Students’ motivation for studying English

Reshetnikova Zoya Borisovna, School 62, Talitsa

When a teacher uses different kinds of the lesson, educational games…

*kids do not notice that they are taught.

*they can relax during the lesson.

*pupils like such lessons.

*it motivates children to study English.

Games which I use in my lessons

Lexical and grammar games

*

“I spy with my eye

”. A pupil begins with the words “I spy with my eye something beginning with the letter “C”. Other pupils ask questions: “Is this a cat?” The pupil answers: ”Yes, it is. It’s a cat.” “No, it isn’t”.

*

“Change places”.

The students stand in a circle. The teacher or a student says: ”Change places, who has got long hair (nice shirt, who had done the homework, who has cleaned teeth today, etc)”. You may revise a lot of topics with the help of this game.

“If I were…”

• • • • • • • • • • • •

The students are given sheets of paper with phrases with Conditional 2. For example: If I were rich, I would…; If I were the head of our school, I would… ; If I were a magician, I would…; If I were the queen, I would…; If I were a cosmonaut, I would…; If I saw an UFO next to me, I would…; If I had much money, I would…; If I lived in USA, I would…; If I were a president of Russia, I would…; If I were an adult, I would…; If I saw a spaceman, I would…; If it were summer, I would…; The students must continue the sentences. Then they may be asked to write or tell a story with this sentence.

Advice for a novice

• • •

The students must give advice to a new child. E.g.

You must go to school every day.

You should not cry at the lesson.

Then a novice asks the questions:’ Can I..? Mustn’t I…?, Should I…?

Games with motions

“Getting in order”. The students repeat the ordinal numerals. The students are put in a line. They rearrange themselves according to the dates of the birthdays. They must say: “I am the first. I was born on the…of…19…’ Then the students may rearrange according to the length of their names. “I ’m the second after Natalya, because there are 6 letters in my name. My name is…”

Running dictation

The whole class takes part in the game. It may be divided into some groups. “Secretaries” are appointed. They run and read sentences from the sheet of paper hanging in the corridor next to the classroom. Then they dictate them to the pupils of his/her group. The winner will be the team which writes the dictation without errors.

“Find someone who

…” •

The students must find someone in the group who /e.g./ likes carrots. One student goes over the classroom and asks his classmates: “Do you like carrots?” Another one must find the person who likes traveling. “Do you like traveling?” “Have you been to Germany?”/etc./

We are musicians

Students repeat the words after the teacher and do certain motions: “We are musicians. (They touch their chest with a finger.) We are very cool. (They show a thumb.) We can play… (violin, drum, trumpet, stomach, nerves). When they pronounce the name of the instrument, they show how they play them and pronounce some sounds, e.g. “violinataki, drumataki, stomataki, nervotaki, etc” they say: “Nervotaki-nervotaki nervotaki yes”! The words are meaningless, but it’s also fun.

Sharks

The students imitate that they swim in the ocean. They do the motions of swimming and repeat the words “We were swimming. Sharks were swimming too. Father shark”. Kids show how the shark swims and eats fish repeating the sounds: “Doodle-Doodle-Doodle-do. (2 times.)” They show with their hands how the father shark and all the members of their shark family eat fish. “We saw sharks. Afraid. Swim away. The kids show how they were swimming away and how they were running away on the shore. They say “Safe and sound”. We have a good opportunity to revise Past Progressive and have fun.

Internet and video lessons

I noticed that kids of all ages like to work with Internet and to watch video. So I often use both Internet and video in my lessons to stimulate my students to listen to native speakers and to speak English. I’ve done a lot of lessons using video and information from Internet.