教育游戏在小学英语中的应用
students the chance for real communication. (Campell Linda, Campell Bruce and
Dickson dee, 1999).
For adults and children, difference between the age group in learning styles, abilities
and motivation entail corresponding differences in selection of materials and
methodology and in lesson plan. Children have a greater immediate need to be
motivated by the teacher or the material in order to learn effectively. Teacher can
raise children’s motivation and enthusiasm by selecting interesting activities. They are
always curious about the interesting things. Games are one excellent means to
maintain the curiosity in the English course. When the teachers ask the children to
play games, they are prepared to enjoy. All this mean that it is easy to maintain a high
degree of motivation and to make the English class into an enjoyable and stimulating
experience for the children.
To successfully teach children English requires specific skills and intuitions that
differ from those that a teacher would use for adult teaching. Brown (1994) suggested
five categories help the teacher to give some practical approaches to teaching children
as follows:
The first one is intellectual development. Since children (up to the age of about
eleven) are still in an intellectual stage of what Piaget called “concrete operations,”
we should remember their limitations. Rules, explanations, and other even slightly
abstract talk about language must be approached with extreme caution. Play (game) is
a way of manipulating the outside world so that it serves a vital function in the child’s
developing intellect and remains.
The second one is attention span. One of the most salient differences between
adults and children is attention span. Children have short attention spans. The short
attention spans come up only when the teachers present stuff that to them is boring,
useless, or too difficult. Since language lessons can at times be difficult for children,
the teachers should try to make them interesting, lively, and fun.
The third one is sensory input. Children need to have all five sense stimulated.
The activities should strive to go well beyond the visual and auditory modes that we
usually feel are sufficient for a classroom. As it is mentioned above, games use both
visual and aural channels to activate the language production.
The fourth one is affective factors. Children are often innovative in language
forms but still have a great many inhibitions. They are extremely sensitive, especially
to peers: What do others think of me? What will so-and-so think when I speak in
English? Children are in many ways much more fragile than adults. Their egos are
still being shaped, and therefore the slightest nuances of communication can be
negatively interpreted. Teachers need to help them to overcome such potential barriers
to learning.
And the last one is authentic, meaningful language. Children are focus on what the
new language can actually be used for right here and now. They are less willing to put
up with language that doesn’t hold immediate rewards for them. The need for
meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years. If the children
are amused, angered, challenged, intrigued or surprised, the content is clearly
meaningful to them., therefore the meaning of the language they listen to, read, speak
and write will be more vividly experienced and better remembered. Games in
language can meet the needsfor “meaningfulness”.