I am the Wrong Person: An Interesting English Language Game

Sasan Baleghizadeh and Elnaz Oladrostam, Iran

Sasan Baleghizadeh is an Assistant Professor of TEFL at Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., of Iran, where he teaches applied linguistics, syllabus design and materials development. He is also a member of the Research and Planning Department at the Iran Language Institute. His publications include Tales from Rumi, Tales from Men of Wisdom and a number of other simplified readers all published by the Iran Language Institute.
Email: sasanbaleghizadeh@yahoo.com Elnaz Oladrostam is currently an MA student of TEFL at Shahid Beheshti University, G.C., of Iran. She has long experience of teaching English at various levels of language proficiency. Her special area of interest is using games in communicative language teaching.
E-mail: elnaz_oladrostam@yahoo.com

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Abstract
Introduction
What kinds of games work best?
Grammar games
Vocabulary Games
‘I am the wrong person’ game
Conclusion
References

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to show that games are enjoyable and memorable activities and provide ample opportunities for students to internalize the language points they encounter more easily. Furthermore, since there are still teachers who are not familiar with indispensable characteristics of games, they cannot systematically put them into practice. Therefore, a number of recommendations are made so that teachers will benefit from games more effectively. Besides, some instances of games are presented that both novice and experienced teachers can make use of in their contexts. The final part of the paper concentrates on an innovative game which, we hope, will prove useful for teachers to apply in their classes.

Introduction

Teaching English as a second or foreign language has received a great attention in recent years. In all parts of the world people holding different positions try to learn English as far as they can to meet their needs to communicate with other people around the globe. However, despite an inordinate number of hours that people spend learning English, they continue to forget basic structures and certain vocabulary items. According to Macedonia (2005) learners cannot recall vocabulary and sentence formation and they are also uncertain about word endings. Thus, it is an onerous responsibility for teachers to seek more effective ways to consolidate these points in the students' minds. Games, by their nature, are enjoyable and help learners to learn in a more memorable context. Therefore, they help learners to recollect linguistic points more easily. Richards and Schmidt (2002) have argued that games are organized activities that have a particular task or objective, a set of rules, competition between players, and communication between players by spoken or written language. Anderson (1996) argues that games are effective tools for changing declarative to procedural knowledge. Saricoban and Metin (2000) offer some advantages of using games. They believe that playing well-structured games helps learners internalize grammar and vocabulary more easily. Furthermore, games have an element of competition, which is useful in pumping up students. They also argue that games reduce stress in classroom. They further argue that while playing games students' primary attention is on the message not on language, so they learn linguistic points unconsciously. Shaptoshvili (2002) points out that games have many advantages. In the first place they are recreational activities which are both enjoyable and challenging. In the second place, the purpose of a game is to reinforce what has already been taught. Toth (1998) further claims that games contain both elements of cooperation and challenge which are necessary to accomplish a task. All in all, if teachers seek effective and memorable learning of linguistic points on the part of their students, games should comprise an inseparable part of any language program.

What kinds of games work best?

Before going to the main argument of this paper, it is necessary to mention that in some teaching contexts teachers rarely make use of games and if they use them they are rarely cognizant of the rationale behind using them. Thus, it is important to familiarize teachers with some main principles and characteristics of good games. Vernon (2007) argues that games should have a clear linguistic outcome. In other words, she posits that sometimes teachers erroneously consider games as a kind of "time filler" with no clear outcome. According to her, games can be either a listening activity in which students hear a structure repeatedly or they can be speaking games, which help students to use a grammar point orally. Vernon further argues that teachers should shun away from playing games that involve a high level of noise and thus make them unpopular with their colleagues. Another thing that she mentions is that teachers should be cautious not to use games that involve a minimum number of students, because an inherent characteristic of games is that a maximum number of students be involved. In addition, according to Macedonia (2005), games require players and a minimum of monitoring and control on the part of the teacher. In most EFL contexts, one of the most inherent problems is that teachers do not exercise control and thus lead students into believing the fact that the only aim that games have is to have fun and often more capable students complain that games whale away their precious time. Finally, Ur (1996) argues that teachers should consider some dangers in using games. She contends that sometimes students do not take games that much seriously and therefore waste their time. Furthermore, in order for games to have effective result, teachers should use them systematically. Otherwise, they will be activities in vain leading nowhere. The following activities are typical grammar and vocabulary games.

Grammar games

Larsen-Freeman (2001) mentions some examples of games that can be used to enhance grammatical awareness of students.

1. Concentration. It is a kind of game which is useful for learning phrasal verbs more deeply. In this game students are given some cards with various phrasal verbs written on them and they are asked to match each phrasal verb written on one card with its meaning on another card.
2. Operation, It is a kind of game in which teachers mime or command students to perform some specific actions. This activity might prove useful in acquiring verbs, especially phrasal verbs.
3. Twenty Questions. It is a game in which students should ask twenty yes/no questions about an object to identify it. This is a fruitful game for practicing yes/no questions, especially when we come to the conclusion that our students have lots of problems dealing with this particular structure.

Vocabulary Games

Shaptoshvili (2002, pp.35-36) has offered lots of examples on interesting vocabulary games, which can be used to enhance word knowledge of the students.

1. Guess the tool. In this game teachers give students a card and a tool and a related occupation written on the card. Students are asked by the teacher not to show their cards to each other. One student elaborates on a tool and another student should guess the tool and the occupation related to it.
           S1: It is used for painting walls and doors.
           S2: It's a paintbrush. A decorator uses a paintbrush.
2. Suggestion chain. In this game students first list the leisure activities they do during weekends and then suggest different types of leisure activities to each other. For instance, one student suggests an activity and another student disagrees and suggests an alternative activity.
           S1: Let's go to the concert!
           S2: No, not the concert. What about going to the cinema?
           S3: We could go to the football match.
           S4: No, not football. Why don't we visit Alec?
3. Exaggerate. This is a game in which students are required to produce strong adjectives (enormous, delicious, fascinating) and strong adverbs (really, absolutely, extremely). During this game a number of students are required to ask each other yes or no (did you have a bad day?), negative (wasn't she surprised when she heard the news?) or tag (he is funny, isn't he?) questions. It should be noted that students should answer questions using strong adverbs and adjectives.
           S1: They serve nice dishes in that restaurant, don't they? Bob!
           S2: Nice? The food is absolutely delicious there!

‘I am the wrong person’ game

One of the games that we often use in elementary classes is that we give each of them a piece of paper. Then we ask them to jot down the following words: a name, a number, a place or a city, two other numbers, and eventually three adjectives. An important point to mention is that we usually ask students to write these things without much thought. For instance, we ask them to write a number within one or two seconds, so that they don't have much time to ponder over choosing a particular number. After they finish writing, they are given the following cloze passage:

My name is……… I am………. years old. I was born in a……….. I have………. brothers and……….sisters. I am a very…….. person. I love people who are………and I hate those who are………

Then we ask them to put the words that they have written in the same order in the passage. Finally, we get volunteer students to read from their texts. Obviously, this game involves lots of fun. Thus, using it not only creates a high level of joy but also gives students an opportunity to practice introducing themselves. Look at the following instance that once a female student wrote:

My name is Ali. I am 3 years old. I was born in a park! I have 200 brothers and 50 sisters! I am a very lazy person! I love people who are fat and I hate those who are active!

After this incident, other students can practice asking yes/no questions by turning to the target student and say, ‘So do you really have 200 brothers?’ or ‘were you born in a park?’

This game can also be practiced in all levels. For instance, a teacher who is working with intermediate level students can adjust the structures and vocabulary to the proficiency level of his or her students and use it when appropriate. All in all, this game helps learners to consolidate certain structures like I was born in… I have… etc.

Conclusion

With the increasing focus on language learning, especially English as an international language, it is important that teachers foster enjoyable and memorable activities in their classes, which help learners internalize grammar or vocabulary points more easily. However, it should be kept in mind that in order for games to be effective, they should be put into practice systematically since games with no particular rationale behind them are activities in vain, which lead to the dissatisfaction of overachievers in the class. A number of games, in addition to the one proposed and practiced here, were introduced in this paper, hoping that teachers will use them purposefully to the benefit of their classes.

References

Anderson, J.R. (1996). The architecture of cognition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2001). Teaching grammar. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp. 251-266). Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle.

Macedonia, M. (2005). Games and foreign language teaching. Support for learning, 20, 135-140

Richards, J. C. & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Saricoban, A. & Metin, E. (2000). Songs, verses, and games for teaching grammar. The Internet TESL Journal, 6(10).

Shaptoshvili, S. (2005). Vocabulary practice games. English Teaching Forum, 40(2), 34-37.

Toth, M. (1998). Childrens' games. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann English Language Teaching.

Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Vernon, S. (2007). Teaching grammar with fun learning games. Retrieved from www.articlerich.com

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.