Applied Principle of Games in Senior High School English Classroom Teaching

梁小靜

Abstract：Games play an important role in English classroom teaching. As for Senior High School students， monotonous teaching methods will make them lose interest in English study. Game teaching can turn the dull contents into the vivid and interesting activities. It not only can mobilize students learning enthusiasm， but also can develop students learning interest and achieve the teaching goal effectively.

However， there often exists some phenomenon when using games such as unclear purpose and improper operation methods， which will affect the teaching effectiveness. This paper analyzes the basic principles when using games in Senior High Schools English teaching. It aims to provide appropriate games teaching methods for the English teachers to improve the efficiency of classroom teaching.

Keywords： Senior High School ；English teaching；Game； Basic principle

中圖分類號：G632.0 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1992-7711（2016）07-0126

New curriculum emphasizes that the teacher is the collaborator， guider and participants of students learning. At the same time， the teaching process is a interactive process for teachers and students communicate and develop relationships with each other .Therefore， teachers should make every effort to create nice activities for students， and stimulate students desire to explore new things so as to enrich their imagination and cultivate the studentspersonality in classroom teaching. In the teaching of the game， the teacher can train students listening， speaking， reading and writing skills in a systematic way and can develop the studentsability of observation， memory， imagination， etc. Besides， Game teaching can make students use English to express ideas， persuade others and get more information， and let them have the opportunities to express themselves through the game， which makes them become confident and easy to succeed.

Proper use of English games for just only a few minutes can still have a good effect on classing teaching. Senior High School students are often active and love to play， and they are willing to accept new and interesting things. Therefore， teachers can design English games purposefully and systematically according to the needs of students and problems which may appear in English teaching. It is not only coincident with middle school students psychological characteristics， but is also good to cultivate the students interest in learning English and improve the classroom efficiency， which will be very meaningful. Interest is the best teacher. Senior High School students are eager to learn English， but they have a poor knowledge of English， lack of willpower and purpose in learning. The enjoyment feature of game can promote the students learning motivation， and make it consolidated constantly.

Constructivism and second language acquisition theory advocate that creating a language learning environment that is close to the truth for learners， can activate learners cognitive thinking， and master the using principles of foreign language learning. Game using in English teaching， on the one hand， can improve teaching pertinence and operability， so as to let the students have a clear goal and task of learning. On the other hand Game teaching can activate classroom atmosphere so that the students can study in a relaxed and free language learning environment（陳斌，2013）. In order to organize activities smoothly， the organizers should do the following：

I. Student-oriented principle

Student-oriented principle is that the teacher should put the students as the main body in game teaching and select practical contents to cultivate students creative ability. The new curriculum standard of Senior High School English explicitly proposed that “Teachers should pay more attention to each students emotions， stimulate their interest in learning English， and help them build the sense of achievement and self-confidence in learning. English classroom teaching should face all students， and try to make every student participants in the game activities under the teachers guidance. Therefore， Game activities should reflect the new teaching idea， and follow the principle of “insist the main body of students and the leading role of the teacher.”

When directing student activity， Teachers should make it dynamic and static orderly. At the same time， teachers should make every student take part in the activity actively， and against focusing only on a few students and ignoring most of the students. Besides， attention should be paid to try to arrange the collective games， especially the games that can reflect the essence of collaboration. Game teaching method emphasizes the studentssubjectivity， and requests the student to participate together. It fully exerts the guiding role of the teachers and the main body of the students.

II. Using English principle

Using English principle is that teachers should try to use simple English in English classroom games organization， so as to create a strong atmosphere on English study， and it also can provide more opportunities to learn English. Due to the poor spoken English of the Senior High School students to master English， English language instructions in English classroom activities should be simple and clear. And the teacher should try to use words that students can understand. Body language can be use when it is necessary. Simple and clear language instructions can make teachers speak with less time and the students can get more opportunities to practice their spoken English. When asking the students to answer questions， the teacher can say， like this， “ Who would like to read the text for us？” “Any volunteers？” “ Have you finished your exercise yet？” When evaluating the students answers， the teacher should use more various sentences rather than “Good in order to make students more confident and improve their motivation of learning English. Such as “Good boy， thats a good answer. Thank you！” “Wonderful！ Lets give her a big hand！”“Well done， I admire your work.” and so on.

Such simple English with body language can make the students easy to understand what the teacher said. It also can encourage students to speak English and train their sense of English language learning.

III. Purposefulness principle

Games work for teaching， so it should be relative to teaching. Purposefulness principle requires the game should be played with clear purpose. When designing games， teachers should consider fully the important and difficult points and other demands of teaching. in order to make sure that the students can learn and gain something during the process of the operation of the game， and to avoid a meaningless play， teachers should think about the problem before class， in class and after class that， What will they teach in this lesson？ What are the important point and difficult point for the lesson？ Can it achieve the teaching goal？ What can students learn？ And how about the teaching effect？

For example， when teaching “The Future Passive Voice”structure， the teacher showed students some sentences in the text learned before， and then gave them two minutes to look at the sentences carefully to find out “The Future Passive Voice”structure. Two minutes later， the teacher let the students read out “The Future Passive Voice”structure of each sentence. Try to encourage the students to catch the opportunity to practice as much as possible. Then the students couldnt wait to raise their hand and share their findings， “will be admitted”“will be held” “will be designed” and so on. On the one hand， through such games， “The Future Passive Voice”structure could be used unconsciously by students. On the other hand， it also cultivated the students ability of observation and memory ability.

IV. Feasibility principle

Feasibility principle refers that the teacher can organize the game reasonably and smoothly and the students can participate in it successfully under the teachers guidance with sufficient equipment aid.

Games should be feasible. In the process of practical English teaching， teachers should design the game teaching reasonably that is related to the text. Meanwhile， the game activity should be simple， easy to operate and easy to carry out， which can make all of the students happy to participate in. Through games， students can learn by using， playing and experiencing so that they can keep active and passionate on study and help themselves to form correct learning methods and good habits of learning English， and to find the pleasure of learning English.

V. Task-based principle

Task-based principle refers that each student should have his or her own task or role when playing games. Game teaching activities should be relative to the task. Task-based approach requires students complete a learning task under the guidance of teachers. It can avoid the phenomenon that some of the students stand by and do nothing during the game. With clear tasks， the students can grasp more learning strategy and experience success under the task-based teaching method. Besides， students can form a positive learning attitude and improve their language practical application ability.

When it refers to the Task-based classroom teaching teachers should take tasks as the teaching core and plan the teaching steps. The task design of English game should be challenging， and it can let students experience success. So we must know students need and know what the students can do， want to do and what to do， Therefore， Teachers need to design and apply the tasks related to the life so as to promote studentscomprehensive development.

VI. Diversity principle

Diversity principle means that the form of games should be diversified. People all like fresh things and various kinds of challenge whether they are adults or senior high students. Therefore， Effective measures should be taken to the keep the game various and interesting. So the teacher should try to accumulate different games and change new playing methods to meet the students needs， so as to let them maintain a positive state of mind. As a matter of fact， there a lot of games for teaching， such as “What is missing？”； “Louder and lower”； “Message passing”， etc.

Lets take “What is missing？” for example： The teacher shows some pictures to students for a while. Then pick out one of the pictures secretly and show them to the students again. The student must find out what is missing.

In addition， teachers can design different forms of games according to the teaching content. When learning about earthquakes， teachers give students chance to discuss what will happen before an earthquake. and let students try to use English to answer as much as they can. The teacher can offer some help if necessary. Each game should not be used for too much times， or it will make students lose enthusiasm and affect the efficiency of the English classroom teaching.

Teachers should flexibly arrange classroom games in the English game teaching， and keep the form novel and diverse， avoiding monotonous and mechanical operation. Besides， the teacher should always keep the students enthusiasm of learning and arouse the positivity of their intellectual activity so as to raises their good memory quality and improve the effect of foreign language learning. In addition， Teachers should constantly excavate the content and search more information of the teaching materials， and seize the key to make the classroom lively， and to improve class teaching efficiency.