TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY USING GAMES ByMohammad Agus Salim El Bahri Abstract Learning is one of the primary activities

of students in the classroom. Successfullearning is only on the right way to lead the process. Good learning atmosphere andmethod can guide the students to learn more and meaningful. To accomplish suchcondition, teachers must create varitype and attractive methods for the class.What should a teacher do if their students get bored? Using varitype games can be an alternative solution to handle this problem. Games, as a matter of fact, can helpand encourage many students to sustain their interest and work. By this paper, thewriter wants to share experiences about how to teach English vocabulary usinggames. There is a common perception that all learning should be serious and solemn innature and that if one is having fun and there is hilarity and laughter, then it is notreally learning. This is a misconception. It is possible to learn a language as well asenjoy oneself at the same time. One of the best ways of doing this is through games.Games can help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is usefuland meaningful. In the whole process of teaching and learning by games, the studentscan take part widely and open-mindedly. To win the games each student or groupshould competitively answer the questions addressed by the teacher or other studentso r g r o u p s . I n o r d e r t o d o s o t h e y mu s t u n de r s t a n d wh a t t h e t e a c h e r o r o t h e r s a r e saying or have written, and they must speak or write in o rder to express their own point of view or give informationThe English instruction in elementary school is intended to endorse the masteryand development of the four basic abilities and skills. Those are reading, writing,speaking and listening as reflected in abilities and skill concerning language use so that the students are able to express simple expression with emphasis our vocabularymastery in order to avoid to vocabulary infraction and attain better out comes, theteacher should choose an appropriate teaching method, which is suitable with subject matter in teaching learning process. The need to use various instructional media will be able to help students to increase their English vocabulary.T e a c h i n g v o c a b u l a r y i s c l e a r l y mo r e t h a n ju s t p r e s e n t i n g n e w wo r d s . I t a l s o includes a decision that words should teach the basic of how frequent they are used by speaker of the language. The words are most

commonly used are those a teacher should teach first.B u t c o mmo n l y a n d u s u a l l y t h e wa y o f t e a c h i n g ma k e s t h e s t u d e n t s l a z y a n d bored. The teacher needs something different to make students interested, mostlychildren, because they are very easy to get bored. Therefore, teacher needs somethingi n t e r e s t in g wh i c h c a n ma k e mo t i v a t e t h e m. I t i s b a s e d o n the characteristics andattitude of the children that they are c u r i o u s a n d o f t e n s e e k s s o me t h i n g t h a t t h e teacher notices them and shows appreciation for what they are doing. So, to motivatethem teacher needs something new that can stimulate their curiosity.With the current analysis on communication in teaching language, using gamesappears to hold a solution for many teachers. The communication activities somehowinvolves in a varied use of language.It had been found in many schools, teacher use games activities as their teachingaid. The students really appreciate any kind of activities which provide excitementand fun. It will be easy to understand and practice of English. The writer choosesgames as the simple illustrated media to facilitate students method of learning, as wek n o w c h i l d r e n l e a r n w h i l e p l a y i n g g a m e s . I t i s e a s y t o b e u n d e r s t o o d a n d comprehended by students.However, learning English vocabulary using games has an importance role for elementary teachers and students. The first, as students, they have strong and goodmo t i v a t i o n t o d e e p e n En g l i s h l a n g u a g e . Th e s e c o n d , t h e y a r e e a s y t o a c c e p t t h e English language because they learn by playing games that nowadays has been grownand developed in Indonesia. The third, teaching English vocabulary using games canhelp teacher in teaching learning process. Finally, they (teacher and students) canteach and learn English vocabulary using games. 1. The characteristic of children as learners Slattery and Willis (2001)a. They are developing quickly as individuals ; it means that they have differencein language acquisition. b. Learn in a variety of ways, for example; by watching, by li s t e n i n g , b y i mi t a t i n g a n d b y d o i n g t h i n g s . I t me a n s c h i l d r e n l e a r n t h e i r k n o wl e d g e t h r o u g h w h a t t h e y s e e , h e a r d i n t h e i r s u r r o u n d i n g a n d t h e n i mi t a t e i t a n d imitating by doing things (children learn by doing)c.

Are not able to understand grammatical rules and explanat i o n s a b o u t language . Children are not understanding about the rule of language, t h e y only imitate what they are seeing and hearing.d. Try to make sense of situations by making use of non -verbal clues . Childrenwill do imitate, it means learning by doing.e. Talk in their mother tongue about they understand and do this helps themlearn . It means they use their mother tongue to understand everything.f. Can generally imitate the sounds they hear quite accurately and copy the wayadults speak. It means they do imitation, memorization, practice and over learning, what the people are said.g. Are naturally curious . They have strong willingness to know what they seeand hear in their surrounding.h. L o v e t o p l a y a n d u s e t h e i r i ma g i na t i o n . I t me a n s t h e y a r e l e a r n i n g wh i l e playing.i. Are comfortable with routines and enjoy repetition . It means they need habitto learn. j. Have quite a short attention span and need variety . Because they are learningwh i l e p l a yi n g , i t i s n e e d e d ma n y w a ys t o ma k e t h e m u n d e r s t a n d wh a t t h e teacher means. 2 .T h e De f i n i t i o n o f Vo c a b u l a r y Vocabulary is t h e t o t a l n u mb e r o f w o r d s i n a l a ng u a g e (Hornby, 1995; 1331).Vocabulary is an important part to mastery English well. According to Pigeatstheory, a child at the age of 7 10 years is always interesting in recognizing and knowing new words, he stands to repeat new words repeatedly so t h a t h e w i l l memorize them. There are essential steps of learning vocabulary (Brown, 1995; 373) which hasrecited by Cameron: Having source for encountering new words. Getting a clear image for the form of new words. Learning the meaning of new words

 Making a strong memory connection between the form and the meaning of thewords Using the words .In teaching to children, teacher has to use performance to teach vocabulary to them, b e c a u s e t h e c h i l d r e n i n l i t e r a c y l e v e l a r e P e r f o r ma n c e , i t me a n s c h i l d r e n l e a r n language with accompanying action / scaffolding. In this level, teacher can usemedia, according to Nation (1990) in recited by Cameron is listed basic technique of explaining the meaning of new words. By demonstration picture: Using an object Using a cut-out picture Using gesture Performance action Photographs Drawing and or diagram on the board Picture from books, TV, Video or Computer By verbal explanation: Analytical definition Putting in a context Translating 3 .T h e i mp o r t a n t o f v o c a b u l a r y A g o o d ma s t e r y o f v o c a b u l a r y h e l p s t h e l e a r n e r s t o e x p r e s s t h e i r i d e a s precisely. By having many stocks of word learners will be able to comprehend thereading materials catch other talking, give response, speak fluently and write somekind of topics. On the contrary, if the learners do not recognize the meaning of thew o r d s u s e b y t h o s e w h o a d d r e s s t h e m , t h e w i l l b e u n a b l e

t o p a r t i c i p a t e i n conversation, unable to express some ideas, or unable to ask for information.Considering the important of vocabulary role in learning foreign language.T h e m a s t e r y o f t h i s e l e m e n t s h o u l d b e e n s u r e d a n d d e v e l o p . O t h e r w i s e , t h e vocabulary mastery of the children will be limited and consequence of it is that theywill find difficulties in learning the skills of the language. Therefore, schools have atask to teach vocabulary to their students as suggested by John Carol as showed byMargaretha MC Keown (1987; 01)Although a considerable amount of vocabulary, learning is associated with primary language learning in early years. The acq uisition of most the vocabularycharacteristic of an educated adult occur during the years of schooling, and infectsone of the primary task of the school as far as language learning in concerned, as toteach vocabulary. 4.The use of Games To increase the vocabulary we need media to be used. One of them is game.The definition of game is an activity that you do to have some fun (Hornby; 1995;486). Games can make the students more focus in learning, because they do not feelthat they are forced to learn. Games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely (Richard-Amato, 1988; 147). They are highly motivating and entertaining, and theyc a n g i v e s h y s t u d e n t s mo r e o p po r t u n i t y t o e x p r e s s t h e i r o p i n i o n and feelings (Hansen;1994;118). They also enable learners to acquire new experiences within aforeign language which are not always possible during a typical lesson. Games can be media that will give many advantages for teacher and the students either. The useful of games are attract the student to learn English because it is funa n d m a k e t h e m w a n t t o h a v e e x p e r i m e n t , d i s c o v e r a n d i n t e r a c t w i t h t h e i r environment (Lewis,1999) other useful of games are: Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by p r o v i d i n g a plausible incentive to use the target language. For many children between for and twelve years old, especially the youngest, language

learning will not be thekey motivation factor. Games can provide this stimulus. (Lewis, 1999). T h e g a me c o n t e x t ma k e s t h e f o r e i g n l a n g u a g e i m m e d i a t e l y u s e f u l t o t h e children. It brings the target language to life. (Lewis, 1999).the games make thereason for speaking plausible even to reluctant children. (lewis,1999) Through playing games, students can learn English they way children learntheir mother tongue without being aware they are studying; thus without stress,they can learn a lot. Even shy students can participate positively. 5. Moon (2000) suggests a positive learning environment: Make your classroom a lively place through the use of attractive wall displays,displays of pupils work, etc. language classroom is noisy with the language(English) is good because it will make the classroom more a live in English(practice) Motivate pupils to want to learn English by using interesting and enjoyablelearning activities. E.g., project work, games, drama. It means learning by playing. Create warm and happy atmosphere where teacher and pupil enjoy workingt o g e t h e r . T e a c h e r a r r a n g e s g o o d a t mo s p h e r e i n c l a s s r o o m a n d ma k e t h e students interested. Help pupils to develop personal reasons for learning English. For example byencouraging out-of school class activities, e.g. pen friends, project, readingstory books. 6. How teachers can teach children. a.Make learning English enjoyable and fun-remember you are influencing their attitude to language learning. (Lower as affective filter). It means teacher hasto try in order to students are having fun in learning (learning by playing).Remember teacher is influencing their attitude to language learning b . D o n o t w o r r y a b o u t m i s t a k e s . B e e n c o u r a g i n g m a k e s u r e c h i l d r e n f e e l c o mf o r t a b l e , a n d n o t a f r a i d t o t a k e p a r t . I t me a n s t e a c h e r d o e s n o t b la me directly to students, teacher

must give support to students while repair their mistakes.c . U s e a l o t o f gestures, actions, pictures to demonstrate what you m e a n . I t means teacher has to try to accompany her explanation with media in order tos t u d e n t s u n d e r s t a n d e a s i l y . Do n t f o r c e t h e s t u d e n t s t o u s e t h e l a n g u a g e directly, just give them examples by gesturesd . T a l k a l o t t o t h e m i n En g l i s h , e s p e c i a l l y a b o u t t h i n gs t h e y c a n s e e . Teacher m u s t t e a c h t h e m b y u s i n g E n g l i s h , e s p e c i a l l y a b o u t a n y t h i n g i n t h e i r surrounding. e . P l a y g a me s , s i n g s on g s , s a y r h yme s a n d c h a n t s t o g e t h e r . I t me a n s t e a c h e r h a s s ki l l s i n p l a yi n g g a me s , s i n g s o n g e t c t o ma k e t h e m e n jo y a n d i n t e r e s t i n learning.f.Tell simple theories in English, using pictures, acting with different voices.g .D o n o t wo r r y wh e n t h e y u s e t h e i r mo t h e r t o n g u e . Y o u c a n a n s we r a mo t h e r tongue question in English, and sometimes recast in English what they say int h e i r mo t h e r t o n g u e . I t me a n s i f t h e s t u d e n t s u s e t h e i r mo t h e r t o n g u e , t h e teacher translate to English and repeat again, again and again to make themalways remember what teacher means.h .C o n s t a n t l y r e c yc l e n e w l a n g u a g e b u t d o n o t b e a f r a i d t o a d d n e w t h i n g s o r t o use words they will not know. Teacher gives new language while remember the last topic.i.Plan lesson with varied activities, some quiet, some noisy, some sitting, somestanding and m oving, it means teacher must demonstrate his teaching withseveral activities (mobilling teaching), sometimes teacher sit, stand up in frontof or behind the students. 7)Teaching English vocabulary-using games Language learning is hard work. Effort is required at every moment andmust be maintained over a long period. Games help and encourage many learnersto sustain their interest and work.Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. The learners want to take part and in order to do so mustunderstand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write inorder to express their own point of view or give information.The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years. A useful interpretation of meaningfulness is that the learners respondt o t h e c o n t e n t i n a d e f i n i t e w a y . I f t h e y a r e a m u s e d , a n g e r e d , i n t r i g u e d o r surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus, the meaning of thelanguage they listen to, read, speak and

write will be more vividly experiencedand, therefore, better remembered.There are many kinds of games which can be used in teaching English.Of course, as a technique games need help from media. The media can be picture,flash cards, object, puppet, cassette, projector and many others object surroundthem. It is better if the games are familiar for children, because they learn in avariety of ways, for example; by watching, by listening, by imitating and by doingthings. It means children learn their knowledge through what they see, heard intheir surrounding and then imitate it and imitating by doing things (children learn by doing)Children can generally imitate the sounds they hear quite accurately andcopy the way adults speak. It means they do imitation, memorization, practice andover learning, what the people are saidBruner says that language is the most important tool for cognitive growthand he also investigate how adults can help the children to solve their problem.Scaffolding is bruners theory, it means that scaffolding is explainig to studentsand interacting to students to communicate, in scaffolding is holistic and must permeate all aspects of scientific teaching, if we answer. So, teaching vocabulary-using games as methodolgy in learning teaching process and the teaching materials for children less than five years old which isrelated with their surround, it means the vocabulary which related and introducingthings surround them such as family names, naming of alphabet, name of number.And teaching materialL e a r n h o w t o t e a c h m a t h v o c a b u l a r y a n d s p e c i f i c w o r d s a s y o u demonstrate math activities and when you talk to your students about their mathexperiences. Children learn the language of math just like they learn to talk aboutother topics . In this variation, students break up into small groups and play a board gamefollowing commands. After the students have completed the game, they createtheir own board game using commands they have created on their own. Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating.C o n s t an t e f f o r t i s r e q u i r e d t o u n d e r s t a n d , p r o d u c e a n d ma n i p u l a t e t h e t a r g e t language. Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and att h e s a me t i me a l l o w s t u d e n t s t o p r a c t i s e l a n g u a ge s k i l l s . G a me s a r e h i g h l y motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging.

Furthermore,t h e y e m p l o y m e a n i n g f u l a n d u s e f u l l a n g u a g e i n r e a l c o n t e x t s . T h e y a l s o encourage and increase cooperation. Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see beauty in aforeign language and not just problems that at times seem overwhelming.Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is sometime left at the end of a lesson. Yet, a game should not be regarded as a marginalactivity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better todo. Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Games are usedat all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen.Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learnersrecall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in this articleagree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they ares t i l l wo r t h p a yi n g a t t e n t i o n t o a n d i mp l e me n t i n g i n t h e c l a s s r o o m s i n c e t h e y motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate fluency. There are many criteria games as educational media for teaching Englishto children: A game must be more than just fun. A game should involve "friendly" competition A game should keep all of the students involved and interested. A game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather thanon the language itself. A game should give students a chance to learn, practice, or review specificlanguage material. A game should be familiar by children. The important things in teaching English vocabulary is how to make Englishlearning fun for children with these excellent products There are many advantages of using games in the classroom: Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class.a . Th e y a r e mo t i v a t i n g a n d c h a l l e n g i n g . b.Learning a language requires a great deal of effort.c.Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning.d . G a m e s p r o v i d e l a n g u a g e p r a c t i c e i n t h e v a r i o u s s k i l l s - speaking, writing, listening and reading.e . Th e y e n c o u r a g e

s t u d e n t s t o i n t e r a c t a n d c o mmu n i c a t e . f . Th e y c r e a t e a me a n i n g f u l c o n t e x t f o r l a n g u a g e u s e . g.Vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom,and increase students use of English in a flexible, meaningfuland communicative way.h . G a m e s u s u a l l y i n v o l v e f r i e n d l y c o m p e t i t i o n a n d t h e y k e e p students interested in learning the language.i . G a m e s c a n h e l p t h e m ( c h i l d r e n ) l e a r n a n d h a n g o n t o n e w words more easilyThe reasons of the writer in choosing games as educational media for teaching children are: 1 . Ga me s ma k e l e a r n i n g f u n s o yo u r c l a s s a n d c h i l d r e n a r e wi l l i n g p a r t i c i p a n t s a n d not just there because they have to be.2.Playing a game has a purpose to it, an outcome, and in order to play students haveto say things they have a reason to communicate rather than just repeat things Thiu 2 trang

Games for teaching vocabulary in the classroom

By definition, vocabulary is all the words of a language. That is huge no matter what language. Learning any and all needed vocabulary seems insurmountable. Teachers have a great undertaking to introduce and teach the vocabulary needed for the students to be able to read and understand what is needed for them to succeed in all subject areas. It can be very boring and uninteresting. There is no getting around teaching the students how to recognize, decode and understand words. Make it interesting, challenging, and fun and they will learn without stress.

Vocabulary is present in all subjects. Reading in the first couple grades involves learning to read the printed word. It involves sound blending and decoding to be able to pronounce the printed words. In the initial stages, the students become proficient in recognizing and saying the words as they move along the printed line. Comprehension of what is being read is very important in learning as they read. Pictures are the beginning help for the student to understand what they are reading. Pictures are worth more than words in the early stages of reading. There is a gradual increase in the printed word and a decrease in pictures as the students move up the ladder of elementary grades. Now they must depend more on the meaning of the words to develop comprehension. The Dictionary Game I started this with my fourth grade class. Part of the English content included vocabulary that the students were responsible for and were tested

on. I explained to the students that as with any game, there was necessary equipment and rules to follow to play. Equipment was a list of words, a dictionary, pencil and paper. That was easy. Also, there was practice involved. That was not so easy. First, they had to make their own plays to practice: look up and record definitions of the vocabulary words. I told them the definitions were for them, so write what they would be able to connect with each word. They had to use the dictionary since that would be where I would look for the winning answers. They had two work periods to prepare for the game. The Game Day: I divided the class into two teams. The teams sat in rows on each side of the room facing the center of the room. The order of players was down each row; one side giving the clue from the definitions and the other side answering with the vocabulary word. They could read one of the dictionary definitions, or give a one word clue. The player who was to give the answer could answer himself for a score of 10 or call on his team to help for a score of 5. If they were not able to give the correct answer, the answer was not disclosed and the word could go back into the plays for another try. I did it this way because there were words that had several meanings and could be used again. Each team gave one word for the other team to tell meaning and then it reversed so the sides alternated with each word. The Dictionary Game was a fun way to learn vocabulary words for all subjects. To play the game, the students had to learn the meanings of the words used in the game. They found it more fun than just writing the definitions and learning them. Practicing plays sounded more like fun.

Games for teaching vocabulary in the classroom

Vocabulary games are very effective to teach students new words. They help the students to learn new words easily. Each and every student is involved when vocabulary games are used. This will help the student to retain the word for a long time, even after leaving the classroom.

When vocabulary games are used to teach new words, the students are totally involved in learning the process. They concentrate on the spelling and sound of the word. Moreover, vocabulary games make learning new words great fun, rather than a monotonous task. Find the word Divide the class into teams depending on the number of students. Draw blank lines on the board equal to the number of letters on the word. A picture or a photograph of the word is shown to the class. Each team is then asked to guess the word. They are given 2 minutes to discus and find the letters of the word. When the time is up, a member of the team should come up to the board and fill in the blanks to form the correct word. This vocabulary game helps the student to associate the word with the picture. Show and tell Make picture cards of the words that you want to teach. The picture cards must be more than the number of students in the class. Place the cards on the centre of the table. Ask one student to come and pick out a card. The student should show the card to the class and read out the word written on it. All the students get a chance to pick out a card. The one who picks out the last card is asked to do something funny like doing a funny dance, miming, singing etc. This vocabulary game is a fun way of teaching new words in class. Cross the word Write down a number of vocabulary words that you want to teach in a square on the board. Each word must be written in bold. Use different colours to write the words. Divide the class into two teams. Place two chairs facing away from the board. One member of each team is asked to sit on the chair. Say one word in from the board. The two students sitting on the chair should find out the word on the board and cross it out. Whoever crosses out the word first their team scores a point. If both the students do not find the word, then no points are awarded and the next set of students get a turn. Repeat till everyone has had a turn. The team with the maximum number of points wins. The students enjoy this vocabulary game.

Draw the word Select the vocabulary topic that you want to teach. For example, words associated with home. Make A4 size cards

Games for teaching vocabulary in the classroom

Every language has its own specific vocabulary. I've been told the English language is one of the most difficult languages to learn. I know some of the idiosyncrasies of the English language can be confusing; the ones we all know. For instance for, four and fore. How do you teach those? However difficult, it will all be new to the new reader. Just the idea "new" can equate to difficult. There must be something we can do to make this "new" thing a little easier to grasp. There is, we play games. All kids like to play games. Give them a goal and let them play a game to get there and they will all participate.
1) One of the most familiar and perhaps most commonword games or vocabulary games is finding all the words you can inside another very familiar word. For instance, write the word Halloween at the top of a paper with two columns of lines on it and ask the student to write down all the two letter or bigger words they can find inside Halloween. Hall, all, owl, low and so on. When the student starts finding words like allow, wean and halo then they are stepping outside of the usual vocabulary ring. This little exercise doesn't have them using the words in any application but at least they are seeing them.

2) When time is up, collect the sheets and read some of the words out loud. As you read them ask the students, one at a time, what the word means. When somebody stumbles on one, and nobody can help him or her out, you explain what the word means and use it in a sentence. This is the part that will help teach them their vocabulary. 3) 2) Another very fun game for vocabulary is word find. Before class you make a word find diagram of say 25 letters by 25 letters square. Select at least a dozen words you want them to find and learn and hide them within the grid of letters. Place the words in all directions, even backwards, so they actually have to hunt to find them; that's the game part. Same as with the other exercise; when time is up, collect the papers, read the words one at a time and have someone explain

what each word means. When they all stumble you explain the meaning and use the word in a sentence. 4) 3) A little more difficult, but very effective, word game involves you preparing a list of say 12 words and/or phrases that are all in the same category. Assign each word a position number of 1 through 12. For instance, let's use words or phrases that mean how long it takes to get something done. Assign the words at both extremes of your list, the numbers 1 and 12. 5)