The importance of games in the classroom

Learning a second language can be a daunting task. With the vocabulary words that students need to memorize in addition to all of the grammar rules, it’s difficult to keep students motivated in learning a second language. The only thing that we as teachers can do for our students is to present the materials in an interesting fashion to generate excitement whenever students come into our classroom.

To keep my students motivated, I create as many opportunities for students to interact with each other as possible. Language learning is about communicating. I believe that studentscan reach oral competence at a faster rate when they communicate with each other. Because of this, I try to keep teacher instruction to a minimum. In my ideal class, I would instruct or review vocabulary and sentence structure for about ten minutes of class time. The remaining 30 minutes is for students to play games and interact with each other using the target language.

Though it would be best if students could interact with each other in an authentic setting, the classroom is very rarely a place where authentic language of the target sentence structure is used. Because we can only give our students simulated situations, games are a perfect tool to reinforce language and maintain high motivation. Below are three of my most well received games, all adjustable to any sentence structure being taught in class:

World Domination
This game works best with location themed units, but can be adjusted with some creativity. For the sake of simple explanation, the steps will be explained using the unit on countries as an example.

Objective: Become the largest group (Or “Become to largest country”)
Materials needed: Number cards, PPT Slide
Steps:

• 1. Each team is a country
• 2. Each team has a designated president
• 3. Starting from country 1, (eg: UK) the citizens of that country need to draw a number (ex: number 14).
• 4. Student 14 stands up
• 5. The class asks the target question they are learning in class (Eg: Where is he going?”)
• 6. The class also answers according to whichever team drew the number (Eg: “He is going to the UK.”)
• 7. Student 14 and one student from the team that drew his number play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” (RPS)
• 8. If Student 14 wins, they stay in the country they were originally from. If Student 14 loses, he must move to the UK.
• 9. This continues until all countries have draw numbers at least once
• 10. If a presidents’ number is called, both countries go to war. All of the students from both countries line up in the front of the classroom to play RPS. Before each match, the class asks the target question. At the end of the match, the class answers with the appropriate answer. The losing student from each match must go to the winning students country.
• 11. If a country draws a number of one of it’s own citizens, the country has a right to pick any student of their choosing.
• 12. The country with the most citizens at the end of the game is the winner.

Rules:

• 1. Be quiet
• 2. No shouting

Notes:
This game quickly gets very noisy so the students need to be reminded to keep the talking to a minimum.
With this game, there is no need to explain the rules. Simple assign the teams a vocabulary word and ask each team to have a leader. Write down all of the leaders numbers on the board. Afterwards, go to the first team and ask them to draw a number. The students learn the steps of the game as they play. Once they understand how to play, the only intervening you as a teacher need to do is guiding the students in lining up in the front of the room once a leaders number is called.

While the steps to the game are specific to countries, with a little bit of creativity, you can adjust this game to fit a number of topics. For example: a unit on food. Each team can be a designated food or drink. Explain to students that they are fanatics of their food and want everyone else to love the same food they love. The class asks “What does he want to drink?” The class responds, “He wants to drink lemonade!” If the student whose number was called loses RPS, they are forced into like lemonade and switching teams. If they win, they get to stay with their original food team.

*This is the PPT slide I show my students. The numbers are their team numbers and the corresponding vocabulary word. Below the numbers are the target sentences.

Evolution

Materials needed: slips of paper, PPT slide
Objective:Beat the teacher at “Rock, Paper, Scissors”
Steps:

• 1. Students are given paper to write down one question and three answers.
• 2. Students start the game with one finger on their forehead.
• 3. Students look for a fellow student with the same number of fingers on their forehead to challenge to a battle. (see step 7 for more clarification)
• 4. Once a student finds a partner, one student (Student A) asks the other (Student B) the question written on their sheet of paper.
• 5. Student B reads the appropriate answer from their own sheet of paper, then reads their own question. Student A answers accordingly.
• 6. Students switch papers.Students play RPS
• 7. The winning student now becomes a “2” and has two fingers on their forehead. The losing student stays a “1”.
• 8. Students who have become “2”s can only challenge fellow “2”s. “1”s may only challenge other “1”s.
• 9. Repeat steps 3-8 until a student moves up to being a “5”.
• 10. “5”s have the right to challenge the teacher. If a “5” challenges the teacher and wins, the student gets a point for their team.
• 11. Any student who loses a challenge at any point turns back into a “1”. Eg: Student A and Student B are both “3”s. Student A wins at “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and becomes a “4”. Student B turns back into a “1”.

Rules:

• 1. No running
• 2. No shouting
• 3. No Chinese

*This is the PPT slide I show my students. The numbers are their team numbers and the corresponding vocabulary word. Below the numbers are the target sentences.

Notes:
Since this game creates high energy in the classroom, it’s best to be very strict with the rules when students are first learning how to play. The students will most likely be a little confused the first time they attempt the game in class. You may have to remind them of how to play, but once they understand the rules of the game, you can adjust the game to fit whatever sentence structure you are teaching them.

One fun adjustment you can make to the game is replacing the numbers with actions. For example, my sixth graders have a unit on seasons. For this unit, instead of using numbers as indications for finding partners, I had my students act out the lifecycle of a flower. All of my students start off as a seed. If they win at RPS, they move on to being a flower, then a flower dancing in a wind as it loses it’s petals, then a dying flower. The next step after the dying flower is to challenge the teacher, then students turn back into seeds.

Sentence Drills before the game	The teacher explains how to play the game

Vampire

Objective: Find the Vampire
Materials needed: slips of paper, PPT slide
Steps:

• 1. Students are given paper to write down one question and three answers
• 2. Students put their heads down on the table and “fall asleep”
• 3. Teacher walks around the classroom and picks a vampire by tapping a student on the head
• 4. Students “wake up” and walk around the classroom, shaking hands while asking and answer the questions on their sheet of paper.
• 5. Students switch papers every time they talk to someone new.
• 6. The vampire “kills” the first student they talk to by “biting” them. Vampires “bite” through their fingers. While shaking hands, the vampire will tap three times on the inside of the victims’ wrist.
• 7. Once the victim feels a vampire’s bite, the victim must talk to and shake hands with an additional two more people before dramatically falling on the ground.
• 8. Once a victim is dead, students (minus the victim) return to their seat.
• 9. The teacher picks one student (Student A) to point out the vampire.
• 10. Student A can accuse Student B of being the vampire. If Student B is the vampire, Student A gets one point for their team. If Student B is not vampire, Student B can guess who the vampire is. If the student that Student B chooses is the vampire, Student B wins a point for their team. If the student is not a vampire, the accused student can accuse someone else of being vampire. This cycle continues until 5 accusations are made.
• 11. If the vampire is not found in 5 guesses, the vampire wins 3 points for their team.
• 12. Repeat steps 2-11 for however many rounds time permits

Rules:

• 1. No running
• 2. No hiding
• 3. No Chinese

Notes:
My first rule is self explanatory, but for the second rule, some students hide themselves to avoid being bitten by the vampire. Explaining once that they need to speak to their fellow students in order to find the vampire will usually stop students from hiding.

As a teacher, it may be frustrating to introduce this game to your students for the first time. The students will have difficulty understanding the rules and how to play, and so I designate two half periods to explaining the game. On the day I first introduce this game, I go into class assuming that we will not play a proper round and instead use the first couple rounds to correct student behavior and reinforce the rules as they play. On the second day, I explain the steps again before playing. Some students will still not understand how to play, but by the last round of the second day, all of the students should understand how to play.

Though it is a hassle to explain, the game is easily a class favorite. It is also adjustable to any topic that students are learning, making it a perfect game to use as motivation or as a reward for good class behavior.

Students write the sentences on the paper which they need for the game.	Students stand up, ask questions and switch the paper.

Although there are many different methods to teaching a foreign language, I strongly believe that interactive games between students are an effective way to positively reinforce vocabulary and sentence structures. Learning a foreign language should be a fun and exciting experience. We as teachers need to create that exciting environment for our students and introducing games into the classroom is a perfect, productive solution for that problem.