching material. Students can easily get the feeling of success from it.

First, you need to go to a website called “Word Cloud” and key in the vocabulary words you need. Some of the words should be typed wrong.

Secondly, you change the color, the size and the fonts.

Then you put the pictures on your own computer and make it into a PowerPoint slideshow.

You need seven small white boards, seven erasers and seven markers in the classroom. You divide students into seven teams. Each student takes turns looking for the wrong spelling. They write down the correct spelling on the board and show it to the class. The first one who can write it correctly and nicely wins the point for the team.

You can also give them more advanced practice. For example, two or three mistakes will be more exciting for them.

The picture is the example of the wrong spelling searching game by ppt.

Conclusion
Learning effectiveness depends on whether the students can actively participate. The game-based learning activities can truly promote students’ learning interest and will. They also effectively encourage students to participate in learning and achieve good learning effectiveness.

A Chinese proverb says: "Tell me, and I'll forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I'll understand." With game-based learning, education or training won’t be dull to students. Students will be engaged and motivated. In other words, they will really learn the language and love it.