Teach English in Changliang Zhen - Enshi Tujiazu Miaozu Zizhizhou

When planning a lesson, you have to keep in mind that students are going to learn, understand and recall what you taught. You also have to make sure that students are interested, and engaged during the lesson, which is why implementing games in your lesson, is key. Games in the classroom will allow the teacher to establish rapport, it will allow the teacher to decide the game that best fits their students, and the game can be suitable for teaching language. Games in the classroom are not only fun for students, but also a great learning opportunity. In the first few weeks of school, a teacher needs to establish rapport to get to know the students, know their interests, and also get an idea of their level. Rapport is important because not only will the teacher get to know their students, but also the students will get to know their teacher. Having good rapport with their students will establish trust, and builds a fun learning environment. A great way of establishing rapport is through games. Games can break the ice, allow students to feel comfortable and start to build friendships within their classmates. Games can be done through out the academic year, which will allow the teacher to understand, and know their students interest throughout the year. Each class dynamic is different, which is something that a teacher needs to keep in mind. There might be reluctant, enthusiastic, shy, or outspoken students. When implementing games into the lesson, a teacher can either decide to make it competitive or a co-operative game where it can benefit all the different types of students in your class, which will allow them to participate. For example, a reluctant student might participate and become motivated in the game, or an outspoken student can learn to give another student a chance at answering a question. It’s all about how the teacher sets the rules of the game. Games in the lesson build skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, good sportsmanship, and more. In the end, a teacher’s goal is for their students to learn. There are many games that can help with grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling. This past year was my first time teaching first grade in Istanbul, Turkey in an international school where English was their second language to all the students. I had a hard time because some students were at different levels. I had some students who knew how to read and write, and some who didn’t know their alphabet. I broke my class in half and slowly brought the behind students to where they needed to be. During the third trimester, I was teaching the students about nouns, verbs, and adjectives and it was really hard for them to understand the difference between them. I was getting frustrated, but one day I decided to do a game and it was life changing. I wrote on the board a verb is to describe an action and told the students they will each have a turn at describing an action. I chose a student, I whispered a verb in their ear and they described that action without saying anything and the students had to guess the verb. They loved this game and asked to play it all the time! Whenever I would ask the students what a verb was, they instantly knew. All the students were engaged, and interested throughout the game, and so I did more games for nouns, and adjectives. Implementing games in the classroom might be noisy at times, but will be very engaging, and create a fun learning environment. Children learn best when given different learning opportunities, and when they are interested and engaged. Games can be done in many different ways, and there can always be a learning outcome in the game you choose. A teachers job is not just standing in front of the class and explaining the lesson, it should be interactive, exciting, engaging, and meaningful. A teacher needs to know their students interests and make sure they understand what’s being taught, and a great tool in achieving that is using games in the class.