Филологические науки/1. Методика преподавания языка и литературы

Candidate of Philological Sciences Lobachova I.

SHEE “Donbas State Pedagogical University”, Ukraine

Playing Technologies in Teaching English

International relations of Ukraine and its cooperation with other countries of the world require significant changes in methods of teaching foreign languages. For this reason there is a need to organize the learning process in such way that students are able to use English for communication in real life situations and not only in the learning process but also to acquiring knowledge.

The effective means of personal development is a game. Science attempts to find out the psychological sources, the nature, features and historical development of the game led a number of scientists to different conceptual conclusions. It was depended on various theoretical bases, methodological principles and facts.

There is a number of scientific papers devoted to research the problem of the game in learning English (Blyzniuk O., Valuieva K., Kuvshynov V., Makarova M., Panova L.), role-playing in learning dialogic speech (Hrinko I., Hrytsiuk L., Dianova O., Kapitanchuk T., Kolomiitseva T., Kostina L., Kochergina L., Maistrenko S., Oliinyk T. and others), the use of intellectual games at English lessons (Dikaia O.) playing activity as a multifunctional means in the methods of teaching foreign languages (Zhelezniak L.), the benefits of physical brakes, music and movable games at foreign language lessons (Karpenko O., A. Kvasova O., Chernysh V. and others), entertaining and educational games at English lessons (Nimchuk H., Stronin M. and others) and etc. in modern linguodidactic.

The game is the most natural and the most attractive activity for primary school pupils. Therefore to make everyday classes more interesting for a child is a task of primary education. Every child needs serious mental activity, already from the first lesson the teacher should teach the students to love their duties and find satisfaction in its performance.

So, the main task of a teacher for today is to find the most pedagogical situations in which can be realized desire of a child to active cognitive activity. The modern teacher should constantly improve teaching that students can quickly and efficiently master material. The use of playing activity at foreign language lessons will promote this aim.

Easy communication of a child with a class, understanding between a teacher and a student begins in games. During the game a children’s habit to be concentrated, to work carefully, independently, developing attention, memory, desire for knowledge is produced and developed. Satisfying the natural need for activity in the game a child completes in mind all that is not available to him in reality, delighted does not notice that learns. So a child learns new things, orients in different situations, deepens previously acquired experience, compares the arsenal of ideas, concepts, develops imagination. Therefore playing activity performs an entertaining, communicative, self-realization, self-therapeutic, diagnostic, correctional functions, and also the function of international communication and socialization [1, p. 23].

In the research we distinguish such most used types of games at foreign language classes that will be a means to achieve the outlined functions [2]:

1. Games for Studying the English Alphabet (which facilitate effective memorization of letters, development of attentiveness, imagination and memory of primary school pupils. Such games encourage students to creative thinking and active actions. Games for mastering the English alphabet are worth to combine with other types of games to reach of high results in learning a foreign language).

2. Phonetic Games-Exercises (which promote training the correct pronunciation of English sounds, set the correct articulation of speech during the pronunciation of certain sounds, and clear reading).

3. Grammar Games (which are intended to teach children to use in their speech words and collocations, which contain certain grammatical difficulties developing speech activity and independence working of primary school pupils).

4. Games for the Development of Reading Skills (which promote the interest to reading both new and already known texts. Such games will teach children to understand better and perceive the meaning of utterances, to select the main aspects in the stream of information, to develop auditory memory and reaction).

5. Games for the Development of Listening Skills (which are intended for forming pronunciation, lexical and grammar skills and training the use of the linguistic phenomena on the preparatory, pre-communicative and communicative stages of learning a foreign language).

6. Games on the Development of Speech (it is worth to the development of skills to express opinions clearly, logically and consistently, and to the practical and creative use of previously acquired speech skills and the development of communication skills).

7. Games on the Development of Writing Skills (these games expand erudition, teach to work with a dictionary, make it possible to train memory, to deepen into intricacies of a language, but do not lose their entertainment. Such games are played for the competition, by groups, individually, in written or oral forms, using visual tools (graphic, printed, symbolic) or without it).

8. Lexical Games (help to enrich the student vocabulary by new English words, to eliminate difficulties in its memorization. These games are good for training students in the use of vocabulary in situations that are close to the general ones and the development of linguistic reaction of primary school pupils).

9. Role-Playing Games on the Development of Monologue and Dialogue Speech (the role-playing game is learning in action, that as known it improves the quality of education. The situations of communication, that are created in a role-playing game, make it possible to approach speech activity to true life communication at a lesson and to use a language as a means of communication).

10. Playing Physical-Minutes (it is known that preservation and strengthening of children health at classes are not possible without using modern health saving technologies. Physical-minutes are used for this purpose. Such games prevent the fatigue of children and are an essential aspect at English lessons. For reducing the fatigue of children we have to optimize the physical, mental and emotional activity of primary school pupils at a class. The main advantage of physical-minutes is that it has all kinds of movements inherent to human being – running, jumping, plastic of arms, body. During physical-minutes a child feels joy after the tensions of mental forces. Physical-minutes stimulate learning activities of students, develop imagination, attention, memory, plasticity of movements, relieve stiffness).

11. Music and Movable Games (to the category of music and movable games we include so-called songs-exercises or songs-games that may be grammatically or lexically directed. Such games both contribute to the intensification of emotions and emotional memory of students and include education units needed to monologue and dialogue speech. High frequency of repetition of grammatical structures with a little change in lexical line is typical for songs-games. They are a good base for introduction and systematization of studying material and for further activating students’ speech skills. Songs-games are not long thus they are economic in planning lessons and they are easily remembered by students).

12. Tongue Twisters (it is an effective way to improve pronunciation and articulation. Also, using the tongue twister technique you can improve reading skills of certain words and letter combinations if such samples are used in a tongue twister; and you can warming up your speech organs and improve diction. Studying English it is also a good phonetic exercise. It is worth to combine learning tongue twisters with certain phonetic material. The main goal is to find similar sounds).

13. Rhymes (using rhymes in English will help greatly to improve spoken English, to learn lots of new words and expressions, to improve English listening skills. And also, verses in English will expand students’ foreign language vocabulary and help to improve English pronunciation and diction).

Therefore games generally help to organize a constructive dialogue, to promote the transfer of certain experience, to obtain new knowledge, to correct evaluate both own actions and actions of other students, to develop person’s communicative skills, perception, memory, thinking, imagination and emotions; develop activity, discipline, observation and attentiveness. So games have enormous methodological value and help to make the educational process more efficient, easy and relaxed for a teacher and for a student. It is much easier to master oral and written foreign language communication with games. Using different kinds of games for teaching English in primary school is especially effective. The method of a game has undoubted didactic and practical value, because a game promotes efficient learning material and improve the general mood in the audience, as well as the elimination of psychological barriers both in a classroom and between an audience and a teacher. The game adds to learning communication communicate direction, strengthens foreign language learning motivation and significantly improves the quality of mastering it. The game is a powerful factor of child’s psychological adaptation in the new linguistic space that can solve the problem of organic implementation of a foreign language to the world of a student.

References

1. Кочергіна Л. Місце і роль гри у системі навчання іноземної мови / Кочеріна Л. // Рідна школа. – 2005. – № 3. – С. 48–50. – Kocherhina L. Place and Role of a Game in the Teaching System of a Foreign Language / Kocherhina L. // Ridna shkola. – 2005. – No3. – Pp. 48–50.

2. Лобачова І.М. Ігрові технології в навчанні англійської мови в початковій школі [навчальний посібник] / Лобачова І.М. – Слов’янськ : ДВНЗ «ДДПУ», 2014. – 83 с. – Lobachova I.M. Playing Technologies in Teaching English at Primary School [textbook] / Lobachova I.M. – Sloviansk: SHEE «DSPU», 2014. – 83 P.