1. Viñati, Camila
PRACTICE II, DIDACTICS OF
ELT
TEACHER: ESTELA N. BRAUN
YEAR: 2019
STUDENT: VIÑATI CAMILA
Introduction
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The aim of this paper is to reflect upon the importance of how to teach
through games in an English classroom. To support this objective I took into
consideration different authors like Carol Read (2007), Freeman (2000), Harmer ()
and Lewis & Bedson (1999).In order to contextualize this topic, I will develop a
successful pedagogical experience with children of fourth grade at school Nº 6
Ricardo Gutierrez based on amazing games mainly one developed in a CLIL class.
For me, it was an amazing challenge because there were 25 students and it was the
first time that I had a course in charge of me. I think what worried me most was the
planning of the classes to be able to motivate them, but it turned out to be a very
important task that I could achieve with satisfaction.
Motivation and the C-wheel
Young children learn differently from older children and adolescents. They
display an enthusiasm for learning and a curiosity about the world around them.
Children have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher. Also,
they have a limited attention span; unless activities are extremely engaging, they can
get easily bored, losing interest after some minutes.
Good teaching for a primary school needs
to provide a rich variety of learning
experiences which encourage students to
get information from a variety of sources.
It is very important to take into account
what a classroom for young learners
should look like. As Carol Reed mentions
in her book, the context is vital for whole
learning, for example, in my classroom the
walls were covered by colourful and bright posters that caught learner's attention.
“ A good teacher is someone who asks the people who do not always put their hands
up and a good teacher is someone who knows our names” (Harmer 2007:26). in
other words, for children it is very important that teacher knows their names because
they feel that he/she cares for them. When students feel that the teacher has little
interest in them, they will have no incentive to remain motivated.
Part of a teacher's job is to set an appropriate level of challenge for the students.
This means setting tests that are neither too difficult nor too easy, and involving
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children in learning tasks they can succeed in. It also means being able to guide
students towards success by showing them how to get things right in order way.
For children, it is very important that educators feel confident with their knowledge.
This confidence in a teacher may start in the moment that he/she walks into the
classroom for the first time because of the learner`s perception of her/his attitude to
the job. Learners need to feel,consciously or unconsciously, that the teacher is
prepared to teach English in general. If they lose that confidence, it becomes difficult
for them to sustain the motivation they might have started with.
As Carol Reed (2007) writes in her book, it is essential to adopt an approach
which takes into account children`s special characteristics and needs. As teachers,
we need to build a connection with other subjects such as science, music, art, etc, to
create links between what the child already knows and what is to be learnt and also
we have to create a close connection with their real life.
Students are curious so as teachers we need to maintain alive their curiosity through
activities. Educators need to encourage them to ask questions rather than making
them feel a bore when they do.
Games for children
Playing games is vital and should be a natural part of growing up and
learning. In the EFL classroom, the use of games is
very important since games are fun and children like
to play them. Also, through games learners
experiment, discover, and interact with their
environment. As mentioned before, games add
variation to a lesson and increase motivation by
providing an incentive to use the target language.
Planning lessons is easier when you include games
since in few minutes students can feel comfortable
with them. A game must be more than just fun since all language games should be
fun, but always keep the language component and didactic aim. Teachers can take
into account that there are “rousing” and “settling” games. On one hand, rousers
wake a class up because they include movement games and games where there is
an element of competition. An active game may get excess energy out of one group
and actually settle them.
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On the other hand, settlers calm a class down so students can do craft activities,
board games and games which focus on listening and doing . For teachers, It is
advisable to combine the two types of games so that the class does not go out of
control and does not become boring.
Total Physical Response
As teachers, we have to implement in the classroom several methods and
techniques in order to have other ways to learn. Freeman mentions in his book that
“language learning should start first with understanding and later proceed to
production”(2000:147). One of the most important methods that he mentions is TPR
(Total physical response) that consists in teaching language or vocabulary concepts
by using physical movement to react to verbal input.
The purpose of TPR is to create a brain link between speech and action to impulse
language and vocabulary learning. TPR may be used to teach many types of
vocabulary but works best when teaching vocabulary connected with action. It is an
effective strategy to use with English Language Learners as well as with native
speakers when learning new words. We have to select the vocabulary that we are
going to teach and then illustrate the meaning of the words. This would be
accompanied by the use gestures, facial expressions,or body movement to illustrate
the meaning of the word.
Games classes experiences
In my practicum, I needed to work with them individually and in groups in
order to develop an affective relationships in the classroom. I realized that they learnt
more through games and songs since they felt
more engaged in the activities.
In my classes, students had different styles
and preferences for learning. I had some
situations in which they felt motivated and
unmotivated. So, in those cases I tried to help
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them and show another form of understanding the exercise in order not to feel
frustrated.
Also, I needed to match the variety of activities in order to keep students engaged
with the learning process. I worked with the coursebook called “ Follow your trail 1”
and extra activities as games and photocopies. Book is a good tool to guide the
class, but I considered that students got bored when teacher worked only with
activities of the coursebook. So, I produced extra exercises related to the topic. In
the first lesson for example, I presented a poster with personal information and they
watched a video about adjectives. In that class they had a lot of fun and they learnt
new vocabulary in another way. For other classes, I prepared those types of
activities and a variety of games for different topics. In my opinion,I think that it is
important to work with a book but it is more interesting when the teacher mixed the
activities of the book and extra ones.
Introducing CLIL in the primary
school classroom plus games
In the CLIL lesson, I prepared an
amazing game that consisted in
recognizing and making a relation
between parts of the body and
healthy/unhealthy habits.The game
consisted of organising children in
five groups of five members and
each group had a rug; also I gave
them a number, from 1 to 5 to each member of the group. After that, the trainee in
charge gave them some orders to do something, for example: “numbers 2 put one
leg on a healthy food” and all children with the number 2 in their chest had to put
their leg in the circle with the picture that represented the healthy food.
When the class ended, we were surprised to see how successful it was! It was really
a memorable and rewarding experience that demonstrated us that it is not only
possible to teach with a coursebook, but also that it is an amazing way to bring
students another way of learning. Moreover, their comments and reflections also
made us analyze our own point of view of teaching.
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To conclude, I would like to say that every particular lesson was important
because I might enjoy it or maybe I can learn of it if things didn't go as I was
supposed to. However, my best class was the one in which I included the revision of
vocabulary, functions and a CLIL project based on healthy/unhealthy habits. In that
class, I took children in the yeard to play with a review game called twister. It was a
TPR activity and I could see how children learn easily through games.
I could perceive my progress during my practicum since I could manage the time and
I could planned effective lessons for them to catch their attention. Having them
motivated was one of my challenge when I started my practicum.
Bibliography
Carol Read 2007. 500 Activities for the Primary
Classroom. Oxford, macmillan.
➢ Gordon Lewis and Gunther Bedson 1999.
Games for Children. Oxford university
express.
➢ Freeman Diane Larsen 2000. Techniques
and principles in language teaching. Oxford
university press.
➢ Jeremy Harmer 2007. The practice of English language teaching. Pearson
education limited. Longman
➢ http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/total-physical-response-tpr
CLIL LESSON PLAN
7. Viñati, Camila
Date: 23th October
School: School N°6 Ricardo Gutierrez
Teacher in charge: Ana Gomez Garcia
Trainees: Viñati Camila, Escudero Belén
Courses: 4th D and 4th C.
Timetable Fit: Tuesday 4th D (13:15-14:00) 4th C (14:05-15:50)
Course Book: “Follow your trail 1”
Topic: My favourite things (unit 3)
CLIL PROJECT: How can we have a healthy body?
Aims
· Revision of vocabulary learned in the previous class(parts of the
body)
· Teach new vocabulary related with healthy and unhealthy habits
· Recognize and make a relation between parts of the body and
healthy/unhealthy habits
Content
· A healthy body
ROUTINES:
“Hello song” and the date on the green board.
WARM UP:
We will start the lesson by singing the “Hello” song and then write the
date on the green board. After that we will start with the activities.
ACTIVITY 1: Extra activity about CLIL
Type of interaction: Students-trainees.
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Macro-skills: Listening and speaking.
Timing: 20 minutes.
Materials: Flashcards and poster.
DEVELOPMENT
· As a class project, the trainee will discuss with her students what they need to
do to look after their body to stay fit and healthy. With the help of her pedagogical
partner they will brainstorm ideas of good and bad things on the board with the
use of flashcards, for example drink water, do exercise, eat junk food or play
games all night. They will get some of the flashcards and will paste them on the
board, which will be divided into healthy and unhealthy habits, in order to
recognise which are good and bad things for our body. After that, we will hand
students in a copy of the complete poster to have in their notebooks.
ACTIVITY 2: Extra activity about CLIL
Type of interaction: Students-trainees.
Macro-skills: Writing.
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Timing: 15 minutes.
Materials: A piece of paper.
DEVELOPMENT
· The trainee will give students and extra activity where they have to recognize
healthy and unhealthy habits and complete with the first letter. Then, they have to
number the images with the corresponding sentences.
Say which habit is healthy (h) and which unhealthy (u), and then they have to put the
corresponding number in each pictures.
1) BRUSH MY TEETH------
2) DRINK COKE-------
3) HAVE BREAKFAST-------
4) SPEND A LOT OF TIME IN FRONT OF THE SCREEN-------
5) TAKE A BATH-------
6) DO EXERCISES-------
7) SLEEP ALL DAY-----
8) EAT CANDIES------
9) DIRTY HANDS------
ACTIVITY 3:
Extra activity
about CLIL
Type of interaction: Students-trainees.
Macro-skills: Listening.
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Timing: 30 minutes.
Materials: Rug.
DEVELOPMENT
· The trainee will introduce an extra activity, a game which includes 5 colourful
rugs with different big circles on it and each circle will have a colour with pictures
that represent a good or a bad habit, healthy or unhealthy food or drinks. The
game consists of organising children in five groups of five members and each
group will have a rug; also the teacher will give them a number, from 1 to 5 to
each member of the group. After that, the trainee in charge will give them some
orders to do something, for example: “numbers 2 put one leg on a healthy food”
and all children with the number 2 in their chest will have to put their leg in the
circle with the picture that represent the healthy food.
The orders that trainee will provide them will consist on revise all the new
vocabulary, “Parts of the body” learned in the previous class, to put into practice with
the CLIL project related to “healthy and unhealthy habits”. The idea is that children
could recognize with their bodies their daily life routines in order to separate them
into good or bad habits.
“Twister Game”
1. Number three put your hands on a healthy food.
2. Number five put your right foot on an unhealthy habit.
3. Number one put your fingers on a healthy habit.
4. Number two put the head on an unhealthy food.
5. Number four put one knee on a healthy drink.
· The first group who stay for one minute in their position will be a
winner of the game.
· As this class will be the last one, the teacher in charge will give them a gift.
