In one of my previous blogposts I was speaking about playing children, how important playng games is for them, how games make children become so creative, energetic and how games help them direct themselves and find their place in the world.
So it’s high time for the playng child to go to school.Is it possible to expect them to sit quietly and listen for the teacher for hours without moving, is it fair to ban them playng and say “YOU ARE ALREADY A GROWN UP”. I myself wouldn’t dare to do so with my own children and my pupils as well. Think back to when you were in school. Did you like to sit at a desk and listen to the teacher? The pasive learnig is demotivating and boring.We should have our pupils actively participate in the learniong process.
There are many ways and one of them is through“PLAYING GAMES”.If the teacher might normally ask her pupils a wordlist she’d better have them practice it through WORD GAMES.
Playing games can help the teacher use points and competition as a motivator, but not for kids under six who may find the competition too stressful. For them, just playing the game is motivating enough.
Any aspect of language structure can provide the basis for a game.
The game “WORD SQUARES” is very intersting to play. The aim is to make up words of equal length which read both horizontally and vertically.The are many other types of word games:”Burried Words”,where words have to be found within sentences, in “Words Within Words”the aim is to make as many words as possible, “Grid Games” aim at building up words using letters. There are different levels of “Word Mazes”. In the easy version a set of words is given in advance and the task is to find them. In a more difficult version the words aren’t given in advance.Here are some useful links to find various interesting word games:http://www.wordgames.com/
It would also be nice to get them moving which is a vital component to motivating children. Try asking them to come to you if you need help instead of approaching them yourself, the movement can help them not to get too bored and tired sitting at the same spot. Grouping the children for study projects and activities helps as well. If you can, let them move the desks around or sit on the floor to change things up as well.
Many games involve movement without the children needing to leave their seats, such as miming, moving certain body parts and passing things around as part of a game. Therefore even teachers with large classes and no space to move can use this technique, albeit to a more limited degree.
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