Teaching of Grammar

Games & Drama

Using Games to teach Grammar

Useful website
http://www.superteacherworksheets.c om/nouns.html

Tips for Using Grammar Games in Class Successfully 1) Organization 2) Expectations 3) Variation 4) Respect 5) Routine 6) Nurture

1) Organization - organize your class change activities every five to ten minutes to sustain interest teacher may lose control of the class if they are not occupied alternate between active activities and quiet activities

2) Expectations
pay attention for activities that require fine motor skills begin with games and activities that require them to write small amounts

3) Variation
- appealing activities for different learning styles - games that use talking, listening, looking and moving - more advanced learners can be introduced with writing and reading

4) Respect
- operate your class with the utmost respect both to and from students - teach students from the very start that you expect respect at all times - give students encouragement and teach them to follow the rules - create an environment of respect - students will feel safe to participate so they can get the most educational value

5) Routine
establishing a routine will help the class go smoothly if they know what to expect next, they will be more able to participate

Set up a schedule for the type of activities

allow the students to clean up- recap the class, praise the students and say good-bye use clapping or signing a specific song so that they know it's time to return to the circle, table or desks.

6) Nurture
- nurture students everyday

- be encouraging, patient and kind

Activity: Pictionary
Students are divided into groups. Each group will elect a representative for each round Those elected will come to the front and each of them will draw out words respectively. They will need to draw diagrams that best describe the words The other group members must guess the word Hands must be raised to answer questions Time allocated is 2 minutes

3. TYPES OF DRAMA ACTIVITIES a) MIME

b) ROLE PLAY

Rationale for using drama activities

provide a framework for communicating allow for unpredictability in language use provide a bridge between classroom and the real world allow for creativity and involve the whole person

 provide physical involvement and release develop confidence and can be motivating help cater for mixed-ability classes and large numbers

a) Mime
Non-verbal representation of an idea or story through gesture, body movement and facial expression
(Savignon, 1983)

Rationale for Using Mime

Gives students opportunity to do all the talking Takes the focus off the book Accuracy and fluency are both practiced Students help one another

 Prepare slips of paper with instructions like these: Youre knitting on a fast train. Youre a drunk tightrope walker. These can be relatively easy or very complicated linguistically depending on your students.

 Give a slip of paper to one student with the instructions that she is going to mime the activity and the others must guess what she is doing. No words, in any language, can be spoken.

The first person to guess in English what shes doing is the winner and gets the next slip of paper. (If the same students always guess, let others have a chance to mime).

b) Role play
-Involves an element of lets pretend where the participants interact either as i) themselves in imaginary situations ii) other people in imaginary situations (Byrne,1986) - Involves the participants representing and experiencing some character type known in everyday life (Ladousse,1987)

Rationale for using role play Improves students speaking skills and helps them to interact Helps shy students by providing them with a mask Develops fluency in the language Promotes interaction and increases motivation Fun and enjoyable

Activities:role-playing
Emphasis on simple present tense and simple past tense Pupils are divided into four groups Each group will be given a situation The group will act out the situation using the correct tense The group will highlight the tense and the base words respectively Pupils will have 5 minute to plan and 2 minutes to act