Статья на тему Lexical games at the English lessons

Lexical games at the English lessons
Nowadays the main goal of teaching any foreign language is to teach pupils to communicate in the target language. Communication is impossible without knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and phonetics. Teachers should pay much attention to forming different components of communication competence.
The most common difficulty while forming the linguistic competence is learning new vocabulary. The students have not enough practice in using English words. Often the vocabulary is not related to the students’ interests. As a rule, learning is monotonic, so does not bring desired results. The usage of appropriate games can be a good solution to this problem. Creative tasks can help to involve the class into more active work. Learning some material with the help of games is interesting not only for the pupils of the primary school, but it is as well exciting for the students of the secondary school.
Games have a great educational value. Such language games make students use the language instead of thinking about learning it. Learning new vocabulary could be a real pleasure.
Teachers can use games while teaching English vocabulary with different aims such as:
to present new vocabulary items;
to check what students know from the previous lessons;
to review the previous vocabulary;
to practice just presented vocabulary items.
Games motivate and challenge students to participate actively in the learning activity.
The learning process goes more easily. Games break the usual routine of the English class. Games make learning more memorable. The students usually enjoy the process of games.
I would like to give some examples of how games can be used.
Introducing new vocabulary
Topic “Food ”(10 from)
Game “MATCH”
The students have to match the word with the definition.
Watermelon A round orange cultivar used for decorations on Halloween
Lemon A garden berry of a bright red colour, juicy and sweet
Fig A green or yellow fuit with an elongated basal portion and a bulbous end, reminds a bell
Pumpkin a large, round fruit that has a hard skin, juicy flesh and is sweet as honey
Pear A yellow citrus fruit with a sour taste
Cherry A special kind of berry, very huge, with dark green stripes or yellow spots, has black seeds
Strawberry A round fruit with a green or violet skin, very sweet and soft; grows on trees in south regions
Melon A small, fleshy dark red or yellow fruit grown on trees
Game “HANGMAN”
The students mark lines on their papers that correspond to the number of letters in a word. For example, if the word is “aubergine”, they would make 9 lines on their paper. Then you should give them the first letter – “a” and invite them to call out possible answers. Everyone writes down the letter o the first line. Encourage all guesses. After a very short time, give them the next letter – “u” and everyone writes it on the second line. It should look like this au_______. Invite them to guess again. Continue on, adding a letter by letter until someone comes up with the right word. Then you can ask the students to try to translate the word.
Game “REBUS”
Looking on the pictures, the students should combine 2 different words to get a new one.
Examples:
: Gooseberry

Ice-cream

3. Horseradish
Game “WORD IN THE WORD”
A group of words is written on the blackboard. The students have to find among them the hidden words. All the hidden words are connected with the topic of the lesson.
Examples:
Butterfly
Grapefruit
Peppery
Breadthways
Pearly
Steakhouse
Activating new vocabulary
Game “WORD MAP”
There is a beginning of the map and students have to add different words connected with the topic. For example, what products make food: meat, fish, dairy products, vegetables, fruit.

Game “DOMINOES”
The students see the table with the words on the screen. They should work in pairs. The first student makes the word combination; his partner makes the sentence with it.
Cake Sea
Food Ice
Chicken Jank
Potato Boiled
Food Pan
Eggs Grilled
Cream Apple
Juice Mashed
Food Tender
Meat Fast
Game “WORD SALAD”
The words are written with the mixed letters. The students have to find the correct words and write them.
FOOD (examples)
pkinpum
iceju
rinegetan
adbre
berstrawry
ardstum
Keys: pumpkin, juice, tangerine, bread, strawberry, mustard.
Game “CORRECT THE MISTAKES”
The students get the cards with the list of products on it. There are some mistakes in it. Thу students have to find the mistakes and correct them.
Game “THE SNAKE”
The students are divided into groups of 3-4 persons. They should throw a brick and make their moves. The captains of the teams write down the letters. When the team approaches the finish they should make as many words with the letters they’ve got as possible.
For example: The letters are: с, e, h, m, w, a, e, s, p, r, a, e, f, d, o, u, i, t,o.
Cheese, pear, soup, fish, water, ham, dish, meat, pea, food.
The games help students to remember the words better, develop creative and logical thinking, create positive atmosphere at the lesson. Besides it, the game gives every student an opportunity to appraise himself/herself. The lessons with games are more interesting.
Remember the American proverb: “A wise teacher makes learning a joy”.