Table of contents

1
Introduction……………………………………………………………….......…….3

Chapter 1.GAMES AS AN EFFECTIVE WAY OF TEACHING ENGLISH……..5

1.1. Adequacy and advantages of using games……………………………………..8

1.2. Learning vocabulary through grammar material……………………….…......10

Chapter 2. GAMES AT LANGUAGE LESSONS

2.1. Games for teaching grammar………………………………………….………16

2.2. Types of games aimed at teaching grammar……………………………...…...22

2.2.1. Games for teaching preposition ……………………………………..........…22

2.2.2. Teaching phrasal verbs……………………………………………………….26

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..……....31

Summary……………………………………………………………………........…33

List of references………………………………………………………...........…….34

Introduction

2
 In recent years language researchers and practitioners have shifted their
focus from developing individual linguistic skills to the use of language to achieve
the speaker's objectives. This new area of focus, known as communicative
competence, leads language teachers to seek task-oriented activities that engage
their students in creative language use.
Games, which are task based and have a purpose beyond the production of
correct speech, serve as excellent communicative activities. The aim of all language
games is to make students to use the language in models of natural situations; during
game play learners also use the target language to persuade and negotiate their way
to desired results. This process involves the productive and receptive skills
simultaneously.
We considered the theme of the paper actual enough for investigation. The
object of the paper is modal exercises as presenting different kinds of games.
The tasks and aims of the paper:
-to view the role of games at language lessons.
-to describe views of different linguists on the problem of using games.
-to present various types of grammar games.
Practical value of the paper reflects modem trends in linguistics, lies in the
fact that it will serve as a good manual for those who want to master modem English
language. In particular, this paper can be used by teachers of the English language
for teaching English grammar.
We consider that the topicality of the paper consists in the use of actual
materials on language games, which were published in the Internet. The novelty lies
in the fact, some grammar games, which have been worked out by us and
approbated at the English language lessons during my pedagogical practice. The
methods used in our paper are the method of comparative analysis an the method of
statistical research. The paper consist of: introduction, two chapters, conclusion and
list of references. The introduction presents brief description of the paper, it is
object, subject actuality, practical significance and fields of amplification.

3
 Chapter 1 describes general principles of teaching grammar by means of
games at the English lessons. Focus is made on the effectiveness and motivating
force of the kind of activity.

Chapter2 deals with different type of grammar games meant for presenting
prepositions, phrasal verbs.

Conclusion presents the result of the research received in the process of

teaching. List of references cover more than 20 sources of theoretical material.

Chapter 1.

Games as an effective way of teaching English.

4
 Games offer students a fun-filled and relaxing learning atmosphere. After
learning and practicing new vocabulary, students have the opportunity to use
language in a non-stressful way. While playing games the learners’ attention is on
the message not on the language. Rather than play attention to the correctness of
linguistic forms most participant will do all they can to win. This eases the fear of
negative evaluation, the concern of being negatively judged in public, and which is
one of the main factors inhibiting language learners from using the target language
in front of other people. In a game oriented context anxiety is reduced and speech
fluency is generated thus communicative competence is achieved.

Games are also motivating. According to the scholar Prasad, games introduced
the element of competition into language-building activities. This provides valuable
impetuous to a purposeful use of language. The competitive ambiance also makes
learners concentrate and think intensively during the learner process, which
enhances unconscious acquisition of inputs. According to the researcher Uberman
most students who have experienced game oriented activities hold positive attitudes
towards them [19, 142]. About action research conducted by the scholars Huyen end
Nga, students said that they liked the relaxed atmosphere, the competitiveness, and
the motivation that games brought to the classroom. On the effectiveness, of games,
teachers Huyen & Nga reported that their students seem to learn more quickly and
retain the learned materials better in a stress-free and comfortable environment [9,
117].

The benefits of using games in language-learning can be summed up in nine

points.

Games:

1. are learner centered.

2. promote communicative competence.
3. create a meaningful context for language use.

5
 4. increase learning motivation.
5. reduce learning anxiety.
6. integrate various linguistic skills.
7. encourage creative and spontaneous use of language.
8. construct a cooperative learning environment.
9. foster participatory attitudes of the students.

There are many advantages of using games. According to Richard – Amato:

“Games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely”. The
scholar Hansen also mentioned that they are highly motivating by being
entertaining, and they can give shy students more opportunity to express their
opinions and feelings. They also enable learners to acquire new experiences within a
foreign language with are not always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore,
to quote Richard-Amato, they “add diversion to the regular classroom activities,”
break the ice, “but also they are used to introduce new ideas”. The scholar Wierus
added to mentioned ideas that in the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by
using games, students remember things faster and better. Further support comes
from Zdybiewska, who believes games to be a good way of practicing language,
for they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in the
future[4, 73].

Many experienced textbook and methodology manuals writers have argued

that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value.
W.R. Lee holds that most language games make learners use the language instead of
thinking about learning the correct forms. He also says that games should be treated
as central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching program. A similar
opinion is expressed by Richard-Amato, who believes games to be fun but warns
against overlooking their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language
teaching. Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of

6
these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see beauty in a
foreign language and not just problems.

There are many factors to consider while discussing games, one of which is
adequacy of their usage. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if
they want to make them profitable for the learning process. If games are to bring
desired results, they must correspond to either the student’s level, or age, or to the
material that is to be introduced or practiced. Not all games are appropriate for all
students irrespective of their age .For example, children benefit most from games
which require moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups and the
like. Furthermore, structural games that practice or reinforce a certain grammatical
aspect of language have to relate to student’s abilities and prior knowledge. Games
become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the student’s
experience.

Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time
necessary for its completion. Many games have a time limit, but the teacher can
either allocate more or less time depending on the students’ level, the number of
people in a group, or the knowledge of the rules of a games etc [11, 15].

Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time
left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee observes, a game “should not be regarded as a
marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing
better to do”. Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon
suggests that games be used at all stages of the lesson; the teacher’s aims connected
with a game may vary.

Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall
material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in this article agree
that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they are still
worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate

7
learners, promote communicative competence, and generate fluency. However, can
they be more successful for presentation and revision that other techniques? The
following part of this article is at finding to the question [12, 23].

1.1 Adequacy and advantages of using games.

In this paragraph we would like to reflect how modern teachers evaluate the
adequacy in using games when teaching English language.

Famous British teacher and educator Andrew Wright in his books indicates’
Language learning is hard work… Effort is required at every moment and must be
maintained over a long period of time. Games help and encourage many learners to
sustain their interest and work [22, 78].

Games also help the teacher to create context in which the language is useful
and meaningful. The learners want to take part and in order to do so must
understand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in
order to express their own point of view or give information."
The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some
years. A useful interpretation of ’meaningfulness 1 is that the learners respond to the
content in a definite way. If they are amused, angered, intrigued or surprised the
content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus the meaning of the language they listen
to, read, speak and write will be more vividly experienced and, therefore, better
remembered.
If it is accepted that games can provide intense and meaningful practice of
language, then they must be regarded as central to a teacher’s repertoire. They are
thus not for use solely on wet days and at the end of term [22, 78].
Another distinguished scholar, Aydan Ersoz, noted following:
Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant
effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target language. Well-
chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time

8
allow students to practice language skills. Games are highly motivating since they
are amusing and at the same time challenging. Furthermore, meaningful and useful
language in real contexts. They also encourage and increase cooperation [12, 25].
Gaines are highly motivating because they are amusing and interesting. They
can be used to give practice in all language skills and be used to practice many types
of communication. In Korea a noted teacher Lee Su Kim distinguished games as
follows [11,43].
There is a common perception that all learning should be serious and solemn in
nature and that if one is having fun and there is hilarity and laughter, then it is not
really learning. This is a misconception. It is possible to learn a language as well as
enjoy oneself at the same time. One of the best ways of doing this is through games.
There are many advantages of using games in the classroom:
1. Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class.
2. They are motivating and challenging.
3. Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to
make and sustain the effort of learning.
4. Games provide language practice in the various skills- speaking, writing,
listening and reading.
5. They encourage students to interact and communicate.
6. They create a meaningful context for language use.’
When to Use Games Ms. Uberman noted that ’Games are often used as short warm-
up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee
observes, a game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd
moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do’’ [19, 121]. Games
ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. The researcher Rixon
suggests that games be used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are
suitable and carefully chosen. Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises
helping learners recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred
to in this agree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students,

9
they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they
motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate fluency [15,
36].

1.2. Learning vocabulary through grammar material

Games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning

vocabulary in various ways. First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students,
thus help them learn and retain new words more easily. Second, games usually
involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. These create the
motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in the
learning activities. Third, vocabulary games bring real world context into the
classroom, and enhance students’ use of English in a flexible, communicative way.
Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be
denied. However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential
that suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of
students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the
classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account.

In conclusion, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and

interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms. The results of this research
suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the
useful practice and review of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of
improving learners’ communicative competence.

The scholar Lewis pointed out that games are fun and children like to play
them. Through games children experiment, discover, and interact with their
environment [21, 69]. Moreover, games add variation to a lesson and increase
motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language. For many

10
children between four and twelve years old, especially the youngest, language
learning will not be the key motivational factor. Games can provide this stimulus.
The game context makes the foreign language immediately useful to the children. It
brings the target language to life. The game makes the reasons for speaking
plausible even to reluctant children [21, 71].
Through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn
their mother tongue without being aware they are studying; thus without stress, they
can learn a lot. Nevertheless, even shy students can participate positively.
The scholar Tyson proposes classification in accordance with its listed
features we may chose necessary game [18, 39]:

- A game must be more than just fun.

- A game should involve "friendly" competition.
- A game should keep all of the students involved and interested.
- A game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather
than on the language itself.
- A game should give students a chance to learn, practice, or review
specific language material.
One more scholar, M. Martha Lengeling said the following [13,28]:
'In an effort to supplement lesson plans in the ESL classroom, teachers often
turn to games. The justification for using games in the classroom has been well
demonstrated as benefiting students in a variety of ways. These benefits range from
cognitive aspects of language learning to more co-operative group dynamics.’ These
are the general benefits of games proposed by the scholar:
Affective:

- lowers affective filter

- encourages creative and spontaneous use of language
- promotes communicative competence
- motivates

11
 - fun
Cognitive:

- reinforces
- reviews and extends focuses on grammar communicatively
Class Dynamics:
- student centered
- teacher acts only as facilitator
- builds class cohesion
- fosters whole class participation
- promotes healthy competition
Adaptability:
- easily adjusted for age, level, and interests
- utilizes all four skills
- requires minimum preparation after development
So language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating.
Constant effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target
language. Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the
same time allow students to practice language skills. Games are highly motivating
since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. Furthermore, they employ
meaningful and useful language in real contexts. They also encourage and increase
cooperation [9, 31].
The most instructive language learning games are those that emphasize specific
structures. They do not only practice the basic pattern but also do so in a pleasant,
easy way that allows the students to forget they are drilling grammar and
concentrate on having fun. The following games are concerned with Yes/No
questions, questions, tag questions, comparative and superlative, adverbs, modals,
demonstratives, etc.
Grammar is perhaps so serious and central in learning another language that all

12
ways should be searched for which will focus student energy on the task of
mastering and internalizing it. One way of focusing this energy is through the
release offered by games. Teenagers are delighted to be asked to do something that
feels like an out-class activity and in which they control what is going on in the they
are the objects of teaching. I he point is that fun generate energy for the
achievement of the serious goal.
Grammar games can be used in three ways:
- diagnostically before presenting a given structure area to find out how much
knowledge of the area is already disjointedly present in the group;
- after a grammar presentation to see how much the group have grasped;
-a revision of a grammar area.
We should not use grammar games as a Friday ‘reward’ activity. Using them
as a central part of the students’ learning process would be a better idea. Thus, each
game is proposed for a given level ranging from beginner to advanced. This refers
simply to the grammar content of that particular game. But, as it has been already
mentioned above, a lot of activities can be adapted to different classes with different
grammar components. By changing the grammar content a teacher can, in many
cases, use the game frame offered at a higher or lower level. Generally, any frame
can be filled with any structures you want to work on with your students. The
students have to take individual responsibility for what they think the grammar is
about. The teacher is free to find out what the students actually know, without being
the focus of their attention. Serious work is taking place in the context of a game.
The dice throwing and arguing lightens and enlivens the classroom atmosphere in a
way that most people do not associate with the grammar part of a course. The
‘game’ locomotive pulls the grammar train along. Other reasons for including
games in a language class are:
- They focus student attention on specific structures, grammatical patterns.
- They can function as reinforcement, review and enrichment.
- They involve equal participation from both slow and fast learners.

13
 - They can be adjusted to suit the individual ages and language levels of the
students.
- They contribute to an atmosphere of healthy competition, providing an
outlet for the creative use of natural language in a non-stressful situation.
- They can be used in any language-teaching situation and with any skill area
whether reading, writing, speaking or listening.
- They provide the immediate feedback for the teacher.
- They ensure maximum student participation for a minimum of teacher
preparation [8, 47].
A game should be planned into the day’s lesson right along with exercises,
dialogues and reading practice. It should not be an afterthought. Games are a lively
way of maintaining students’ interest in the language, they are fun but also part of
the learning process, and students should be encouraged to take them seriously.
They should also know how much time they have to play a game. It is not useful to
start a game five minutes before the end of the lesson. Students are usually given a
‘five-minute warning’ before the time is over so they can work towards the end.
The older the students are, the more selective a teacher should be in
choosing a game activity. Little kids love movements, while older ones get excited
with puddles, crosswords, word wheels, and poster competitions whatever.
Modem language teaching requires a lot of work to make a lesson interesting
for modem students who are on familiar terms with computers, Internet and
electronic entertainment of any kind. Sympathetic relations must exist not only
among students but between students and a teacher. It is of special importance for
junior students because very often they consider their teachers to be the subject
itself, i.e. interesting and attractive or terrible and disgusting, necessary to know or
useless and thus better to avoid [9, 74].

Children learn with their whole beings. Whole-child involvement means that
one should arrange for the child’s participation in the lesson with as many senses as

14
possible. Seeing pictures of children performing actions and repeating, “The boy is
running”, “The girl is hopping” is not at all as effective as when students do the
actions themselves in response to commands and demonstrations from the teacher.
All said above is fairly true to adult learners not only children, because of our
common human nature to possess habits through experience. We all learned to
understand and speak our first language by hearing and using it in natural situations,
with people who cared for and about us. This is the most effective and interesting
way to learn a foreign language as well. The experts now advise language teachers
to spend most of the classroom time on activities that foster natural acquisition,
rather than on formal vocabulary and structure explanations and drills. They insist
that once you have become accustomed to the rewards and pleasures gained from
teaching through activities, you will wonder Viow foreign- language teaching ever
got to be anything else. Your own ideas for activities and their management will flow,
and your students’ learning rates will soar!”

CHAPTER II.
GAMES AT LANGUAGE LESSONS
Language is the chief means by which the human personality expresses itself
and fulfills its basic need for social interaction with other persons.

15
 Robert Lado wrote that language functions owing to the language skills. A
person who knows a language perfectly uses a thousand and one grammar lexical,
phonetic rules when he is speaking. Language skills help us to choose different
words and models in our speech.
It is clear that the term “grammar” has meant various things at various times
and sometimes several things at one time. This plurality of meaning is characteristic
of the present time and is the source of confusions in the discussion of grammar as
part of the education of children. There have been taking place violent disputes on
the subject of teaching grammar at school.

2.1. Games for teaching grammar

The ability to talk about the grammar of a language, to recite its rules, is also
very different from ability to speak and understand a language or to read and write
it. Those who can use a language are often unable to recite its rules, and those who
can recite its rules can be unable to use it [10, 115].
Grammar organizes the vocabulary and as a result we have sense units. There
is a system of stereotypes, which organizes words into sentences. But what skill
does grammar develop? First of all it gives the ability to make up sentences
correctly, to reproduce the text adequately.
The knowledge of the specific grammar structure helps pupils point out the
differences between the mother tongue and the target language. The knowledge of
grammar develops abilities to abstract systematize plural facts. To judge by the way
some people speak, there is no place for grammar in the language course nowadays;
yet it is, in reality, as important as it ever was exercise of correct grammar, if he is to
attain any skill of effective use of the language, but he need not know consciously
formulated rules to account to him for that he does unconsciously correctly.

In order to understand a language and to express oneself correctly one must

16
assimilate the grammar mechanism of the language studied. Indeed, one may know
all the words in a sentence and yet fail to understand it, if one does not see the
relation between the words in the given sentence. And vice versa, a sentence may
contain one, two, and more unknown words but if one has a good knowledge of the
structure of the language one can easily guess the meaning of these words or at least
find them in a dictionary.
No speaking is possible without the knowledge of grammar, without the
forming of a grammar mechanism.
If learner has acquired such a mechanism, he can produce correct sentences
in a foreign language. The researcher Paul Roberts writes [17, 201]: “Grammar is
something that produces the sentences of a language. By something we mean a
speaker of English. If you speak English natively, you have built into you rules of
English grammar. In a sense, you are an English grammar. You possess, as an
essential part of your being, a very complicated apparatus which enables you to
produce infinitely many sentences, all English ones, including many that you have
never specifically learned. Furthermore by applying you rule you can easily tell
whether a sentence that you hear a grammatical English sentence or not.”
A command of English as is envisaged by the school syllabus cannot be
ensured without the study of grammar. Pupils need grammar to be able to speak,
read and write in the target language. To develop one’s speech means to acquire
essential patterns of speech and grammar patterns in particular. Children must use
these items automatically during speech-practice. The automatic use of grammar
items in our speech (oral and written) supposes mastering some particular skills of
using grammar items to express one’s own thoughts, in other words to make up your
sentences. We must get so-called reproductive or active grammar skills. A skill is
treated as an automatic part of awareness. Automatization of the action is the main
feature of a skill. The nature of Automatization is characterized by that
psychological structure of the action which adopts to the conditions of performing

17
the action owing frequent experience. The action becomes more frequent, correct
and accurate and the number of the operations is shortened while forming the skill
the character of awareness of the action is changing, i.e. fullness of understanding is
paid to the conditions and quality of performing to the control over it and regulation.

To form some skills is necessary to know that the process of the forming
skills has some steps:

- only some definite elements of the action are automatic;

- the automatization occurs under more difficult conditions, when the
child can’t concentrate his attention on one element of the action;
- the whole structure of the action is improved and the automatization of
its separate components is completed.
What features do the productive grammar skills have? During our speech the
reproductive grammar skills are formed together with lexis and intonation, they
must express the speaker’s intentions. The actions in the structural setting of the
lexis must be learnt. The characteristic feature of the reproductive grammar skills is
their flexibility. It doesn’t depend on the level of automatization, i.e. on perfection
of skill here mean the original action: both the structure of sentence, and forms of
the words are reproduced by the speaker using different lexical material. If the child
reproduced sentances and different words, which have been learned and by him as “a
ready- made thing” he can say that «here is no grammar skill. Learning the ready-
made forms, words combinations and sentences occurs in the same way as learning
vocabulary.
The grammar skill is based on the general conclusion. The grammar action
can and most occur only in die definite lexical limits, on the definite lexical
material- If the pupil can make up his sentence frequently, accurately and correctly
from the grammatical point of view, he has got the grammar skills.
Teaching grammar at school using, the theoretical knowledge brought some
critical and led to confusion. All the grammatical rules were considered to be evil and

18
there were some steps to avoid using them at school [16, 97].
But when we learn grammatical items in models we use substitution and
such a type of training gets rid of grammar or “neutralizes” it. By the way, teaching
the skills to make up sentences by analogy is a step on the way of forming grammar
skills.

It isn’t the lexical approach to grammar and it isn’t neutralization of

grammar, but using basic sentences in order to use exercises by analogy and to
reduce number of grammar rules when forming the reproductive grammar skills.

To form the reproductive grammar skills we must follow such steps:

- Selection the model of sentence.

- Selection the form of the word and formation of word forms.
- Selection the auxiliary words-preposition, articles, and etc. and their
combination with principle words.
The main difficulty of the reproductive (active) grammar skills is to correspond to the
purposes of the statement, communicative approach (a question —» an answer and so
on), words, meanings, expressed by the grammatical patterns. In that case we use basic
sentences, in order to answer the defame situation The main factor of the forming of
the reproductive grammar skill is the pupils need to learn the texts of the language.
They need to learn the meanings of the words and how they are used. We must be
sure that our pupils are aware of the vocabulary they need at their level and they can
use the words in order to form their own sentence. Bach sentence contains a
grammar structure. The mastering the grammar skill lets pupils save time and
strength, energy, which can give opportunity to create. Learning a number of
sentences containing the same grammatical structure and a lot of words containing
the same grammatical form is not rational. But the generalization of the grammar
item can relieve the work of the mental activity and let the teacher speed up the
work and the children real creative activities.

19
 The process of creation is connected with the mastering of some speech
stereotypes the grammatical substrate is hidden in basic sentences. Grammar is
presented as itself. Such a presentation of grammar has its advantage: the grammar
patterns of the basic sentences are connected with each other. But this approach
gives pupils the opportunity to realize the grammar item better. The teaching must
be based on grammar explanations and grammar rules. Grammar rules are to be
understood as a special way of expressing communicative activity. The reproductive
grammar skills suppose to master the grammar actions which are necessary for
expressing thoughts in oral and written forms.
The automatic perception of the text supposes the reader to identify the
grammar form according to the formal features of words, word combinations,
sentences which must be combined with the definite meaning. One must learn the
rules in order to identify different grammatical forms. Pupils should get to know
their features, the ways of expressing them in the language. We teach children to
read and by means of grammar. It reveals the relation between words in the
sentence. Grammar is of great important when one teaches reading and auding. The
forming of the perceptive grammar and reproductive skills is quite different. The
steps of the work is mastering the reproductive skills differ from the steps in
mastering the perceptive skills. To master the reproductive grammar skills one
should study the basic sentences or models. To master the perceptive grammar skills
one should identify and analyze the grammar item. Thought training it is great
important to realize the grammar item.
Before speaking about the selection of grammar material is necessary to
consider the concept “grammar” i. e., what it meant by “grammar”.
By grammar one can mean adequate comprehension and correct usage of words
in the act of communication, that is, intuitive knowledge of the grammar of the
language. It is a set of reflexes enabling a person to communicate with his associated.
Such knowledge is acquired by a child in the mother tongue before he goes to school.
This grammar functions without the individual’s awareness of technical

20
nomenclature: in other words, he has no idea of the system of the language and to use
all the word-endings for singular and plural, for tense, and all the other grammar rules
without special grammar lessons only due to the abundance of auding and speaking.
His young mind grasps the facts and “makes simple grammar rules" for arranging the
words to express carious thoughts and feelings. I his is true because sometimes little
children make mistakes by using a common rule for words to which that rule cannot
be applied. For example, a little English child might be heard to say Two mans
comed instead of Two men come because the child is using the plural “s” rule for
“man” to which the rule does not apply and the past tense “ed” rule for “come”
which does not obey the ordinary rule for the past tense formation. A little Ukrainian
child can say ножів instead of ножей using the case- ending “iв" for ножі to which
it does not apply. Such mistakes are corrected as the child grows older and learns
more of his language.
By “grammar" we also mean the system of the language, the discovery and
description of the nature of language itself. It is not a natural grammar, but a
constructed one. There are several constructed grammars: traditional, structural,
and transformational grammars* Traditional grammar studies the forms of words
(morphology) and how they are put together in sentences (syntax); structural
grammar studies structures of various levels of the language (morpheme level) and
syntactic level; transformation al grammar studies basic structures and
transformation rules. What we need is simplest and shortest grammar that meets the
requirements of the school syllabus in foreign languages. This grammar must be
simple enough to be grasped and held by any pupil. We cannot say that this problem
has been solved.

2.2. Types of games aimed at teaching grammar

The following types of games turned out to be most productive in the
learning process.

21
 2.2.1. Games for teaching prepositions

We may define the following games, which could be interesting for pupils.
They are:
1. MAGAZINE SEARCH

Materials: Magazines to share in groups

Dynamic: Small groups

Time: 15 minutes
Procedure: 1. On the board, write a list of prepositions of place that the students
have studied. Divide the students into groups of three or four and give each group
several magazines. You may want to ask students to bring in their own. If you are
supplying them, be sure that they have full-page ads or other large pictures.
2. Give the groups a time limit and have them search through their magazines to
find a picture that contains situations illustrating prepositions of place.
3. When the time is up, each group goes to the front of the class, holds up its
picture, and explains (in sentences) the contents of the picture, using prepositions of
place.

Example: The dog is under the table.

The table is next to the man.

The table is in front of the window.

4. The group that found a picture allowing them to correctly use the most prepositions
of place from the list on the board wins.
Such type of game allows pupils to learn prepositions naturally, making their
own sentences. It also provokes the way of their thinking and activates their creativity
in conducting the sentences with new prepositions. Moreover in such way new
material learned before could be consolidated.
The following game will present the possibility of the pupils to work with

22
partner, to make searching reaction faster, teaches pupil to accept other variant of
his/her partner. But generally this game is useful for training memory and also
creativity in conducting sentences.

2. SCAVENGER HUNT

Materials: Worksheet 1.1, objects filled in various objects provided by instructor

Dynamic: Pairs

Time: 20 minutes

Procedure: 1. Before students come into the classroom, distribute various objects
around the room, placing them in visible positions that students can describe using
their prepositions of place. List the objects on the worksheet.

2. Divide the class into pairs and give each pair a copy of the worksheet.

3. The students look around the room for each object listed on the worksheet and write
a complete sentence describing its location. The first group to finish brings their
worksheet to you to be checked. If the answers are correct, that group wins.

3. PREPOSITIONAL CHAIN DRILL

Materials: None

Dynamic: Whole class Time: 10 minutes

Procedure: Review prepositions of place.
2. Take a small object, such as a pen, and do something with it, then describe your
action. (Put the pen on the desk and say, "I put the pen on the desk.”)

3. Give the pen to a student and ask him/her, "What did I do with the pen?”

4. The student answers and then does something different with the object that
involves a different preposition of place.

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5. The student then passes the object to the next student and asks, "What did we do
with the pen?" That student repeats what the teacher did and what the first student did
with the object. The second student then does something different with the object
before passing it to the third student.

Example:

Teacher: I put the pen on the desk. What did I do with the pen?

Ann; You put the pen on the desk, (to the next student, Damian) I put the pen
above my head. What did we do with the pen?

Tania: The teacher put the pen on the desk. Alfredo put the pen above his head. I
put the pen under my book, (to the next student) What did we do with the pen? etc.

This activity continues until no one can do something different with the pen that
can be described using a preposition of place.

The teacher may want to write the prepositions that have been used on the board
to help the students remember.

Variation: Give each student a card to use with a preposition of place on it.

Such type of game described above allows pupils to create different

situation, feel themselves easily and learn mentioned prepositions faster because of
funny and non-typical sentence it is used.

The next type of game is rather difficult one, because pupils should know
material very well to be able to correct mistakes presented by the teacher. That game
trains their memory and attention.

4. ERROR ANALYSIS

Materials: Worksheet 1.2 or other similar picture Dynamic: Pairs

Time: 1. Divide the class into pairs. Give each pair a copy of the worksheet or

24
other similar picture.

If we are using our own picture, we also give the pairs several sentences you
have written about the picture, as on the worksheet. Some sentences should be
accurate, and others incorrect.

2. The pairs read the sentences about the picture and decide if they are correct
or in correct in their preposition usage. If they are incorrect, they must correct them.

3. When a pair is finished, check their work. If this is a competition, the first
pair to finish the worksheet correctly wins. If using this activity as a review activity, go
over the answers together when everyone has finished.

SUGGESTION: As a follow-up activity, we should have each pair write 10

True/False sentences with which to challenge another pair.

5. PREPOSITION BEE

Materials: Worksheet for instructor's use

Dynamic: Teams

Time: 10 minutes

Procedure: 1. Divide the class into two teams. Have them line up al opposite
wails, or arrange their desks in two lines.

2. The first student from Team A steps to the front of the class. R sentence,
omitting the preposition. The student must fill in the blank. S answers will probably be
possible; give the team a point for any any answer.

3. Alternate students from the two teams until everyone have had a you are out
of time. The team with the most points wins.

SUGGESTION: Instead of reading the sentences, we may use an overhead and

reveal one sentence at a time. This avoids repetition and helps the students to focus on

25
the sentence.

You may want to make your own sentences based on the prepositions your

class has covered. This activity could also be done at a higher level with sentences

using phrasal verbs.

These games help us to teach pupils prepositions of time and place, but

following examples for pupils are to help studying phrasal verbs.

2.2.2.Teaching phrasal verbs

PHRASAL VERBS

1. CONCENTRATION

Materials; Board, instructor's grid

Dynamic: Groups Time: 25 minutes

Procedure; 1. Draw a grid on the board with just the numbers. On a paper your

grid will have the answers written in.

In the example below, the phrasal verbs have been taken from the list in

Fundamentals of English Grammar. Several of the verbs in the chart below can take

more than one particle, but the list is usually limited to one or two combinations. It is

important to choose combinations you have studied and to limit entries so that three or

even four matches are not possible. If we have studied more than one combination

(such as ask out, ask over, and ask around,) and we want to review them using this

activity, you will need to use some particles more than once. That way, the students

will be able to make matches such as ask out, drop out, and so on. This chart is

intended only as a model to help you explain the game; your own chart will be geared

26
to the lessons in your class.

On the board:

1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20
Instructor’s grid:

1ask 2 back 3 drop 4 up 5 through

6 around 7 out 8 off 9 down 10 fill
11 in 12 get 13 write 14 start 15 throw
16 over 17 away 18 put 19 fool 20 call

2. Divide the class into groups of about five. Tell them that this is a
memory game and no writing is allowed. Explain that they are looking for matches
and with get a point for each match. They can confer as a team, but you will accept
an answer only from the student whose turn it is. They can call out two numbers
together the first time since no one knows where any of the words are. In
subsequent turns, they should wait for you to write the first answer before they call
out their second number
3. As the first student calls out numbers, write the words that correspond to
these numbers in the blanks. Ask the class if it is a match. If not, erase the words. If
so, leave them there and cross them out (see below).

On the board:

27
 1 2 3 4 up 5
6 around 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 fool 20 call

VARIATION: Instead of matching the verb with an appropriate preposition, you

can set up the grid to review meaning. Your instructor's grid might then look like this
model. Follow the same rules for the game above.

Instructor's grid:

1call back 2 give back 3 stop 4 stop a 5 get through

sleeping machine/light with

6 return 7 invent 8 return a 9 start a 10 throw out

call machine/light

11 make up 12 shut off 13 be 14 put off 15 discard

careful

16 wake up 17 postpone 18 turn on 19 watch out 20 Finish

for

2. T IC TAG TOE
Materials: Board, Worksheet
Dynamic: Teams
Time: 10 minutes
Procedure: 1. Draw a tic tac toe grid on the board with the first word of
the phrasal verbs written in. Divide the class into two groups.
2. A student from Team X comes to the board and writes in the

28
corresponding particle for the verb he/she selects. If correct, he/she draws his/her
mark in the square (an X). (You may choose to accept only combinations you have
studied in class or that are listed in the students' books, or you may decide to
accept any correct combination. Whichever you decide to accept, make your
decision clear to the students before playing the game.)

3. A student from Team O then comes to the board and does the same. If
an answer is incorrect, the student cannot draw his/her mark and erases the answer.
The next player on the other team may choose that same square or another
square.

4. The first team with three marks in a row wins.

You will probably want to explain game strategy such as blocking, but
often the student's choice is based on which verb he/she knows.

5. As a follow-up, divide the class into groups of three and use the
worksheet. One student is X, one is 0, and the other is in charge and can have his/her
book open to the verb page to judge whether an answer is correct. After the first
game, the students should rotate roles so that the judge is now one of the players.
Continue until all students have had a chance to be the judge. As we should see, some
of the verbs on the handout take several different prepositions. As long as the students
make an acceptable phrasal verb, the answer is correct.

If this worksheet is not appropriate to our class, modify it.

VARIATION: On the grid on the board (or on a modified worksheet), fill in the
squares with both parts of phrasal verbs. When a student selects a certain square,
he/she must use the phrasal verb in a complete sentence which demonstrates
understanding of the meaning. If the sentence is correct, the student puts his/her
team's mark in that square.

29
 Example:

ask out do over fill up

get off give up try on

turn off make up hang up

A student from Team X chooses "give up." The student then makes a sentence
orally: I couldn't understand the assignment, so I gave up. The sentence must reflect the
student's understanding of the meaning of the phrasal verb. A sentence such as I gave up
or Don't give up is not acceptable. If a sentence is accepted as being correct, the student
writes an X over the square. A student from Team O then chooses a square and makes a
meaningful sentence using that phrasal verb. Alternate turns until one team has three in a
row or the game is a draw.

CONCLUSIONS
The paper makes up part of the research devoted to the special stratum of
methodology of the usage of games at English lessons. Focus is made on the role
and advantages of games and their influence on the pupil’s activity.

30
 The use of games has become a popular technique in the process of learning
English in the classrooms and is recommended by methodologists. A range of the
advantages of the use of games are presented.
Taking into consideration the analysis of the types of games, their advantages
and role in lessons conducting, we may present the following results:
- the main objectives of the games were to acquaint students with new words
or phrases through learning grammar;
-games also help develop the students’ communicative competence;
-those groups of students who practiced grammar activity with games felt
more motivated and interested in what they were doing;
-more time devoted to activities leads to better results;
-relaxed atmosphere accompanying the activities facilitates student’s learning;
-the use of games during the lessons might have motivated students to work
more on the vocabulary items on their own, so the game might have only been a
good stimulus for extra work.
Games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning
vocabulary in various ways. First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students,
thus help them learn and retain new words more easily. Second, games usually
involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. These create the
motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in the
learning activities. Third, vocabulary games bring real world context into the
classroom, and enhance students’ use of English in a flexible, communicative way.
Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be
denied. However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential
that suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of
students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the
classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account.

In conclusion, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and

interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms. The results of this research

31
 suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the
useful practice and review of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of
improving learners’ communicative competence.

An overwhelming majority of pupils find games relaxing and motivating.

Games are fun and children like to play them. Through games children experiment,
discover, and interact with their environment. Moreover, games add variation to a
lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target
language. For many children between four and twelve years old, especially the
youngest, language learning will not be the key motivational factor. Games can
provide this stimulus. The game context makes the foreign language immediately
useful to the children. It brings the target language to life. The game makes the
reasons for speaking plausible even to reluctant children. Games should be an
integral part of a lesson, providing the possibility of intensive practice while at the
same time immensely enjoyable for both students and teachers. The presented
research paper produced some evidences which confirms that games are useful and
more successful than other methods of English language presentation and teaching.
Moreover it could be recommended as a successful way of acquiring language
competence. The represented material can be used at the lessons of grammar,
practical courses of English language, lexicology, and communication practice in
both universities and schools. It also can help to create the teaching, aids, textbooks,
hand outs.

32
 SUMMARY
Роботу присвячено дослідженню ігрових вправ та їхнього впливу на
діяльність учнів під час проведення заняття англійської мови.
В роботі розглянуто поняття ігрової вправи, а також типи вправ з огляду на
класифікації науковців та дослідників даної теми. В теоретичній частині даної
роботи описано типи ігрових вправ, а також перелік переваг використання
ігрових вправ для навчання граматики. Дослідження побудовано на аналізі
результатів опрацювання та апробації ігрових вправ на уроках англійської мови.
Ефективність вправ полягає у можливості кращого запам’ятовування та
закріплення нового матеріалу. Застосування ігор сприяє подоланню
психологічних бар’єрів у мовній комунікації.
У роботі представлено методику застосування ігор для підвищення
мовленнєвої та психологічної активності у студентів.
Укладання ігрових вправ є досить складним завданням для викладача, яке
вимагає уваги, професіоналізму, креативності та знань щодо особливостей
розумової діяльності дитини.
Результати дослідження можуть стати вагомим внеском до методики
викладання граматики на уроках англійської мови, а також допоміжним
матеріалом для викладачів та вчителів.
Ключові слова: modal exercises, creative thinking, communicative activity,
motivating factor.

33
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