As it has been mentioned in previous articles, this is important to dispose of every tool that may help students to learn English, and make it easier for teachers to communicate effectively with students, in a way that makes the class much more pleasant.
Every tool used in classroom has its positive and negative points, as well as limits that must be respected, in order to not turn what is supposed to be a resource for learning into a trap. Talking specifically about games, there are some topics that must be observed before preparing any activity, and some procedures that may help teachers to achieve their goals when using games.
1st- Checking how the game connects with the subjects taught in classroom
The more basic the students are, the more it is necessary to check wheather the content of the games used are or not suitable to the stage the students are in. If the teacher is teaching the students how to talk about food, for example, there is no reason to use games that talk about opposites. The more contextualized the games used in classroom are, the more the students will effectively learn.
2nd- Explaining the purpose on the games before asking students to develop activities
There are some tools that may help students to understand what are the main topics they may learn from a game. Using tutorials before asking students to play a game can be a good deal, once tutorials show how to play a game step by step, using, and producing them, using simple editing tools, will help the teacher to promote a much better moment with the students.
3th – Finding ways to register what the students have learnt playing games
Other very important topic when it comes to classes with games is to find any way the students can organize what they have learnt, it can be done using a simple notebook, making reports about the game(depeding on the proficience level of the students), talking about the game stages, etc.
Beyond promiting fun moments, games are able to help students to enjoy and learn English, this is the reason being aware of how to prepare a class with games is so important, we will keep talking about this subject in further articles, specifying some activitivities that can be done both with consoles, computer and smartphone games.
Recommended website with games for Children and Teens – www.gamestolearnenglish.com
