Games for Language Learning
by Andrew Wright, David Betteridge and Michael Buckby
Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Language learning is hard work ... Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a long period of time. Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work.
Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. The learners want to take part and in order to do so must understand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information.
'The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years. A useful interpretation of 'meaningfulness' is that the learners respond to the content in a definite way. If they are amused, angered, intrigued or surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus the meaning of the language they listen to, read, speak and write will be more vividly experienced and, therefore, better remembered.
If it is accepted that games can provide intense and meaningful practice of language, then they must be regarded as central to a teacher's repertoire. They are thus not for use solely on wet days and at the end of term!.
3 comments:
Hi Virclaisa,
Your article is interesting. What's your view, your own experience? Can we use them in our context in Venezuela?
Looking forward to reading a post with your reflection....
Nahir
Hi Viky, What you posted is just great specially the amazing waterfall photograph. Well. I think you know how to get us involved in anything you decide to. So, whenever you have more great pictures like this and even more, once you have relevant information about teaching TEENAGERS, please share them with me. Kisses.
Hi there. I think that here in Venezuela teaching english is hard because students don´t think that learning a language would be helpful for them. As teachers or trainees we need to improve our methodology and try to make them being involved in the learning proccess and take advantage of their interest in internet and new technologies.
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