Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

GAMES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR- GRADE
10
PART I: REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
Recently, teaching English has improved in method in the light of the
communicative, learner-centered approach which is adaptable to required objectives
and helps students have many opportunities to communicate in English. However, at
many high schools, teaching English still has not developed students’ ability,
activeness and motivation.
For many years, versions of a claim that students remember “10% of what they
read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear,
and 90% of what they do” have been widely circulated among educators. The source
of this claim, however, is unknown and its validity is questionable. It is an educational
urban legend that suggests a willingness to accept assertions about instructional
strategies without empirical support.
A lot of new teaching methods have been applied in teaching foreign
languages in secondary schools. As a teacher you are really annoyed when your
students do not concentrate on your lectures. It may be objective reasons such as
climate and weather or subjective ones as the lectures are not interesting enough.
Therefore, games are very useful and effective. They encourage being active, people
like to win and they include some physical activities when participants stand up and
move around.
As an English teacher, I really want to clarify the topic here with my
knowledge to analyze, understand the situation of teaching and learning English at
high school; the application of games in teaching English at the school. Thanks to it, I
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school



Learners’ motivation can change overtime and effect on their language learning.
Various studies have found that motivation is strongly related to success in language
learning.
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

There is an interesting movement towards teaching English with games. It
creates students’ motivation in learning English. Just imagine when coming in class,
the teacher announces that it's time for a grammar lesson with games and instead of
moans and whining, the teacher and the students get smiles and excitement.
Students may wish to play games purely for fun. Teachers, however, need more
convincing reasons. “Teachers need to consider which games to use, when to use
them, how to link them up with the syllabus, textbook or programme and how, more
specifically, different games will benefit students in different ways (Khan, J.1996)”.
The key to a successful language game is that the rules are clear, the ultimate goal is
well defined and the game must be fun.
Most classes should start with a “warm-up” activity to help the students relax
and settle into the class. The warm-up is often a game, just to start things on a “fun”
level. The basic idea is to let the class play, have a couple laughs and some fun right
at the very beginning – work them very hard in the middle – and finish up the class
with some fun. Following this process, where the class begins and ends with anxietyreducing activities or games, we should find the students more motivated for their
next class.
 ILLUSTRATION

 Circle
Teacher gives a word and each student in groups gives one word to make a full

Ex: What is his name?
Where is he from?
What is his job?
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

 DETECTIVE GAME
The teacher copies and cuts up one set of cards for each group, shuffles them
and places them face down in the middle of the group.
Students have to arrange the cards to make a story.
 Unit 3: PEOPLE′S BACKGROUND - Grammar (English 10)
The teacher copies and cuts up one set of cards (a murder story)for each group,
shuffles them and places them face down in the middle of the group.
Students have to arrange the cards to make a full story (they practice past
tenses).
An old lady was found dead in her living room. She had been hit on the head
and jewellery worth five thousand pounds had been stolen from the house. The
murder occurred between seven and ten o′clock in the evening. One of the principal
suspects is Annie Hudson, the district nurse, who has the key to the old lady’s house,
and who lives ten minutes walk away. The cards contain details of Annie’s
movements that evening.
The groups’ task is to read them and try to work out if she could have
committed the murder or not. Students should turn over one card at a time from the
pile and discuss the probable sequence of events.
After the groups have finished, let them compare their findings.


/ g / and / k /
How many cookies could a good cook cook if a good cook could cook cookies?
A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies

 CHANGE SEAT IF…
This Game can be used at the end of the class after the students learn
Conditional sentence (type 1); so that your students go home with a smile on their
faces; or you can play this game when you want to notice your students focus fading.
Unit 8: THE STORY OF MY VILLAGE - Grammar
Procedure
To play this all you have to say is, Change Seats if...
+ you have black hair
+ you have a sister
+ you like to eat hamburgers
+ you are sitting beside a boy
+ your favorite color is red
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

+ you like to do homework
+ you don't like to do homework!
if whatever you said is true about any student in the class , they must Change Seats
with one of the other students who also has to switch his/her seat. This is one of the
best Games to play with your class and every student will really be happy to play it;
and while you are playing this game you are also improving the students listening
skills.

Sournenir shop

School
Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

-

Post office

Bookstore

Movie theatre

Hotel

Street

Village

Divide the class into 2 groups : one is Noughts (0) and one is Crosses (X)

 Unit 2: SCHOOL TALK - Grammar (WH- questions)
 Unit 12: MUSIC - Grammar (WH- questions)
When

Why



Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

 RELATIVE CLAUSES
Divide the students into two teams, the noughts and the crosses, and give out a
worksheet like the one in the photo. It consists of the nine squares of the noughts and
crosses diagram, each containing the photo of an object or a person that the students
will not know in English, but will be able to describe within the limits of the grammar
(relative clauses ) and vocabulary that they have already learnt.

 REPORTED SPEECH SOCCER
The teacher can choose some students to play the games
 Unit 8: THE STORY OF MY VILLAGE - Grammar
The teacher can flip over a quotation card and the student whose turn it is reads
the quote and reports what was said, heard, read, or thought. For example, if the card
says it's a beautiful day then the student will say: He/she said that it was a beautiful
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

day. Every card has been designed so that the student can easily identify the pattern
that is required

important to get the students communicating and using the structures in realistic
situations.
Unit 16: HISTORICAL PLACES - Grammar
I like to play a game where they search the class to find an item I have
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

requested. The students are in groups, and I stand in front of the class. As an example,
I ask for something smaller than a pencil. The first group to bring me an item that fits
the request gets a point. Other examples include:
+ Something bigger than the textbook
+ Something older than the desk
+ Something newer than a new notebook
+ Someone better looking than the teacher (That always gets some laughs)



THE JEWEL GAME

This game promotes the development of memory and observation skills.
a) Preparation
-

Divide the class into small groups. Make sure that all desks are cleared

and no student has pen or paper to write anything down.

Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

Verbs Followed by a Gerund
admit
advise
appreciate
avoid
can't help
complete
consider

delay
deny
detest
dislike
enjoy
escape
excuse

finish
forbid
get
through
have
imagine
mind
miss

permit
postpone

• Repost the poster to check the answers
• Announce the winners.



SIMON SAYS “Listen carefully to the articles”

 Unit 13: FILMS AND CINEMA – Grammar ( Articles)
When teaching articles, teacher often gives the rules of articles briefly and then
asks students to do some gap filling exercises. SIMON SAYS is a well- known game
where students only do an action if the instructions are preceded by the words “Simon
says…” and otherwise stay still. There is a fairly well known variation on this where
students only do the action if the instructions are grammatically and logically correct,
and this can easily be adapted to practice articles with instructions they should copy
like “Look at the teacher”, “Point at the tallest student” and “Wink at a student”, and
ones they shouldn’t like “Touch the student” (because they don’t know which one).
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

PART IV: ANALYZING RESULT
The table below expresses clearly the difference in the students’ understanding of the
lessons with and without grammar games. In fact, after some lessons with grammar
games, the number of students who get marks 6 -7 occupies 40% while after some
lessons not having grammar games, this number of students is 10%. Moreover, the
number of students who get marks 7 -10 only occupies 25% in lessons without
grammar games compared with 40% of the students get these marks in the other

12.5
22.5
40
15
5

(12A7, 10A2)
2
4
14
8
32
20

2.5
5
17.5
10
40
25

PART V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
I.

Conclusion
- Grammar games help teachers combine 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading

and writing during giving the games and form the habit to play them. Therefore,
teachers only need to prepare a little, they can make class atmosphere lively and
effectiveness of learning high because both teachers and students are familiar to the


What type of game is it and what is its purpose?

•

Does the difficulty level of the game mesh with the students' ability level?

•

Does the game require maximum involvement by the students?

•

Do the students like it? Do you like it?

These suggestions will help teachers to overcome difficulties in using grammar
games and get used to teaching grammar with games in order to develop students’
motivation and understanding of the lesson.

Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

Bien Hoa , May 20th , 2012
Teacher

Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

THE JEWEL GAME …. ………………………………………..………
SIMON SAYS…

12

……………………………………..………

13

PART IV: ANALYSING RESULT ……………………………………… 13
PART V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ……………………… 13

REFERENCE
1. Games to teach English (Harold S. Madren) - Oxford University Press
2003
2. Bridge TOEFL: Teaching English With Games (2007)
3. How to improve students’ communicative skills - Masaryk University
2007
Teacher : Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh Vân

Nguyen Huu Canh high school


Games in teaching Grammar – Grade 10

4. Intermediate Communication Games. (Hadfield, J. ) - Thomas Nelson and
Sons Ltd. 1990
5. Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners ( Lin Hong)
6. The Grammar Activity Book. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521
575796