Grammar Games

III. Grammar Games

The aim of these games is to revise some grammar rules, to help children to realize and memorize the material. It is a kind of the situation for using some rules in speaking or writing.
Materials: a blackboard
How to play: you should draw the field for the game and fill the squares with the material you want to work with. For example:

CAN

+ she play	– you jump	? we swim
+ they sing	– he dance	? she run
+ I read	– we drive	? they skip

The teacher should divide the class into two teams: “X” and “O”. The members of each team should put their marks (X and O) to the squares they want making up the sentences according to the scheme: “+” means declarative sentences, “–” means negative sentences, “?” means interrogative sentences. On the blackboard you can write different signal words for children to use the tenses (yesterday, tomorrow, etc.)
Plural form of the nouns:

A child – _________	A boy – _________	A man – _________
A cat – ________	A woman – ________	A lady – _________
A foot – ________	A book – ________	A car – ________

Pupils can come to the blackboard and write the plural forms of the nouns.
You can also practice degrees of comparison of the adjectives, tenses, modal verbs and etc.

2. Where is it?

How to play: you should show several toys (or objects) to the players and then position the toys on the chair, under it, near it, in the bag (the number of the toys depends on the level of the pupils). Ask the pupils to close their eyes and then change the toys and their positions. Ask the players to open their eyes and notice the differences: “The cat was under the chair. Now the dog is under the chair. Put the cat under the chair.”

3. What are you doing?

Materials: a blackboard
How to play: write a list of action verbs on the blackboard. Every pupil should come to the blackboard and demonstrate one of the verbs without saying a word, only using gestures. Others can ask him or her: “Are you swimming/running now? / Did you swim yesterday? / Will you play tomorrow?” – “Yes/No”.
These games seem to be of no importance, but it’s not true. It is extremely important to relax and enjoy yourself in class. It helps both the pupils and the teacher to relax, to have positive emotions. These games help to make the lesson extraordinary for children and thus interesting and successful for them.

Lexical Games

I. Lexical Games

1. What is missing?

Materials: a number of thematic cards or toys (their number depends on the age of the pupils).
How to play: put the cards or toys in a row on the desk or blackboard. Let the pupils have a look at them, or you can revise the words together. Then ask your players to close their eyes and take one of the objects away. Then the children must open their eyes and answer your question “What is missing?” You can also change this game a little bit: don’t put the cards or toys away, but change their order.

2. Mouse Game

Materials: a blackboard
How to play:
Draw a house (a square) on the blackboard and a little mouse in the middle square.

The teacher tells the pupils: “Mouse is in her house. But it is very dangerous outside, a big black cat is hungry and it wants to eat our little mouse. Let’s help her. When the mouse is out of its house – clap your hands.”
With the help of instructions (mouse up, mouse down, mouse left, mouse right) teacher makes the players follow the mouse.

3. Dominoes

Materials: thick paper and pencils to make domino cards of a suitable size (their number depends on the age and level of the pupils)
How to play: you can make the cards not only with numbers but also with the alphabet and words. Children should join the cards according to their meanings: colours, animals, parts of the body, actions and etc.) This game can be played in pairs or with the class divided into two teams).

Games for Children

Everybody knows how difficult it is to make lesson of English interesting for children in the primary school. Pupils will like the lesson and will do English with enthusiasm if the material is interesting and bright for them. And the content of the lesson will interest children if the material is corresponding to their age and interests as well.
Many of you will say that it takes much time to organize a game, and children take the lesson as a game, not more. In addition you can say that it takes much more to get everything prepared for fun at the lesson.
I will say a game is a kind of work as well. If you know the psychological aspects of this very age you should see that game is an activity, which is very close to all children. While playing, you can make children really work effectively.
It is impossible to make children learn words and rules by heart, do exercises, and only drill mechanically. A game is a certain stimulus to learn something. It’s a real education aim – to learn the material for the purpose of playing.
A game is a social experience for children, which teaches them to live, to help each other, to sympathize, to win and to lose, and to respect others’ feelings. The players often try to change the game, to invent some new elements, heroes; they have their own idea. Don’t be afraid of it. It’s a kind of partnership, of help. A good game must teach children to find solutions to problems, to try out variables and make decisions.
In conclusion I would like to say that a game is full of emotions which will make your lesson interesting and productive, not only for your pupils, but also for you. Don’t be afraid to play, believe in games and you will succeed!
The aim of these games is to help children to memorize words in a fun way.