EFFECTIVENESS OF USING GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH

FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

English is the most important means of International communication. People from
all over the world speak English when they meet each other in every international
meeting, workshop, conference.
Due to high demands and realities of our time, learning foreign languages has
become very popular at all levels of national education.
Turkmen State Institute of Economics and Management is one of the leading
institutions of higher education in the country, where the highly qualified
specialists are being trained, in accordance with modern requirements.
In our institute students learn ESP, Business English is one of the examples of the
English for a Specific Purpose, and we (teachers) try to make the education proses
more interesting and productive.
Our goal is to prepare students for their future careers, because after graduation
most of them will work in a companies were English is widely spoken, or will use
it as a means of communication with partners.
Sometimes it is difficult for students to learn new terminologies, and it is our duty
to help students learn and memorize them more easily.
I want to mention about the effectiveness of games in learning English
vocabulary of non English major students.
Students at university must learn many subjects a day and English is one in many.
In English classes, they must study plenty of vocabulary on each unit. However,
some teachers often force their students to learn new words in traditional ways
which lead students to get bored with it. Their common view is that all learning
should be
serious and if they are having fun, then it is not really learning. This is a miss
conception. Nowadays, most of teachers are using the CLT (Communicative
language teaching) method and in CLT classes, learning vocabulary is considered
as one of the primary activities of students in the classroom. Good learning
atmosphere and method can guide the students to learn a language more and
meaningful. Games can help the teachers to create contexts in which students can
take part widely and open mindedly.
Games brought a relaxation and fun for students. So, they learned and remembered
new words easily.
I want to mention about some games which I use in my classes:
Kinds of games which enhance vocabulary learning.
Game 1: Rip and run
I like this game because it helps students to think quickly, you can play this game
individually or in group. You can write (ask) questions related your field topic, for
example: What do economist study? Or What are the spheres of activities of
academic economists? Or you can ask the translation related your theme for
example: tax revenue-salgytlardan girdeji.
Game 2: Bingo
Teaching aim: to get students to practice listening to new words and to match
sounds with spelling.
1. Teacher gets the class to brainstorm a listen of 10 or 15 new words and put them
on the board
2. Students choose any five and copy them into their books.
3. Teacher reads out the words in any order.
4. Each time the student has one of the words teacher reads, he/she puts a tick next
to that word.
5. The first student who ticks all five words shouts “Bingo”.
Game 3: Word square
This game helps students find and know new vocabulary in English, improve their
ability to compose vocabulary correctly. It creates an interesting and engaging
learning environment, and creates a positive classroom climate during the teaching
and learning process.
Game 4: Spelling Bee
I like this game because it improves students’ vocabulary, improves the ability of
memorizing words and how to spell the them correctly. Students learn the
definition of word and how to use it in context.
Games bring relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new
words more easily. Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep
learners interested.
Understanding the necessity of English and the desire to help students learn it
better, I am using games to reduce the pressure on students when they learn a new
words. Nowadays we have all opportunities to study to teach and create, and I
would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our Hero-Arkadag and our
Esteemed President Arkadagly Hero Serdar for the opportunities to develop and
achieve success in every aspect of life for the Turkmen nation.