The Importance Of Games In An ESL Classroom

The Importance of Games in an ESL classroom
Presentation by Ana Faísca, Cláudia Ludovico and Elisabete Martins
CURSO DE COMPLEMENTO DE FORMAÇÃO SUPERIOR EM
ENSINO DO INGLÊS NO 1.º CICLO DO ENSINO BÁSICO
Spoken English I
Professora Sílvia Roda Couvaneiro
Instituto Piaget, Almada
March 2015

INTRODUCTION
Children learn best when the contents are relevant to them and when they can connect new learning with old learning.
Finding connections between the new and the old learning can be challenging at times but games make them easier, clearer, funnier and more motivating.

Let’s talk about the Benefits!

Affective Plan:
They lower affective filter
They encourage creative and spontaneous use of language
They promote communicative competence
They motivate
They are fun

Cognitive Plan:
They reinforce
They help to review and extend
They focus on grammar communicatively

As Class Dynamics:
Student are centered while playing
Teacher only acts only as facilitator
They build class cohesion
They foster the whole class participation
They promote healthy competition

As far as adaptability:
They are easily adjusted for age, level, and interests They utilize all four skills
They require minimum preparation after development To Sum Up
1. Games are fun and children enjoy playing them. Through games children experiment, discover, and interact with their environment. 2. Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language. For many children, especially the younger, language learning will not be the key motivational factor. Games can provide this stimulus. 3. The game context makes the foreign language immediately useful to the children. It brings the target language to life.

To Sum Up
4. The game makes the reasons for speaking plausible even to reluctant children.
5. Through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn their mother tongue without being aware they are studying; and so they can learn a lot without stress.
6. Even shy students can participate positively.

What kind of
Games have you got in mind?
We are now going to exemplify
(with your help, of course) three different types of games we use in our classrooms to consolidate contents: Conclusion
In conclusion, we believe that learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms.
The results of several researches and our own professional experience suggested that games are used not only for fun, but most important: for the useful practice and review of language lessons, which leads to the improving of learner’s communicative skills.
They are also an opportunity to strengthen the emotional ties between the teacher and their students and that we believe plays a crucial part of the learning process.