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repetition is very common in games, rules are often few, and the games usually do not take a veryBog'liq 12827 1 08483D29A1B1ECFE14652BC1F8AE0AB7548A1DDFrepetition is very common in games, rules are often few, and the games usually do not take a very
long time. When it comes to children age 9–11 they have patience for longer games, which often
include much more suspense. Also when children reach this age they start to be able to augment the
games themselves, for example to bend the rules to make the game more suited for their group. For
children older than 12 games are often much more planned and they often emphasize teams and
teamwork.
Writing is a skill that, even in the native language, is learnt and not acquired. That fact could explain
in part why writing is often considered to be difficult, or even boring in the target language. Another
explanation could be that it is often assigned as homework, and many students don’t like homework. One
possible reason why writing can be viewed as being difficult is because the writer does not get an immediate
feedback similar to what happens during conversations, and as a result the writer could feel more insecure
about his work. Some teachers also unwisely use writing as punishment: «Ok, just for that Sasha, I want to
see an essay on my desk tomorrow!» Writing also demands a completely different language than normally
used in conversations. For students in school this must not become their experience of writing because that
can lead to their loathing of writing. Games can be a good way to prevent this because not only are games
fun but they can provide writers with a reason to write and it is obvious that writing will become easier
when there is a clear reason instead of just having to write because the teacher said so. Another thing that
games can provide for writers is an audience. In many games other students will play the reader’s part and
therefore provide the writer with the necessary feedb
ack that writing often lacks
. A variety of interactive
writing games can be found on the internet and teachers can, without much effort, create a game that
practices writing. For example, when teaching students how to write a formal letter a game where
participants would have to rearrange sentences to position them correctly, so they make a formal letter,
could be a good game.
Most people remember training their listening skill mainly by doing listening activities when they
were in school. Listening activities might very well be an effective way of training that particular skill but
teachers need to remember to keep the activities versatile or their students might get bored. By combining
listening with games, teachers might prevent their students from getting bored, and by keeping them
interested they are increasing the chances of the students achieving their goals. An example of a good
listening game is the famous game «Simon says» where one participant plays the role of Simon and gives
the others directions, for example by saying: «Simon says jump», or «Simon says stop jumping» and then
everybody would have to do that. If Simon only says «everybody jump» and does not attach the phrase
«Simon says» at the front then the other participants are not be supposed to follow the direction. Because
of this, students need to listen carefully in order to know when to follow Simon’s directions and when to
ignore them. This game can also be used to train any vocabulary.
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