Games and recreational activities for second and foreign languages classes
Keywords:
Games – Gamification – Language – Teaching – Learning – Second and Foreign Language TeachingAbstract
In this article, we start by overviewing the theories that, coming from different disciplines, place games as central to human development and learning, as well as seeing them as a tool for language teaching. We also analyze ways to make games an effective resource to use in class and ways to adapt them to all types of learning contexts. We will explore different types of interaction and skills needed to use games as presentation, practice of recycling of language items. We will see how games adapt to all types of learning styles, teaching techniques, age groups, topics, teaching approaches and class contents. We will discuss challenges that teachers face when trying to make use of this tool in their second and foreign language classes and provide advice to avoid possible failures. There is a detailed explanation on how to set rules and vary them according to levels, topics and type of classes. We will analyze how students may be affected, positively or sometimes negatively, by winning or losing games. Finally, we will offer some advice to make games an effective tool for language teaching in all contexts.
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