1.

Different types of interaction: lockstep, pair work, group work, role play, individual
work.

An important feature of today’s language classroom is that students do not always study as one
big group. Rather, for much of the class time, students are broken down to groups of different
sizes. The most common student groupings are lockstep, pair work, group work, and individual
study.

Lockstep is where all the student are under the control of the teacher. They are all doing the same
activity at the same rhythm and pace. Lockstep is often adopted when the teacher is making a
presentation, checking exercise answers, or doing accuracy reproduction. When the teacher asks
questions, the students speak either together or one by one, in turns or indicated by the teacher.

Pair work is where the students work in pairs. It could be a competition over a game or co-
operation in a task or project between the two students. They could also do certain exercises
together or oral practice. When the students are doing pair work, the teacher usually circulates
around the classroom, answering question or providing help when necessary.

Group work is where the students work in small groups. Each group has 3,4,or 5 students,
depending on the activity. What students do in group work is similar to pair work, only there are
more members in the group. Group work is most beneficial when the activity requires
contributions from more than two students. The teacher can join each group for a while, but only
as a participant not as a leader or inspector.

Individual study is the stage during the class where the students are left to work on their own
and at their own speed. Usually they are doing the same task, but the teacher may give them a
choice of tasks. Some activities cannot be done in pairs or groups, for instance,reading and
writing. People read at different speed, so they cannot read together, though two people might
share one book. It seems writing can be done in pairs or groups, but what they are actually doing
when they are working together is brainstorming ideas,discussing, or revising. When it comes to
the real writing stage students should work individually.

2. What else are student-grouping methods?

Different grouping methods have different values in the language teaching classroom. Below are
further suggestions about student grouping methods.

1) When working in lockstep. the teacher should not speak too much, though his/her speech
could be a good model and authentic input. The teacher should try to elicit replies or answers
from the students. If the teacher speaks too much, he/she is running the risk of “jug-and-mug”
method. Even worse is that some teachers “think aloud” in the classroom, and what they are
saying could be illogical, unprepared, and irrelevant to the activity.

2) When organizing pair work, the teacher should give the clearest instructions, otherwise the
student will not know for sure what they are supposed to do. If necessary, the teacher should
demonstrate with one student first. Many teachers assume students will know what to do. The
teacher should keep an eye on “who works with who” and make sure every student finds a
partner, if necessary rearranging the seating. If noise or indiscipline rises to an excessive level,
the teacher can simply stop the activity, explain the problem and ask the students to continue
more quietly (Harmer, 1983). If some pairs finish the task too early, the teacher may need to
encourage them to continue the task one way or another so that they will not get bored and lose
interest.
3) All the above suggestions for pair work apply to group work as well, but the biggest problem
for group work is the selection of group members. Below are some possible ways to group the
students:

·Group the students according to seating arrangement;

·Students select their own group members (risky);

·Strong students and weak students are mixed together;

·strong students and weak students are grouped separately to do different tasks;

·Group the students by drawing lots.

All these grouping methods have advantages and disadvantages. The teacher should use the most
appropriate method and should vary the form from time to time. Besides, the teacher should also
pay attention to the group size, which we believe should be from 4 to 6 ideally. In order to make
each group self-organized, a group leader could either be “democratically” selected or assigned
by the teacher, who can act as organizer or a mini-teacher.

4) ESL/EFL teachers are encouraged to use pair work and group work to provide more chances
for practice, but individual study should not be totally neglected. Students need some time on
their own. It should also be noted that individual study is different from individualized learning.
we believe individualized learning is not a mere management issue but a matter of approach.

In individualized learning, the learners are given a measure of freedom to choose how and what
they learn at any particular time, thus there is less direct teacher supervision and more learner
autonomy and responsibility for learning (Ur, 1996:233). Individualized learning needs some
conditions, for instance, self-access centers, materials aimed at self-instruction, and flexible time
arrangement. Modern technology, especially computer networks, provides a great aid to
individualized learning. On a computer network, each learner can choose any level of materials,
any topic, and any language skill to study or practice. Besides, the interactive software can even
provide a teacher for each learner.

Student grouping
An important feature of today's language classroom is that students do not always study as one
big group. Rather, for much of the class time, students are broken down to groups of different
sizes. The most common student groupings are lockstep, pair work, group work, and individual
study.
Lockstep is where all the students are under the control of the teacher. They are all doing the
same activity at the same rhythm and pace. Lockstep is often adopted when the teacher is making
a presentation, checking exercise answers, or doing accuracy reproduction. When the teacher
asks questions, the students speak either together or one by one, in turns or indicated by the
teacher.
Pair work is where the students work in pairs. It could be a competition over a game or co-
operation in a task or project between the two students. They could also do certain exercises
together or oral practice. When the students are doing pair work, the teacher usually circulates
around the classroom, answering questions or providing help when necessary.
Group work is where the students work in small groups. Each group has 3, 4, or 5 students,
depending on the activity. What students do in group work is similar to pair work, only there are
more members in the group. Group work is most beneficial when the activity requires
contributions from more than two students. The teacher can join each group for a while, but only
as a participant not as a leader or inspector.
Individual study is the stage during the class where the students are left to work on their own and
at their own speed. Usually they are doing the same task, but the teacher may give them a choice
of tasks. Some activities cannot be done in pairs or groups, for instance, reading and writing.
People read at different speed, so they cannot read together, though two people might share one
book. It seems writing can be done in pairs or groups, but what they are actually doing when
they are working together is brainstorming ideas, discussing, or revising. When it comes to the
real writing stage, students should work individually.

2. Songs and rhymes in teaching English

Poetry and music are elements of each human society. They show many aspects of its culture -
the relationship to the past and the ancestors, the faith, the fun and the anxieties of its people, the
hopes and the view of the future. Music and poetry have immanent powers, for example they
give people energy who had none before or they can change people′s mood. They occur in all
phases of one′s life from birth to death. So they play an important role in the process of learning
and using the mother tongue. Music and poetry are also an essential part of foreign language
learning for young learners (see Phillips 1993: 100).

In this paper we describe the importance of using songs and rhymes in teaching English as a
foreign language in the primary school. Beside these theoretical points we give practical advices
how to teach songs and rhymes. After a classification we describe some possibilities to exploit
songs and rhymes in lessons and say something about possible problems with using these
language forms.

There are a lot of song and rhyme collections in public libraries or in our personal ones.
Therefore we do not work out another collection but list only a few that we tried out in our
lessons and which are appended to this paper.

2. The importance of using songs and rhymes in teaching English

There are many reasons for using songs and rhymes in teaching English as a foreign language in
primary schools. Naturally, "children really enjoy learning and singing songs" (Phillips 1993:
100) and have fun doing rhythmic activities while reciting rhymes. But there are deeper
psychological, cultural and linguistic aspects.

2.1. A familiar way of language acquisition

Children grow up with songs and rhymes and develop their first language by them. Apart from
being the most important spoken language, songs and rhymes are the first experienced parts of
communication in the children′s mother tongue. They listen and react to nursery rhymes and
finger games spoken and often acted by their parents. They go to sleep with lullabies sung by
their closest care-givers or try to imitate little songs by babbling. So songs and rhymes give them
an intimate feeling, a special connection with their human environment and influence the
acquisition of their first language in an important way.

Analogous to the development of the mother tongue, the following points also support foreign
language acquisition :

¬ music, rhythm and rhymes produce a positive live feeling

¬ they motivate to learn and to be active
¬ children do not understand all words but do not feel inhibited
¬ rhythm supports vocabulary and structure learning

2.2. The holistic approach

Songs and rhymes are both means and content of foreign language acquisition. There is no gap
between the language used in lessons and that used in real-life situations. Each understanding
and each reacting are progresses in language learning.

Songs and rhymes stimulate the hemispherical interaction. Busy with songs and rhymes the left
hemisphere (vocabulary, structure of the language) and the right hemisphere (rhythm, feelings,
mimic, gesture, senso-motoric etc.) work together and make learning more effective. So it is
small wonder how quick students are at learning songs and rhymes.

The holistic approach also means that rhymes and songs are connected with other learning and
living areas like sport, literature, music and art.

2.3. Motivation by songs and rhymes

Pupils′ motivation to learn "largely depends on the teaching methods and the teacher′s
personality" (seminar script from 24/04/01: 2). If the teacher skillfully uses songs and rhymes the
pupils usually are highly motivated. Songs and rhymes are relaxing, they vary the lesson′s
progress, they provide fun and action "and encourage harmony within oneself and within a
group" (Murphey 1992: 8). So the pupils are learning with fun and more effectively than without
these forms. Even shy or slow learning children are given encouragment by singing or speaking
in choir and so they feel able to speak in a foreign language.

2.4. Provision of meaningful vocabulary

Songs and rhymes present a lot of linguistic material in a natural linguistic context. So they
support the monolingual and contextual approach in teaching a foreign language. Words in songs
and rhymes are meaningful to the learner, which influences the acquisition in a positive way. "In
general they use simple conversational language with a lot of repetition" (Murphey 1992: 7).
Therefore songs and rhymes stick in the learner′s mind and the words and expressions used are
memorized more easily. Besides, songs and rhymes provide many possibilities for constant
repetition and revising as important mechanisms of the language acquisition.

2.5. Support for phonetic development

"Poems, rhymes, chants and songs could be used to give a feeling for the rhythm of the spoken
language. Many well-known rhymes make use of the iambic pentameter, the natural rhythm of
the English language" (Straeter-Lietz 1999: 9). Practising intonation through reciting rhymes and
poems is mostly funny and very effective. To vary the sometimes boring pronunciation teaching
it is a proven remedy using rhymes and rhythmic chants, e.g. with minimal pairs.

2.6. The cultural aspect

Songs and Poems are important elements of each culture. Learning this authentic material pupils
get to know parts of a foreign culture. It satisfies children′s natural curiosity about everything
new. Being familiar with songs and rhymes in a foreign language pupils feel closer to the foreign
culture and its language. If the pupils hear the same melodies or similar rhymes they are
astonished at the parallels between their own culture and the foreign one. So the foreign cultures
aren′t alarming and frightening but interesting and worth being discovered. It′s an important
contribution to the development of tolerance and open-mindedness.

3. How to teach songs and rhymes

The following guidelines are not meant to be dogmas. According to the specific situations they
could be varied by the teacher.

3.1. Guidelines for teaching rhymes and chants

For presentation rhymes or chants should be played from a CD or spoken by the teacher and the
actions should be demonstrated. Then the teacher should check if the students understood the
content. It is not necessary to translate word by word but the students should know what the
rhyme or chant means. This step can be supported by visual aids. Now the students learn the text
step by step. In the literature are to be found two tried and tested methods: the snowball principle
and the echo principle.

The snowball principle means that the teacher says a sequence becoming longer and longer.
After each saying the students repeat that sequence in chorus. For example (from Here we go
round the mulberry bush)

Teacher: This is ...

Students: This is ...
Teacher: This is the way ...
Students: This is the way ...
Teacher: This is the way we wash ...
Students: This is the way we wash ... etc.

The echo principle (see Schmid-Schönbein 2001: 120, 121) means that the students as a group
imagine they are an echo in a mountain wood, a valley etc. The teacher shouts a sequence and
the students repeat the teachers sequence. It is expedient to build up a longer structure from its
end. For example (from The wheels of the bus)

Teacher: all day long ...

Students: all day long ...
Teacher: round and round ...
Students: round and round ...
Teacher: round and round all day long ...
Students: round and round all day long ... etc.

Both methods can also be supported by visual aids. If there are any actions they should be done
by the students while learning the text because it is easier to learn them together. Longer texts
can be learned verse by verse in the following lessons. Now the children say the whole rhyme in
chorus, in groups or alone and do the actions.

3.2. Guidelines for teaching songs

The order and the way of teaching songs is similar to teaching rhymes and chants.
At first the song should be sung by the teacher or played from a CD once or twice while the
students only listen. They begin to understand and to absorb the tune and the rhythm. During the
next playing or singing the students can clap the rhythm or hum the tune. Before learning the text
step by step (see 3.1.) the teacher should check the understanding and explain the words the
children did not understand. Then the students sing the song several times, at first supported by
the teacher′s voice, later without the teacher′s support.

4. Types of songs and rhymes

There are a lot of different types of song and rhyme with special characteristics. But not all are
useful for primary school students. The teacher has to check the suitability according to the size
of the text, the vocabulary, the structure and his didactic intention. The following types of songs
and rhymes are each linked with an example of which the texts are to be found in the appendix.

4.1. Types of songs

Finger play songs

The content of these songs can be illustrated by the children′s finger movement. They support
the acquisition of gesture meaning and the use of nonverbal expressions. They also develop the
children′s senso-motoric abilities.
Example: Hickory dickory dock

Counting songs
These songs support the learning of numbers and are often connected with using fingers. Most of
them train the numbers from one to ten.
Example: Ten little Indians

Spelling songs
They are useful to train the sounds of the English alphabet. The separate letters mostly sound
different from their pronunciation in words. Therefore the pupils need help for learning the
individual letter sound.
Example: Farmer Brown has got a dog

Action songs
The biggest group of songs aims at associating words with movements of their body. They also
"internalize the sounds and rhythms of English, ... develop a sense of rhythm [and] ... give the
children a chance `to let off steam′." (Phillips 1993: 101)
Example: If you′re happy
Songs for special occasions
These songs are suitable for deepening the special vocabulary and for celebrating these occasions
in the school. They emphasize the cultural aspect of songs.
Example: Black and gold (for Halloween)

Spirituals
Spirituals are religious songs. They are connected with the Christian culture and often very
traditional. Singing simple spirituals the children enjoy the sound and the special rhythm of
gospels. Example: Kumbaya, my Lord

Drop-a-word songs
These songs train the children′s concentration. They are often combined with actions instead of
the dropped words. Drop-a-word songs "encourage internalisation of language" (Murphey 1992:
130).
Example: My hat it has three corners
Role-play songs
This type of song "contextualize vocabulary and make the transfer from singing to meaningful
referents." (Murphey 1992: 129) They use the children′s love for stories and role playing.
Example: There was a princess long ago

Topic songs
Many songs support the acquisition of vocabulary according to a special topic like "The days of
the week", "The weather" or "The family". If they do not fit in with other categories they are
called "topic songs".
Example: Look outside (for the topic "The weather")

4.2. Types of rhymes

Rhymes are taught "to practise the sounds, rhythms and stress patterns of English and in some
cases to practise a structure" (Phillips 1993: 108). The didactic background of some types of
rhymes is similar to the types of songs described. Above therefore we list the types of rhymes
without detailed descriptions unless there is not a corresponding type of songs.

Finger play rhymes

Example: Incy Wincy Spider

Counting rhymes
Example: One two - I see you

Choosing rhymes (counting-out rhymes)

Sometimes a little trick is necessary to choose one from among the children without causing a
squabble. Choosing rhymes are very useful for that. They connect random selection with
rhythmic speaking and train the vocabulary.
Example: Apples, peaches

Action rhymes
Example: Jumping Jack

Jump rope rhymes

The children like rope skipping. This rhythmic activity is often connected with these simple
poems. Jump rope rhymes support the acquisition of numbers or simple sentence structures.
Example: Bread and butter

Rhymes for special occasions

Example: Hey-ho for Halloween

Clapping rhymes
The reciting of these very rhythmic rhymes is supported by hand clapping. Each clapping rhyme
has its own pattern how to clap hands with a partner standing opposite. These rhymes support the
development of a feeling for rhythm for the language and, moreover, they train the right
pronunciation of vocabulary.
Example: A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

Ball bouncing rhymes

They train the feeling for rhythm and the concentration both on reciting and ball bouncing.
Example: Number one, touch your tongue
Topic rhymes
Example: Take a snowball (about the topic "Winter")

4.3. Chants

"A chant is a like a song without music or a poem with a very marked rhythm." (Phillips 1993:
100) All types of short rhythmic texts or even word groups are suitable to transfer into a chant.
The speaking can be supported by finger snapping, feet stamping or the use of rhythmic
instruments. Words or texts spoken as chants are more memorable and motivating than normal
speaking. For instance, minimal pairs can be spoken as chants to train the differences between
the pronunciation of word pairs. Short dialogues in the form of a chant support the memorization
of common expressions and structures.

5. Exploiting songs and rhymes

Songs and rhymes can be exploited by other activities after learning and often use. The aim is to
enjoy the increase of knowledge but also to practise listening skills and the vocabulary. The
following ideas are taken from Phillips (1993: 112,113).

5.1. Song or rhyme pictures

The teacher shows the children pictures that illustrate the content of a song or a rhyme - some
with gaps or mistakes. After listening, singing or reciting the children should find the mistakes or
complete the pictures.

If a song or a rhyme tells a story, the illustrating pictures could be cut out and mixed. The
children listen to the song or rhyme and put the pictures in the right order. It can be done at the
blackboard or on a handout.

5.2. Find the word

Before playing or singing a song or reciting a rhyme the teacher asks the children to listen for a
certain word. Then they write down the number of times this word occurs.

To train the listening skills another possibility is to sing or recite wrong words in the texts. The
children compare with their own knowledge and write down the number of mistakes.

5.3. Mixed-up lines or words

To promote reading skills and knowledge about sentence structure the teacher can copy the text
from textbooks or other sources, cut it out and mix the order of words or lines. The children
listen and put the lines or words in the correct order again.

5.4. Song or rhyme contest

The English teacher organises a contest where the children recite their favourite rhymes or sing
their favourite songs. They can perform it alone or in groups. A jury choose the best performer
but all children involved should get an appreciation to keep up their motivation. It is also
possible to celebrate a "Day of the English language" where the children can show their
knowledge in songs, rhymes and plays. There are no limits for the teacher′s ideas.

6. Problems
Beside the many advantages there are also problems in using songs and rhymes for English
teaching. Not all teachers are able to read notes and to work out new songs. Therefore songs
should be an important element in further vocational teacher training. Besides, the department of
education should provide enough money for CDs and appropriate equipment for English lessons.
A good help for quite unmusical teachers is to transfer new texts into well-known melodies.

Some authentic rhymes or songs contain old expressions or dialectal or distorted linguistic
material. Therefore teachers should check their collected material for useful and suitable content.

7. Conclusion

Songs and rhymes have an important function in teaching English as a foreign language in
primary schools. Beside games and visual aids they support by virtue of their typical
characteristics the language acquisition for younger learners. Songs and rhymes combine
important didactic claims like the holistic, the monolingual and the contextual approach with fun,
activity and motivation. Almost incidentally the children become familiar with parts of the
foreign culture and see them as enrichment for their own life.

According to the guidelines for teaching songs and rhymes and depending on the concrete
situation the teacher can vary the way of teaching these forms. It should not be forgotten to back
up the basic vocabulary before introducing a song or rhyme or making sure that the content is
understandable. The teacher should provide different possibilities for the students to comprehend
the text.

The English teacher can choose from among a lot of types of songs and rhymes with special
characteristics and different actions. Each teacher should collect useful songs and rhymes on
which he can fall back. If he or she knows the possibilities to exploit these orms the teacher
should be able to use songs and rhymes successfully in English lessons.

We know from our experience that children love English songs and rhymes. All teachers should
see this big advantage and use songs and rhymes as an permanent part of their English lessons
not only in primary school.

We as teachers also enjoy singing, dancing and reciting with our children in class because it
gives us the chance to influence the children′s development in a positive way and to intensify
relationship to our children.

3. Language learning games: letter games, word games, speaking games, drama games.

Word Prompts
Kim's game (longer & longer lists)
Guessing nouns via "Is it + adjective" questions
Market trader: guess the connection (I can sell + LIST)
Comparisons: How is XXX like YYY?
BLIP (sometimes known as COFFEE POT) Guess the verb
Guess the ADVERB
The Preposition Game
Classroom observation
Simon says (Action verbs + Parts of the body)
TELEGRAMS / MESSAGES / ANAGRAMS
Find your partner (Stick self adhesive labels to Ss' backs)
What's my nationality? Who am I?
What's my job? (from open lists) Guessing games (closed lists)
The Airline HELP desk - miming
The Yes/No Game (from Michael Miles: "Take Your Pick")
Word in edgeways (Conversation game)
Consequences (Paper & Pencil game)
CHARADES: book / play / song / film / musical
20 Questions:

'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!' (from Introduction, p. 1)

'Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required
to understand, produce and manipulate the target language. Well-chosen games are invaluable as
they give students a break and at the same time allow students to practise language skills. Games
are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. Furthermore,
they employ meaningful and useful language in real contexts. They also encourage and increase
cooperation.'

'Games are highly motivating because they are amusing and interesting. They can be used to
give practice in all language skills and be used to practice many types of communication.'

'There is a common perception that all learning should be serious and solemn in nature, and that
if one is having fun and there is hilarity and laughter, then it is not really learning. This is a
misconception. It is possible to learn a language as well as enjoy oneself at the same time. One
of the best ways of doing this is through games.'

'There are many advantages of using games in the classroom:

1. Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class.
2. They are motivating and challenging.
3. Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to make and sustain
the effort of learning.
 4. Games provide language practice in the various skills- speaking, writing, listening and
reading.
5. They encourage students to interact and communicate.
6. They create a meaningful context for language use.'

Using Games

'Many experienced textbook and methodology manuals writers have argued that games are not
just time-filling activities but have a great educational value. W. R. Lee holds that most language
games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms
(1979:2). He also says that games should be treated as central not peripheral to the foreign
language teaching programme. A similar opinion is expressed by Richard-Amato, who believes
games to be fun but warns against overlooking their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign
language teaching. There are many advantages of using games. "Games can lower anxiety, thus
making the acquisition of input more likely" (Richard-Amato 1988:147). They are highly
motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students more opportunity to express their
opinions and feelings (Hansen 1994:118). They also enable learners to acquire new experiences
within a foreign language which are not always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore, to
quote Richard-Amato, they, "add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice,
"[but also] they are used to introduce new ideas" (1988:147). In the easy, relaxed atmosphere
which is created by using games, students remember things faster and better (Wierus and Wierus
1994:218). S. M. Silvers says many teachers are enthusiastic about using games as "a teaching
device," yet they often perceive games as mere time-fillers, "a break from the monotony of
drilling" or frivolous activities. He also claims that many teachers often overlook the fact that in
a relaxed atmosphere, real learning takes place, and students use the language they have been
exposed to and have practised earlier (1982:29). Further support comes from Zdybiewska, who
believes games to be a good way of practising language, for they provide a model of what
learners will use the language for in real life in the future (1994:6).'

'Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of these reasons, they
should be used just because they help students see beauty in a foreign language and not just
problems that at times seem overwhelming.'

When to Use Games

'Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a
lesson. Yet, as Lee observes, a game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd
moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do" (1979:3). Games ought to be at
the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon suggests that games be used at all stages of the
lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen.'

'Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall material in a
pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in this article agree that even if games resulted
only in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing
in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate
fluency.'

'Games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various
ways. First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new
words more easily. Second, games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners
interested. These create the motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate
actively in the learning activities. Third, vocabulary games bring real world context into the
classroom, and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way.'

'Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. However, in
order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games are chosen.
Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context,
timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account.'

'In conclusion, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can
be applied in any classrooms. The results of this research suggest that games are used not only
for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful practice and review of language lessons, thus
leading toward the goal of improving learners' communicative competence.'

Why Use Games in Class Time?

* Games are fun and children like to play them. Through games children experiment, discover,
and interact with their environment. (Lewis, 1999)
* Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to
use the target language. For many children between four and twelve years old, especially the
youngest, language learning will not be the key motivational factor. Games can provide this
stimulus. (Lewis, 1999)
* The game context makes the foreign language immediately useful to the children. It brings the
target language to life. (Lewis, 1999)
* The game makes the reasons for speaking plausible even to reluctant children. (Lewis, 1999)
* Through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn their mother tongue
without being aware they are studying; thus without stress, they can learn a lot.
* Even shy students can participate positively.

How to Choose Games (Tyson, 2000)

* A game must be more than just fun.

* A game should involve "friendly" competition.
* A game should keep all of the students involved and interested.
* A game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather than on the language
itself.
* A game should give students a chance to learn, practice, or review specific language material.

'In an effort to supplement lesson plans in the ESL classroom, teachers often turn to games. The
justification for using games in the classroom has been well demonstrated as benefiting students
in a variety of ways. These benefits range from cognitive aspects of language learning to more
co-operative group dynamics.'

General Benefits of Games

Affective:
- lowers affective filter
- encourages creative and spontaneous use of language
- promotes communicative competence
- motivates
- fun

Cognitive:
- reinforces
- reviews and extends
- focuses on grammar communicatively

Class Dynamics:
- student centered
- teacher acts only as facilitator
- builds class cohesion
- fosters whole class participation
- promotes healthy competition

Adaptability:
- easily adjusted for age, level, and interests
- utilizes all four skills
- requires minimum preparation after development

4. Basic ways of using pictures and cards in language teaching.

Language learning is purely a personal affair. One can never master a second language unless
one tries to compare and contrast it with one's mother tongue. That is the secret of mastering a
second language. If approach in the right way, it is extremely easy to learn English. This article
is mostly intended for those who have been confused and perplexed by teachers and text book
writers, and who are struggling hard to learn English for IELTS and TOEFL.

Before we begin to learn a second language, we must think about how we started learning our
mother tongue.From the very moment an infant's eye and ear start functioning, it begins to record
in its memory all the people, animals and things it sees and all the sounds it hears. Gradually the
baby understands the relations between picture and sound as it hears the same sound repeatedly
used to indicate the same person by elders. The baby always sees its mother and hears the sound
'Mom' or whatever sound uttered to indicate mother and understands the relation between picture
and sound. That is the starting point of our learning process. Picture comes first and sound
follows. Sound is the shadow of the picture. No picture, no shadow.

You have learnt all the words in your mother tongue indicating relatives in the family. Now draw
a family tree and try to use the following words.

Husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, parents, children, uncle, aunt,
nephew, niece, cousin brother, cousin sister, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter,
grandparents grandchildren, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-
in-law, sister-in-law, (If you have such relatives use these words too.) great grandfather, great
grandmother, great grandson, great granddaughter, step father, step mother, step son, step
daughter.

5. Testing Grammar
How to Test
Fill in the Blank
Correct/Incorrect
Multiple choice
Sentence formation
Transformation