The use of games in thu practical course of the english language

When mix I do other people me inside a confusion have I I find

David John and Nick as though I am me I do not feel when I walk through the park with

Strange seems it and a role acting am I like feel I

Walk park myself talk aloud myself to I by the through I when

Completely feel content I

Extract from Sarah's letter

I find I am becoming more and more absorbed in myself.

2.2.9 Passive voice (methhodic elaboration)

Identified teacher's aims:

1. To ask students in more formal contexts than active sentences.
For example: Your attention is drawn to Paragraph 6. (But note that using got, usually makes the sentence less formal, for example: We got beaten.They got married.)

2. Ivestigate when the agent is not clear.

For example: Their office was burgled.

3. To give emphasis to the passive subject and add weight to the message.

For example: A state of emergency has been declared.

Identified student's aims:

1. To find the information of what is important or obvious

For example: This cake was made from carrots.

For example: They were all arrested.

2. To make the message more impersonal.

For example, as in a letter saying: No police action will be taken.

The process of the lesson

Step # 1

Read the following newspaper article and ask the students to:

note down the six verbs that are in the passive

suggest a possible reason for the use of the passive in this article.

Text: Orchestra's schools boost

Schools and community groups will be the winners if the world famous Philharmonia comes to town.

Negotiations are still under way to make Bedford the orchestra's first British residency outside London beginning in 1995, it has been confirmed.

What is being talked about is a strong educational emphasis on the deal, which would see members of the orchestra travelling into the community doing workshops with school and other local groups in the borough. School children will be invited in to the Corn Exchange for afternoon rehearsals of the main concerts to be staged.

Massive alterations to the Corn Exchange are being planned in tandem so that the orchestra, which was formed in 1945, and the audiences watching them, will enjoy superior back and frontstage facilities including new sloped seating going from the stage to the present balcony and a new auditorium.

Step # 2 Exercises

1.Find the verbs in the text which were given in the text.

Answer: The six verbs in the passive are:

a. it has been confirmed

b. What is being talked about

c. School children will be invited

d. the main concerts to be staged

e. Massive alterations to the Corn Exchange are being planned

f. which was formed.

(Notice that there are five different forms of the verb be in these sentences.)

2. The reason for so much use of the passive here could be that the events which have occurred and those which are planned are more important than the people behind them. It is also an informative article in a newspaper so that some formality is more appropriate than it would be in a friendly letter or in conversation.

III. Conclusion

Now we should make up some conclusive thinking drown as a result of our investigation.

There are two teaching methods in innovative technologies of learning English grammar and vocabulary games and the variations of taking notes during the lesson.

Most language games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching program.

There are many factors to consider while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the learning process.

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".

For the purpose of vocabulary presentation, I chose two groups of third form students. With one of them I used a presentation game and with the other translation and context guessing. In both groups, students' abilities varied-ranging from those whose command of English was very good, able to communicate easily using a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures, and those who found it difficult to communicate

Summing up. Even though the results of one activity can hardly lead to informative conclusions, I believe that the results suggest that the use of games for presentation of new vocabulary is very effective and enjoyable for students. Despite the fact that the preparation of a game may be time-consuming and suitable material may be hard to find, teachers should try to use them to add diversion to presentational techniques.

Games are also motivating. Games introduce an element of competition into language-building activities. This provides valuable impetus to a purposeful use of language (Prasad 2003). In other words, these activities create a meaningful context for language use. The competitive ambiance also makes learners concentrate and think intensively during the learning process, which enhances unconscious acquisition of inputs. Most students who have experienced game-oriented activities hold positive attitudes towards them (Uberman 1998). An action research conducted by Huyen and Nga (2003), students said that they liked the relaxed atmosphere, the competitiveness, and the motivation that games brought to the classroom.

IV. Bibliography

1. Uberman. A. The use of games for vocabulary presentation and revision. Oxford Univ. Press. Oxford. 2000 pp. 13-18.

2. Fayardo. K. P. Successful note taking. Oxford Univ. Press. Oxford. 1999. pp. 86-90

3. Wright A. Games for Language Learning. Cambridge University Press, 1984. pp.34-35

4. Azar B. Sh. Fun with grammar. New York. 2000 p. 241

5. Lee Su Kim. Creative Games for the Language. Class Forum Vol. 33 No 1, January - March 1995, Page 35.

6. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Khuat Thi Thu Nga. Learning Vocabulary Through Games. 'Asian EFL Journal' - December 2003. pp.56-57

7. Gubarenko H. Learning grammar through games. Lugansk NPU pub. House. Lugansk. 2003 pp. 1-6

8. George P. McCallum. 101 Word Games. Oxford Univ. press. Oxford. 1980. pp.35

9. Andrew Littlejohn & Diana Hicks. Cambridge English for Schools. Cambridge, 1984. p. 78

10. Rinvolucri Mario. Grammar Games: cognitive, affective and drama activities for EFL students. Cambridge, 1989.

11. Rinvolucri Mario & Paul Davis. More Grammar Games: cognitive, affective and movement activities for EFL students. Cambridge, 1995.

12. Wilga M. Rivers, Mary S. Temperley. A practical guide to the teaching of English as a second language. Cambridge, 1978.

13. Маслыко.Е.А. Настольная книга преподавателя иностранного языка. Справочное пособие. Минск, 1999.

14. Lee, W. R. 1979. Language teaching games and contests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

15. Rixon, S. 1981. How to use games in language teaching. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

16. Rinvolucri Mario and Paul Davis.1992. More grammar games. Cambridge University Press.

17. Abbott, G., D. McKeating, J. Greenwood, and P. Wingard. 1981. The teaching of English as an international language. A practical guide. London: Collins.

18. World Book Encyclopedia Chicago 1993 Vol. 6 p. 56

19. Internet: http://search.atomz.com/

20. Internet: http://e.usia.gov/forum/vols/vol36/no1/p20.htm-games

21. Internet: http://e.usia.gov/forum/vols/vol34/no2/p22.htm-note-taking

V. Appendix

Table 1

Using note-taking in class (to p.18)

Table 2 (to p. 19)