PLAYING IN ENGLISH WITH ENGLISH

Fun and competition are highly motivating. Both can be enhanced through games. If games are carefully planned, relevant practice can be added to the teaching and learning process.

Here are some suggestions for developing reading skills:

·         Sentence Search. Say a word (e.g. year) as a prompt for students to skim the text, spot the word, and then read the complete sentence (e.g. We’re in year 1)

·         Concept Search. Name a concept (e.g. age) and have students scan the text and spot the sentence that represents or describes the mentioned concept (e.g. I’m 14)

·         Correct the Mistake. Read a sentence from the text but change a word. Have students skim the text, spot the sentence and read it correctly.

When students play, they develop their grammar, lexis and phonology in an integrated way. They are paying attention to meaning, so they have to read in a meaningful way.

And remember that enjoyable activities make learning more memorable!