The Most Useful Games in The ESL Classroom

Nowadays there is a wide variety of how to teach English. Every teacher uses his or her unique methodologies and techniques to make lessons more informative and entertaining. One of the approaches could be using educational games in the classroom.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kristina S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Games in the classroom are a great tool for teachers as they can be adapted to different ages and levels.

Within this essay, I would like to clarify why using games in the classroom for young learners is extremely useful and educational.

There is no doubt that children have their own way of thinking and learning, they are less educated and experienced compared to adults, however, they can learn English more effectively and easier. Some teachers find it difficult to explain grammar to young learners and using games in the classroom could be a good approach to overcome such difficulty.

First of all, we can use educational games with kids to engage them in activities and create a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere in the classroom. Some kids are shy to communicate and cooperate with others, that is why games can help them to participate in activities and learn English more effectively. Moreover, games help to focus on the grammar subject and practice it in a fun way.

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Playing educational games cultivate skills such as communication, thinking, planning, and decision-making. Children love communicating despite their limited vocabulary. However, sometimes they can discuss something during the lesson in their native language. Some teachers might find it a problem, but in fact, we can reap the benefits from it. We can use an appropriate activity to solve this problem. This situation shows that kids are open to communication and the teacher can ask them to work in groups - they can talk to each other or make up a story talking one by one. By doing this, children will be able to communicate with the group as well as using grammar structures and new vocabulary. They are very creative and games can be a powerful motivator to speak in English. Moreover, most educational games can offer a varied mix of audio or video. They can be a great addition to the lesson because kids can practice listening skills and change of activity helps to captivate kids’ attention.

One of the reasons why games in the classroom should be used is to motivate them to study the language. Educational games allow kids to interact with each other, share ideas, discover something new since the games stimulate conversations and discussions. They can work in pairs or in groups, in fact, it’s a great opportunity for young learners to cooperate, discuss, and use English to achieve their goals and win the game. Games provide an amazing way for the children to feel free and confident as well as don’t be afraid to fail.

Kids might have issues with being concentrated during the whole lesson, which typically lasts for about 45 minutes, thus playing games is a good solution to engage students. During the game, kids can use new phrases, words, and grammar structures naturally. Not only they can build up communicative skills, but they also remember how to speak correctly. Children's memory works better when they actually do something, rather than read.

Also read: The 5 Best TEFL Games for Adult Students

Furthermore, playing games motivate kids to study better and naturally use English.

It’s worth remembering, that pupil’s success depends on a teacher, thus good tutor should be motivated as well. He or she should always be prepared for the lesson, games should be appropriate to the pupil’s language level, they should be interesting and educational. The teacher is expected to be sure that kids understand him or her and absorb new knowledge.

To my mind, it’s more enlightening and entertaining to teach English using games in the classroom rather than only explaining complicated grammar rules and structures, which can be extremely difficult and boring for kids. Thanks to games, we can teach not only grammar but also new vocabulary, listening, or speaking skills. This teaching method has a lot of advantages. In a nutshell, using games can help young learners to know more about the language, grammar, how to speak correctly and be able to communicate in any situation.

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