Types of language games
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Most people would say that English is not a “phonetic” language becauseit is not pronounced the way it is spelled. However, studies have shown thatover 80% of English words do follow a regular spelling pattern. Unfortunately,approximately 500 of the most common English words e.g. said, are spelledirregularly. English spelling is not as irregular as it is often portrayed[1;62].
Many letters, particularly vowels, make more than one sound. Because ofthese discrepancies between the spelling and pronunciation of some Englishwords, it is better, if possible, to introduce words to students orally beforethey see the written form. The teaching of common spelling patterns will helpstudents pronounce unfamiliar words. The teaching of spelling and pronunciationshould be closely linked to help students in mastering English pronunciation.
Traditionally, teachers approached the teaching of pronunciation bygradually introducing the 44 phonemes (sounds) that make up the Englishlanguage. This is known as the bottom-up approach. Current methodologyemphasizes using both the bottom-up and top-down approaches with the latteremphasizing examination of the entire piece of language including stress,intonation and sounds. Top-down and bottom up methods should be used incombination.
Consider the pronunciation target. How good do you want the students’pronunciation to be? They should be able to comprehend what people are sayingto them in English. When they speak, the listeners should be able to understandthem. Don’t aim for perfection; it is an unrealistic expectation.
There are advantages and disadvantages in teaching the students phoneticsymbols. Some teachers say that learning these symbols puts an additionalburden on the students. However, many people think that these symbols areeasily memorized (and the students only need to recognize the symbols ratherthan producing them). Once that has been accomplished, it makes the learning ofpronunciation much easier [2;89]. Students can look up new words in adictionary and not only find out their meaning, but also discover how topronounce them. Teachers can use the symbols to show the link between lettersand sounds.
The importance of stress, rhythm and intonation patterns can be verydifficult for non-native speakers to understand. They convey the mood, emotionand meaning and subtle changes in patterns can result in a different meaning.There are plenty of exercises that practice stress and intonation patterns, butdon’t spend too much time getting the students to reproduce them. Instead getthem to listen to role models e.g. you, tapes and/or guest speakers. It is moreimportant that the students hear the differences in stress, intonation andrhythm patterns rather than produce them.
Enjoymentof games is not restricted age. Some individuals, regardless of to age, may be less fond of games than others. But so much depends on theappropriateness of the games and the roleof the player.
Itis generally accepted that young learners and adults are very willing to playgames. This partially depends on the learners' socio-culturalbackground [3;47].
Young teenagers tend tobe more self-conscious and one must take into account their reticence whenselecting games for them. Games which can be played in pairs or groups may beparticularly useful in this case. It is clear to all observers of classroompractice that the teacher's own belief in the usefulness and appropriateness ofa game affects the learner's response.
Teenage learnersmight be reluctant to play games. Many people are so anxious to learn English in order to pass examinations or toimprove their employment prospects thatthey look on games as unnecessary. If you have such committed learners you mustclearly respect their point of view and beable to justify the use of each game in terms of the density and meaningfulness of practice it provides.
It is important to notethat most advanced and dedicated students can enjoy and value games if the content and language used arerelevant to them.
Whenteaching on the phoneme level, we take noises and make them significant. Whenwe work on pronunciation at the level of conversational dialogue, a new set ofbarriers appears.
Anxiety is acommon enough symptom among ESL students. Fear of failure makes them stiff andnervous, and this is often readily apparent in their demeanor [4;5]. Repetitiveverbal games such as Jazz Chants, handclap rhymes and other structuredactivities can relieve much of this pressure and allow the students toconcentrate on the pronunciation and intonation Classroom rituals, likelearning a short greeting to use at the beginning of each class will help boostself-confidence.
Learnedhelplessness is a less easily spotted hindrance. This refers to ourpsychological tendency to 'give up' after a few failed attempts, especially ifthere is negative feedback from the teacher or classmates. The solution issimple - keep it positive! Praise each advancement, no matter how small, tapethe students’ progress so he/she can hear their improvement on a regular basis,and don't forget to award the slow learners as much recognition as the rapidones!
Culturalidentity is the last and perhaps the most important question to be dealt with.ESL and EFL students who are learning English merely for business often do notintend to assimilate, and will not wish to completely give up their accent asit sends a clear message about their roots and history.
The mainobjective here is not to attain some hypothetical standard of Englishpronunciation, but to merely ensure that all students can be readilyunderstood. Any 'foreign' accent, in the end, will probably not be any moredistracting than ones of native English speakers from varying parts of theworld.
Games can beuseful here as well, to break the ice and lessen tension about accents.Impersonations are a wonderful way to help students improve theirpronunciation, and have a fun as well. Many famous personalities can be used asmodels and the students will have a terrific time guessing who they are [5;54].Often the students will find that their pronunciation will markedly improve asthey mimic the speech patterns of their favorite actors and celebrities. Theycan even imitate the teacher for an added note of hilarity!
All of theseideas can be expanded on and modified to fit the needs of your particularclass. Teaching pronunciation to ESL students is very necessary, but it doesn'thave to be nerve-wracking. Just work on it a little during each class, and seeyour students' abilities grow!
Classifying games into categories can bedifficult, because categories often overlap. Hadfield (1999) explains two waysof classifying language games [6;64]. First, she divides language games intotwo types: linguistic games and communicative games. Linguistic games focus onaccuracy, such as supplying the correct antonym. On the other hand,communicative games focus on successful exchange of information and ideas, suchas two people identifying the differences between their two pictures which aresimilar to one another but not exactly alike. Correct language usage, thoughstill important, is secondary to achieving the communicative goal.
The second taxonomy that Hadfield uses toclassify language games has many more categories. As with the classification ofgames as linguistic games or communicative games, some games will containelements of more than one type.
<![if !supportLists]>1. <![endif]>Sorting, ordering, or arranging games. For example,students have a set of cards with different products on them, and they sort thecards into products found at a grocery store and products found at a departmentstore.
<![if !supportLists]>2. <![endif]>Information gap games. In such games, one or morepeople have information that other people need to complete a task. Forinstance, one person might have a drawing and their partner needs to create asimilar drawing by listening to the information given by the person with thedrawing. Information gap games can involve a one-way information gap, such asthe drawing game just described, or a two-way information gap, in which eachperson has unique information, such as in a Spot-the-Difference task, whereeach person has a slightly different picture, and the task is to identify thedifferences.
<![if !supportLists]>3. <![endif]>Guessing games. These are a variation on informationgap games. One of the best known examples of a guessing game is 20 Questions,in which one person thinks of a famous person, place, or thing. The otherparticipants can ask 20 Yes/No questions to find clues in order to guess who orwhat the person is thinking of.
<![if !supportLists]>4. <![endif]>Search games. These games are yet another variant ontwo-way information gap games, with everyone giving and seeking information.Find Someone Who is a well-known example. Students are given a grid. The taskis to fill in all the cells in the grid with the name of a classmate who fitsthat cell, e.g., someone who is a vegetarian. Students circulate, asking andanswering questions to complete their own grid and help classmates completetheirs.
<![if !supportLists]>5. <![endif]>Matching games. As the name implies, participants needto find a match for a word, picture, or card. For example, students place 30word cards, composed of 15 pairs, face down in random order. Each person turnsover two cards at a time, with the goal of turning over a matching pair, byusing their memory. This is also known as the Pelmanismprinciple, after ChristopherLouis Pelman, a British psychologist of the first half of the 20thcentury [7;8].
<![if !supportLists]>6. <![endif]>Labeling games. These are a form of matching, in thatparticipants match labels and pictures.
<![if !supportLists]>7. <![endif]>Exchanging games. In these games, students bartercards, other objects, or ideas. Similar are exchanging and collecting games.Many card games fall into this category, such as the children’s card game
<![if !supportLists]>8. <![endif]>Board games. Scrabble is one of the most popular boardgames that specifically highlights language.
<![if !supportLists]>9. <![endif]>Role play games. The terms role play, drama, and simulation are sometimes usedinterchangeably but can be differentiated (Kodotchigova,2002) [8;9]. Role play can involve students playing roles that they do not playin real life, such as dentist, while simulations can involve studentsperforming roles that they already play in real life or might be likely toplay, such as customer at a restaurant. Dramas are normally scriptedperformances, whereas in role plays and simulations, students come up withtheir own words, although preparation is often useful.
In teachingpronunciation there are at least two methodologicalproblems the teacher faces:
1)to determine the cases where consciousmanipulation of the speech organs is required, and the cases where simpleimitation can or must be used;
2) to decide on types ofexercises and the techniques of using them.
The teacher instructs his pupils to pronounce sounds, words, wordcombinations, phrases and sentences in the English language. Pupils must becomeconscious of the differences between English sounds and those of the nativelanguage. This is possible provided the foreign sound is contrasted with thenative phoneme which is substituted for it, e. g.: E. [t] — R. [T];E. [n] — R. [H]; E. [h] — R. [X].
Each sound isalso contrasted with the foreign phonemes which come close to it and with whichit is often confused. The contrast is brought out through such minimal pairs .as: it — eat; spot — sport; wide — white, cut — cart,full — foot, boat — bought. The experience of the soundcontrast is reinforced audio-visually:
<![if !supportLists]>1.<![endif]>By showing the objects which thecontrasting words represent For example, ship — sheep. Theteacher makes quick simple drawings of a ship and a sheep on the blackboard orshows pictures of these objects.
<![if !supportLists]>2.<![endif]>By showing actions. For example, Heis riding. — He is writing. Situational pictures may be helpful if theteacher cannot make a sketch on the blackboard.
<![if !supportLists]>3.<![endif]>By using sound symbols [ae] — [e]; .Phoneticsymbols do not teach the foreign sounds. They emphasize the difference insounds and in this respect they are a valuable help. To teach pupils how topronounce a new language correctly in a conscious way means to ensure that thepupil learns to put his organs of speech into definite positions required forthe production of the speech sounds of this language.
A person learning a foreign language unconsciously continues to use his muscles in the old ways and substitutes the phonemesand the intonation of his native tongue, e. g., he pronounces zis insteadof this, or veal instead of wheel; Do 'you 'speak'English? instead of 'Do you 'speak ,Eriglish? He does not even notice hismistake.
In learning pronunciation great use shouldalso be made of imitation [9;85]. Pupils learn to pronounce a new language byimitating the pronunciation of the teacher. Since young people's ability toimitate is rather good it should be used in teaching pronunciation as well.Indeed, there are sounds in the English language which are difficult toexplain, for example, vowels. The teacher is often at a loss how to show hispupils the pronunciation of this or that vowel, because he cannot show them theposition of the organs of speech while producing the sound.
The descriptionof a vowel requires the use of such words as "the back (the front) of thetongue", "the soft (hard) palate" and others which, in theirturn, present a lot of trouble to pupils to understand. It is easier for themto pronounce a sound, a word, or a sentence in imitation of the teacher than toassimilate "what is what" in the mouth and apply the"knowledge" to producing sounds or sound sequences.
Therefore pupilsmerely imitate the teacher. It should be said that the correct pronunciation ofsome vowels often depends on the correct pronunciation of consonants. Forexample, if a pupil pronounces did as Russian дид it mеans he mispronounces [d], and not [I] because one cannot pronounce дид with the correctposition of the tongue for producing the English [d].
As to intonationit should be taught mainly through imitation, though some explanations andgestures in particular are helpful [10;24]. For example, the teacher can showthe rise of the voice by moving his hand up and the fall by moving it down. Hecan also use the following symbols: ' for stress, A for pause, forfalling tone, ' for rising tone, and teach pupils how to use them whilelistening to a text and reading it. Consequently, teaching pronunciation inschool must be carried out through conscious approach to the problem andimitation of the teacher and speakers when tape-recordings and records areused. Neither the first nor the second should be underestimated.
Games for ear training
• The same or different?
– Prepare a list of minimal pairs,e.g. hit /heat bit/beat sit/seatgrin/green, tin/teen.
– Read out one pair and get studentsto say which word is each, writing them on board.
– Read one of the words twice. ‘Arethey the same or different?’ (The same.)
– Read the contrasting words. ‘Arethey the same or different?’ (Different.)
– Continue with all the pairs,mixing same and different. Students write S or D in their notebooks.
– Pairs can confer and then read thelist of pairs again for checking.
Alternatively, make it into a teamchallenge game. Doing this with numbers from the beginning is great fun, e.g.‘13 or 30? 14 or 40?’ and numbers which cause confusion, such as 6 and 7 incombinations 66 or 67.
• Minimal pairpictures. With younger learners the minimal pair listening can become a drawingexercise. Either circle the drawing if you hear the word, e.g. house or mouseor ask a class to draw the word they hear and compare drawings to check.
• Odd man out.Read a list of four words, all except one containing the same consonant clusteror vowel. ‘Was it 1, 2, 3, or 4?’ For example, church; shoe; chess; cheese.
• How many times?Choose a sound to focus on and after initial repetition read sentences or ashort text containing the sound once, twice or even three times. Teams must sayif they have heard it more than once or just once. Pick some sentences wherethe sound is not there at all!
Repetition ofphrases and words is a necessary part of language learning. Teenagers are themost reticent group of learners, since they are more concerned with makingfools of themselves in front of their peers. Making repetition into a funactivity, and not a chore, can be done in a variety of ways.
• Play withvolume. Ask learners to say something in a louder voice increasing the volume(be wary of the classes next door) or ask students to speak in a whisper, veryquietly.
• Experiment withtone. Say something in a curious, surprised, angry, bored or frightened tone.This is great for raising awareness of intonation and its importance. Evenbeginners’ classes enjoy experimenting with different ways of asking Yes? orsaying Thank you. This is also useful for higher level students preparing forreading aloud in exams.
• Experiment withspeed. ‘How fast can you say it?’, building up speed like a train.
• Adding to alist (see list games for practicing unstressed syllables below) and making itinto a game-like activity: ‘We went to the park and we played tennis, playedfootball, played cards on the grass, played ...’
• Playing withnumbers. Counting in evens, odds, tens, backwards or saying times tables. (Ifyou have younger learners and beginners use maths chants and times tables tomusic – there are lots of CDs available in the UK.) Look at alphabet games usedin UK primary schools for more inspiration.
• Playing withrhyme. Play rhyme games, where one student says a word and the next adds onethat rhymes, e.g. day ... play ... say ... pay ... grey
• Categorizewords. Mix up groups of words with contrasting vowels or consonants which causedifficulty with different stress patterns. Students in pairs divide the wordsinto two or three categories and then listen to check. Repeat the words withthe class. Students think of more words to fit each category.
Jazz chants havebeen very successfully used in ELT [11;11]. Songs based on repetition of itemsor a distinctive refrain can work well from beginners upwards, such astraditional songs like ‘Ten green bottles’, ‘There was an old woman whoswallowed a fly’ or pop songs which appeal to the age range. The stress system:weak forms and the schwa /ə/. Themost important sound in the English language is the schwa /ə/. Note itspresence in the following basic exchanges: ‘Həve you got thə time?’‘Yes, it’s nine ə‘clock.’ This neutral vowel is used in unstressedsyllables of words and weak forms in a sentence. It should be a priority tohelp students become aware of this throughout their course, from beginners upto advanced level. This weak vowel-sound /ə/ can replace every vowel soundand so has its own symbol. If you wish to teach any symbols this one should bethe main one. Word stress in English is variable: any syllable can carry themain stress whereas in other languages stress may fall on the last syllable, solearners are surprised. Getting the stress on the wrong syllable can make theword incomprehensible to native English speakers [12;6]. This has more impacton intelligibility than mispronounced sounds. In sentences the stress of wordsshifts according to meaning. (Note the stress shifts. On the unstressed wordthe vowel sound becomes a schwa.)
Who are you waiting for? Where are you from?
I’m waiting fə my sister. I’m frəm Spain.
Work on recognising weak forms helps students to hear unstressedelements in speech and greatly improves listening comprehension. From beginnerlevel upwards, five-minute activities to integrate with all lessons:
• Countingsyllables (on fingers) through listening, not looking at words.
• Dividing a sentenceinto groups of syllables through listening.
• Practising withvisuals of two-syllable words with stress on the first syllable, e.g.Germən, and sets like: mother, father, sister, brother; doctor, teacher,driver, baker; better, faster, cheaper.
• Listening andpractice with sentences (long and short) with articles a and an, as well asand. Lists, shopping, ordering in a cafй, telling the time. Example: The weak vowel in ten-ə-clock,ten-tə-ten. Isolate sentence groups for quick controlled practice beforespeaking tasks like role plays. Example: Note the unstressed article andlinking in this group. ə cupəv coffee; ə glassəv milk;ə pieceəv cake; ə sliceəv tart. Example: Play a list game chorally round the class. The firststudent starts: ‘I’d like a cup of coffee please.’ The next student adds: ‘I’dlike a cup of coffee and a sandwich please.’ The next student adds: ‘I’d like acup of coffee, a sandwich and a glass of water please.’ Play the game in thesame way with other situations: ‘What did John take on holiday to the Sahara?’or ‘What did Peter give his ten girlfriends on Valentine’s Day?’
• Look atsyllables and stress in a wide variety of words and sentences as well as shortparagraphs.
• Use familiartextbook dialogues. Ask students to highlight the words which they think arethe most important parts of communication. Listen and check how much thesewords are stressed. This sentence focus is beneficial for listening skills asstudents identify the main message.
• Encouragestudents to anticipate the pronunciation of new words encountered in readingand mark the stress of new words when you write them on the board. Ifdictionaries are used, draw attention to stress markings in students’dictionaries.
• Use songs.Sentence stress and the schwa /ə/ are usually very clear in songs. Singersgreatly exaggerate stressed syllables and the contrast is more marked. Useindividual singers with strong, clear voices. Integrate this aspect with yourother exploitation tasks for songs.
• Use newspaperheadlines. Headlines are created by reducing the message of a sentence to thekey words, which are those which are stressed. Contrasting a headline with itscomplete message highlights the stress patterns of English.
When listening toEnglish at normal speed you will note that we move smoothly from one word tothe next, so that there aren’t pauses between words [13;9]. This can be seen inthe most basic expressions: Thanks a lot. (Thanks ə sounds like a single,two-syllable word), and the most elementary of sentences: I’m a student(I’mə ...). Pausing after every word sounds artificial. Indicate linkagein board summaries for all classes.
Treat groups of words and phrases asthey come up in a course:
• could have =could əv; must have = must əv; might have = might əv; two weeks ago = two weeks əgo; threeyears ago = three years əgo
• the linking /r/in: here and there; better and better; closer and closer; mother and father.
Tasks forawareness of linking (all levels)
• Focus on asentence or question type and give six to eight examples. Students in pairsdecide which words the speaker might link and then listen to check. E.g. ‘Willyou be coming tomorrow? I’ll see if I can get there by six. What will you do ifshe doesn’t ring? I’ll go by myself.’
• Take a very shortpassage, one paragraph, which is easy for students to understand. Ask studentsto listen and mark any points where words are linked. Go through with theclass, listen again, and ask for repetition. Pairs then practice reading aloudto each other. Do the same with short dialogues.
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References
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1. Renworthy J. Teaching English Pronunciation.-Longman.
2. Baker A. Tree or Three? An Elementarypronunciation course. - CUP, 1991.
3. Baker A. Ship or Sheep? An Intermediatepronunciation course. - CUP, 1991
4. Laroy C. Pronunciation.- OUP, 2006.
5. Celce-Murcia, M. BrintonD., Goodwin J. Teaching Pronunciation. - CUP, 2006.
6. Hadfield J. Intermediatevocabulary games. Harlow, Essex: Longman. 1999
7.Christopher Louis Pelman. Memory Training. Series of booklets. 1905 –P.12
8. KodotchigovaM. A. Role play in teaching culture: Six quick steps for classroomimplementation. Internet TESL Journal, 8(7). Retrieved February 13, 2006.
9. Залевская A.A. Введение в психолингвистику: Учебник. 2-е изд. испр.и доп. — М.: Российск. гос. гуманит. ун-т, 2007. — 560 с.
10. Бужинский В.В. Работа над английскимпроизношением на начальной ступени коммуникативного обучения иноязычномуговорению.// ИЯШ.-1991.-№ 4. - С. 43-47.
11. Кулькевич С.В.«Современный урок» - Новосибирск , 1999, 227с.
12. Гальскова Н.Д. Современнаяметодика обучения иностранным языкам. М., 2003. 193с.
13.Рахманов И.В. Основные направления в методике преподавания иностранных языков в19-20вв.-М., Педагогика – 2001, 354с.
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