TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY USING GAMES

By
Mohammad Agus Salim El Bahri
Abstract
Learning is one of the primary activities of students in the classroom. Successful
learning is only on the right way to lead the process. Good learning atmosphere and
method can guide the students to learn more and meaningful. To accomplish such
condition, teachers must create varitype and attractive methods for the class.
hat should a teacher do if their students get !ored" #sing varitype games can
!e an alternative solution to handle this pro!lem. Games, as a matter of fact, can help
and encourage many students to sustain their interest and wor$. By this paper, the
writer wants to share e%periences a!out how to teach English oca!"la#$ "sing
ga%es&'
There is a common perception that all learning should !e 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. &t is possi!le to learn a language as well as
en'oy oneself at the same time. (ne of the !est ways of doing this is through games.
Games can help the teachers to create conte%ts in which the language is useful
and meaningful. &n the whole process of teaching and learning !y games, the students
can ta$e part widely and open)mindedly. To win the games each student or group
should competitively answer the *uestions addressed !y the teacher or other students
or groups. &n order to do so they must understand what the teacher or others are
saying or have written, and they must spea$ or write in order to e%press their own
point of view or give information
The English instruction in elementary school is intended to endorse the mastery
and development of the four !asic a!ilities and s$ills. Those are reading, writing,
spea$ing and listening as reflected in a!ilities and s$ill concerning language use so
that the students are a!le to e%press simple e%pression with emphasis our voca!ulary
mastery in order to avoid to voca!ulary infraction and attain !etter out comes, the
teacher should choose an appropriate teaching method, which is suita!le with su!'ect
matter in teaching learning process. The need to use various instructional media will
!e a!le to help students to increase their English voca!ulary.
Teaching voca!ulary is clearly more than 'ust presenting new words. &t also
includes a decision that words should teach the !asic of how fre*uent they are used
!y spea$er of the language. The words are most commonly used are those a teacher
should teach first.
But commonly and usually the way of teaching ma$es the students la+y and
!ored. The teacher needs something different to ma$e students interested, mostly
children, !ecause they are very easy to get !ored. Therefore, teacher needs something
interesting which can ma$e motivate them. &t is !ased on the characteristics and
attitude of the children that they are curious and often see$s something that the
teacher notices them and shows appreciation for what they are doing. So, to motivate
them teacher needs something new that can stimulate their curiosity.
ith the current analysis on communication in teaching language, using games
appears to hold a solution for many teachers. The communication activities somehow
involves in a varied use of language.
&t had !een found in many schools, teacher use games activities as their teaching
aid. The students really appreciate any $ind of activities which provide e%citement
and fun. &t will !e easy to understand and practice of English. The writer chooses
games as the simple illustrated media to facilitate students, method of learning, as we
$now children learn while playing games. &t is easy to !e understood and
comprehended !y students.
-owever, learning English voca!ulary using games has an importance role for
elementary teachers and students. The first, as students, they have strong and good
motivation to deepen English language. The second, they are easy to accept the
English language !ecause they learn !y playing games that nowadays has !een grown
and developed in &ndonesia. The third, teaching English voca!ulary using games can
help teacher in teaching learning process. .inally, they /teacher and students0 can
teach and learn English voca!ulary using games.
1. The cha#acte#istic o( chil)#en as lea#ne#s
Slattery and illis /12230
a. They are developing quickly as individuals4 it means that they have difference
in language ac*uisition.
b. Learn in a variety of ways, for example; by watching, by listening, by
imitating and by doing things. &t means children learn their $nowledge
through what they see, heard in their surrounding and then imitate it and
imitating !y doing things /children learn !y doing0
c. Are not able to understand grammatical rules and explanations about
language. 5hildren are not understanding a!out the rule of language, they
only imitate what they are seeing and hearing.
d. Try to make sense of situations by making use of non-verbal clues. 5hildren
will do imitate, it means learning !y doing.
e. Talk in their mother tongue about they understand and do this helps them
learn. &t means they use their mother tongue to understand everything.
f. an generally imitate the sounds they hear quite accurately and copy the way
adults speak! &t means they do imitation, memori+ation, practice and over
learning, what the people are said.
g. Are naturally curious. They have strong willingness to $now what they see
and hear in their surrounding.
h. Love to play and use their imagination. &t means they are learning while
playing.
i. Are comfortable with routines and en"oy repetition. &t means they need ha!it
to learn.
j. #ave quite a short attention span and need variety. Because they are learning
while playing, it is needed many ways to ma$e them understand what the
teacher means.
2. The *e(inition o( Voca!"la#$
6oca!ulary is the total number of words in a language /-orn!y, 37784 39930.
6oca!ulary is an important part to mastery English well. According to :igeat,s
theory, a child at the age of ; < 32 years is always interesting in recogni$ing and
knowing new words, he stands to repeat new words repeatedly so that he will
memori$e them!
There are essential steps of learning voca!ulary /Brown, 37784 9;90 which has
recited !y 5ameron=
#aving source for encountering new words!
%etting a clear image for the form of new words!
Learning the meaning of new words
&aking a strong memory connection between the form and the meaning of the
words
'sing the words.
&n teaching to children, teacher has to use performance to teach voca!ulary to them,
!ecause the children in literacy level are :erformance, it means children learn
language with accompanying action > scaffolding. &n this level, teacher can use
media, according to ?ation /37720 in recited !y 5ameron is listed !asic techni*ue
of e%plaining the meaning of new words.
(y demonstration picture)
'sing an ob"ect
'sing a cut-out picture
'sing gesture
*erformance action
*hotographs
+rawing and or diagram on the board
*icture from books, T,, ,ideo or omputer
(y verbal explanation)
Analytical definition
*utting in a context
Translating
3. The i%+o#tant o( oca!"la#$
A good mastery of voca!ulary helps the learners to e%press their ideas
precisely. By having many stoc$s of word learners will !e a!le to comprehend the
reading materials catch other tal$ing, give response, spea$ fluently and write some
$ind of topics. (n the contrary, if the learners do not recogni+e the meaning of the
words use !y those who address them, the will !e una!le to participate in
conversation, una!le to e%press some ideas, or una!le to as$ for information.
5onsidering the important of voca!ulary role in learning foreign language.
The mastery of this element should !e ensured and develop. (therwise, the
voca!ulary mastery of the children will !e limited and conse*uence of it is that they
will find difficulties in learning the s$ills of the language. Therefore, schools have a
task to teach vocabulary to their students as suggested !y @ohn 5arol as showed !y
Margaretha M5 Aeown /37B;4 230
Although a considera!le amount of voca!ulary, learning is associated with
primary language learning in early years. The ac*uisition of most the voca!ulary
characteristic of an educated adult occur during the years of schooling, and infects
one of the primary tas$ of the school as far as language learning in concerned, as to
teach voca!ulary.
4. The "se o( Ga%es
To increase the voca!ulary we need media to !e used. (ne of them is game.
The definition of game is an activity that you do to have some fun /-orn!y4 37784
CBD0. Games can ma$e the students more focus in learning, !ecause they do not feel
that they are forced to learn.
%ames can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely
/Eichard)Amato, 37BB4 3C;0. They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they
can give shy students more opportunity to express their opinion and feelings
/-ansen4377C433B0. They also ena!le learners to ac*uire new e%periences within a
foreign language which are not always possi!le during a typical lesson. Games can
!e media that will give many advantages for teacher and the students either.
The useful of games are attract the student to learn -nglish because it is fun
and make them want to have experiment, discover and interact with their
environment /Lewis,37770 other useful of games are=
Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation !y providing a
plausi!le incentive to use the target language. .or many children !etween for
and twelve years old, especially the youngest, language learning will not !e the
$ey motivation factor. Games can provide this stimulus. /Lewis, 37770.
The game conte%t ma$es the foreign language immediately useful to the
children. &t !rings the target language to life. /Lewis, 37770.the games ma$e the
reason for spea$ing plausi!le even to reluctant children. /lewis,37770
Through playing games, students can learn English they way children learn
their mother tongue without !eing aware they are studying4 thus without stress,
they can learn a lot.
Even shy students can participate positively.
,' Moon -.///0 s"ggests a +ositie lea#ning eni#on%ent1
Ma$e your classroom a lively place through the use of attractive wall displays,
displays of pupils, wor$, etc. language classroom is noisy with the language
/English0 is good !ecause it will ma$e the classroom more a live in English
/practice0
Motivate pupils to want to learn English !y using interesting and en'oya!le
learning activities. E.g., pro'ect wor$, games, drama. &t means learning !y
playing.
5reate warm and happy atmosphere where teacher and pupil en'oy wor$ing
together. Teacher arranges good atmosphere in classroom and ma$e the
students interested.
-elp pupils to develop personal reasons for learning English. .or e%ample !y
encouraging out)of <school class activities, e.g. pen friends, pro'ect, reading
story !oo$s.
2' How teache#s can teach chil)#en'
a. Ma$e learning English en'oya!le and fun)remem!er you are influencing their
attitude to language learning. /Lower as affective filter0. &t means teacher has
to try in order to students are having fun in learning /learning !y playing0.
Eemem!er teacher is influencing their attitude to language learning
b. Fo not worry a!out mista$es. Be encouraging < ma$e sure children feel
comforta!le, and not afraid to ta$e part. &t means teacher does not !lame
directly to students, teacher must give support to students while repair their
mista$es.
c. #se a lot of gestures, actions, pictures to demonstrate what you mean. &t
means teacher has to try to accompany her e%planation with media in order to
students understand easily. Fon,t force the students to use the language
directly, 'ust give them e%amples !y gestures
d. Tal$ a lot to them in English, especially a!out things they can see. Teacher
must teach them !y using English, especially a!out anything in their
surrounding.
e. :lay games, singsongs, say rhymes and chants together. &t means teacher has
s$ills in playing games, singsong etc to ma$e them en'oy and interest in
learning.
f. Tell simple theories in English, using pictures, acting with different voices.
g. Fo not worry when they use their mother tongue. Gou can answer a mother
tongue *uestion in English, and sometimes #ecast in English what they say in
their mother tongue. &t means if the students use their mother tongue, the
teacher translate to English and repeat again, again and again to ma$e them
always remem!er what teacher means.
h. 5onstantly recycle new language !ut do not !e afraid to add new things or to
use words they will not $now. Teacher gives new language while remem!er
the last topic.
i. :lan lesson with varied activities, some *uiet, some noisy, some sitting, some
standing and moving, it means teacher must demonstrate his teaching with
several activities /mo!illing teaching0, sometimes teacher sit, stand up in front
of or !ehind the students.
7) Teaching English oca!"la#$3"sing ga%es
Language learning is hard wor$. Effort is re*uired at every moment and
must !e maintained over a long period. Games help and encourage many learners
to sustain their interest and wor$.
Games also help the teacher to create conte%ts in which the language is
useful and meaningful. The learners want to ta$e part and in order to do so must
understand what others are saying or have written, and they must spea$ or write in
order to e%press their own point of view or give information.
The need for meaningfulness in language learning has !een accepted for
some years. A useful interpretation of meaningfulness is that the learners respond
to the content in a definite way. &f they are amused, angered, intrigued or
surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus, the meaning of the
language they listen to, read, spea$ and write will !e more vividly e%perienced
and, therefore, !etter remem!ered.
There are many $inds of games which can !e used in teaching English.
(f course, as a techni*ue games need help from media. The media can !e picture,
flash cards, o!'ect, puppet, cassette, pro'ector and many others o!'ect surround
them. &t is !etter if the games are familiar for children, !ecause they learn in a
variety of ways, for e%ample4 !y watching, !y listening, !y imitating and !y doing
things. &t means children learn their $nowledge through what they see, heard in
their surrounding and then imitate it and imitating !y doing things /children learn
!y doing0
5hildren can generally imitate the sounds they hear *uite accurately and
copy the way adults spea$. &t means they do imitation, memori+ation, practice and
over learning, what the people are said
Bruner says that language is the most important tool for cognitive growth
and he also investigate how adults can help the children to solve their pro!lem.
Scaffolding is !runer,s theory, it means that scaffolding is e%plainig to students
and interacting to students to communicate, in scaffolding is holistic and must
permeate all aspects of scientific teaching, if we answer.
So, teaching voca!ulary)using games as methodolgy in learning < teaching
process and the teaching materials for children less than five years old which is
related with their surround, it means the voca!ulary which related and introducing
things surround them such as family names, naming of alpha!et, name of num!er.
And teaching material
Learn how to teach math voca!ulary and specific words as you
demonstrate math activities and when you tal$ to your students a!out their math
e%periences. 5hildren learn the language of math 'ust li$e they learn to tal$ a!out
other topics.
&n this variation, students !rea$ up into small groups and play a !oard game
following commands. After the students have completed the game, they create
their own !oard game using commands they have created on their own.
Language learning is a hard tas$ which can sometimes !e frustrating.
5onstant effort is re*uired to understand, produce and manipulate the target
language. ell)chosen games are invalua!le as they give students a !rea$ and at
the same time allow students to practise language s$ills. Games are highly
motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. .urthermore,
they employ meaningful and useful language in real conte%ts. They also
encourage and increase cooperation.
Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. &f not for any of
these reasons, they should !e used 'ust !ecause they help students see !eauty in a
foreign language and not 'ust pro!lems that at times seem overwhelming.
Games are often used as short warm)up activities or when there is some
time left at the end of a lesson. Get, a game should not !e regarded as a marginal
activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing !etter to
do. Games ought to !e at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Games are used
at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suita!le and carefully chosen.
Games also lend themselves well to revision e%ercises 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.
There are many criteria games as educational media for teaching English
to children=
A game must !e more than 'ust fun.
A game should involve HfriendlyH competition.
A game should $eep all of the students involved and interested.
A game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather than
on the language itself.
A game should give students a chance to learn, practice, or review specific
language material.
A game should !e familiar !y children.
The important things in teaching -nglish vocabulary is how to make -nglish
learning fun for children with these excellent products
The#e a#e %an$ a)antages o( "sing ga%es in the class#oo%1
Games are a welcome !rea$ from the usual routine of the language class.
a. They are motivating and challenging.
b. Learning a language re*uires a great deal of effort.
c. Games help students to ma$e and sustain the effort of learning.
d. Games provide language practice in the various s$ills) spea$ing, writing,
listening and reading.
e. They encourage students to interact and communicate.
f. They create a meaningful conte%t for language use.
g. 6oca!ulary games !ring real world conte%t into the classroom, and increase
students, use of English in a fle%i!le, meaningful and communicative way.
h. Games usually involve friendly competition and they $eep students interested
in learning the language.
i. Games can help them /children0 learn and hang on to new words more easily
The reasons of the writer in choosing games as educational media for teaching children
are=
1. Games ma$e learning fun so your class and children are willing participants and
not 'ust there !ecause they have to !e.
2. :laying a game has a purpose to it, an outcome, and in order to play students have
to say things < they have a reason to communicate rather than 'ust repeat things
!ac$ mindlessly. Therefore, they want to $now and learn more.
3. Students get to use the language all the time during the games
4. They involve a lot of repetition, and repetition is the mother of s$ill, it can !e
!oring, !ut than$s to these games, it is fun.
5. -ow do you e%pect your class or children to remem!er voca!ulary if they never
use it" Eepetition is the mother of s$ill.
6. The games lend themselves perfectly to *uic$ !ursts of revision. #sing some of
the games, you can revise a massive amount of voca!ulary and grammar in a few
minutes.
7. &f you use games to revise two or three topics every lesson, as well as teach the
new language, imagine how well your $ids will do at e%am time, and how proud
you will feel.
8. 5hildren have a short attention span /even more so these days with the style and
pace of the media, and computer games0, so in'ecting lively varied games into
your classes to practice the language you are teaching will $eep your children
alert and en'oying themselves
9. The philosophy of encouragement incorporated into these games allows all
students, including the less good ones, to gain in confidence. #sually this doesnIt
'ust mean they get !etter at your su!'ect, !ut in all su!'ects. This ma$es
every!ody, including you, more motivated and optimistic, and you can really
ma$e a difference !y helping your pupils have more self)esteem so they succeed
in all areas of life.
10. Gou do not need many materials to play these games /in some cases you need
only your regular !lac$ !oard or classroom props0. (nce you have used the games
once you will need virtually no preparation time at allJ
11. Gou will !e a!le to give stimulating fun classes while $eeping your evenings free
for yourself and your own ho!!ies, family and friends
4a$ attention1
Games are often used as short warm)up activities or when there is some time
left at the end of a lesson. &n this case, a game should not !e regarded as a
marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have
nothing !etter to do. Games ought to !e at the heart of teaching /foreign0
languages.
Games can !e used at all stages of the lesson. But teachers must !e sure that
games provided, are suita!le and carefully selected !y the teachers.
Before playing a game teachers should give attention to the num!er of
students, proficiency level, cultural conte%t, timing, learning topic, and the
classroom settings.
Games also lend themselves well to revision e%ercises helping learners recall
material in a pleasant, entertaining way.
Re(e#ence list1
Ca%e#on *$nne5 .//6 .Teaching Language to /oung Learners0 Ca%!#i)ge Une#sit$
4#ess
Ha#n!$ As5 677, K(%ford Advanced Learner1s +ictionary of urrent -nglish .O8(o#)
Unie#sit$ 4#ess
Slatte#$ M 9 :ane ;illis5 .//6 K-nglish for *rimary TeacherL O8(o#) Unie#sit$
4#ess'
:resented !y M(-AMMAF AG#S SAL&M EL BA-E&
www.masel!ahri.!logspot.com,
Email= masMagussalimNyahoo.com