The importance of activities in the classroom
Although there are many different methods to teaching a foreign language, I strongly believe that games between students are an effective way to reinforce sentence structures. Learning a foreign language should be a fun and exciting experience.
As teachers, we have to create an exciting environment for our students. Introducing games into the classroom is a better solution to that problem. The followingare three of my most well received games. Teachers can make use of them to motivate students.

Activity I: What’s “MY” name?

Objective: Know the new teacher
Materials needed: _ sets of letter cards, _ envelopes (See how many groups you have in the class)
Steps:

1. Divide students into teams.
2. Put alphabets in the envelope
3. Take away some.
4. Teams have to figure out what letters are missing
5. Use the letters to spell a name
6. The first team who shouts the name can get one point
7. You can give each team a writing board and have the assigned number from the team write the missing letters or names on the board.

Rules:

1. Be quiet
2. No shouting

Envelopes	All the alphabet cards
Find the missing letters.	That’s it!

Activity 2: Match the sound.

Objective: Practice easy phonics rules
Materials needed: _ sets of phonics cards, iron boxes (See how many groups you have in the class)
Steps:

1. Divide students into teams.
2. Put letter cards with magnets in the iron box
3. Two students in a pair.
4. When teacher shouts a sound, students need to look for the letters and put them on the iron plate.
5. Raise up the iron plate, show teacher the word and read it.
6. The team which finishes it first can win a point.

Rules:

1. Help your partner.
2. Be quiet.
3. No shouting.

Notes:
You can also make your own matching box without magnets like the picture below. Students can also use the cards and card holder to practice phonics matching.

Listen to teacher’s questions.	Look for the correct phonics letters.
Make your own card holders.	Practice phonics or spelling with them.

Activity 3: Running Dictation

Objective: Practice Listening, Speaking, and Writing!
Materials needed: 15 sentence strips
Steps:

1. You need to prepare 15 sentence strips.
2. Paste the sentence strips on the window or the bulletin board.
3. Put some sentences together and blank some words.
4. Assign the runner and the writer for each team.
5. The runner should run to the bulletin board, look for the answer, run back to the writer, and tell the writer the correct answer.
6. The teacher uses the timer to set up the time for 1 minute.
7. After time is up, teachers check the answer and count the points for the correct answers.

Rules:

1. Help your partner in your group.
2. No running, pushing or shouting.

Notes:
This game quickly gets very noisy so the students need to be reminded to keep the talking to a minimum.

15 sentence strips.	Put the sentence strips around the classroom.
Some sentences about the activity.	Students need to look for the answers.
Tell the answers to your team member.	The sooner, the better!

Conclusion:

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. With excitement, students will be involved more than you imagine in the class.