Teaching English Vocabulary Using Games

Teaching vocabulary to young learners is laborious. Young learners have special characteristics so they need more attention. It is different from teaching adults. Vocabulary is list of words with their meaning and it also consists of collections of words. There are many words that children have to understand and remember. To help the children to remind and understand the words easily, teachers should be creative. They have to find a suitable method and interesting activities to make learners enjoy what they are learning. Children as young learners have special needs. They will learn best if they participate and their work is appreciated and they have an opportunity to experience and experiment by themselves. Children like playing, so it is useful if the teacher uses games as a method in teaching vocabulary to young learners. The most interesting activities that the teacher can use to teach vocabulary to young learners are games. Games motivate children in learning vocabulary because they find games interesting and amusing and playing is in their nature. Games are not only used in teaching vocabulary but also in all language skills and many types of communication. There are many advantages of using games in the classroom:
• Games can break the usual routine of the language class.
• Games can motivate and challenge the children in learning process.
• Learning a language needs an effort. Games help the students to make the effort of learning a language.
• Games are providing the students to practice the four skills of English that are speaking, reading, writing, and listening.
• Games help the students to interact and communicate.
• Games create a meaningful context in using language.
In choosing a game, the teacher has to consider some things such as time, material, the topic of the lessons, and the students itself. Teaching vocabulary by using games to young learners is one of the effective ways. Teaching vocabulary by using games helps the students to learn with fun and it also will decrease students’ sense of boredom so it will make them to understand and remember the vocabulary that is taught by the teacher easily.
The following vocabulary games can be adapted to different levels. While playing these games, students learn, revise new vocabulary without considering it hard, unpleasant work.

Poncho Carrancho
Level: any
Age: children
Group size: whole class
Use: various vocabulary (and simple grammar structures) reviews
Materials: board
Instructions: Assign the name of a food to every student and write the names on the board. The teacher is also assigned a food, let's say 'turkey'. Have the students say in a loud voice what they are. The teacher starts the game by saying, "Poncho Carrancho doesn't eat turkey, he eats rice."
The student who is rice has a few seconds to react. His/Her response should be "Oh, no, Poncho Carrancho doesn't eat rice, he eats spaghetti." The student who doesn’t react on time, or makes a mistake, can be out of the game, and the winner is the one, who resists the longest.
Alternatives:
 verbs: Poncho Carrancho doesn't ______, he _______.
 past tense: Poncho Carrancho didn't ______, he _______.
 family: Poncho Carrancho looks like his ______
 jobs: Poncho Carrancho wants to be a _____.
Fruit salad
 Level: beginner
 Age: children
 Group size: whole class
 Use: to practice fruit (or vegetables)
 Materials: none
 Fruit salad is a game children really like. They have to sit in a circle, and one student stands in the middle of the circle. The teacher gives them fruit names, like apple, pear, watermelon, pineapple, etc. A fruit will occur more than once. (There will be 4 or 5 students, who are ‘apples’ or ‘pears’). The student in the middle has to find a chair, so he/she is going to shout one fruit, and those who have that name, has to switch places. The person, who remains without a chair, is the next ‘caller’. If the student in the middle shouts ‘fruit salad’, everyone has to switch places.
 Variations:
 Fruit vocabulary can be replaced with other categories, like vegetables. I tried this game before Christmas to practise holiday related vocabulary. The words used were: angel, reindeer, Santa Claus, present, etc. ‘Fruit salad’ was changed into ‘Christmas’.

I was a happy baby
 Level: any
 Age: children
 Group size: whole class
 Use: to practise adjectives; the Past Simple of ‘to be’ and giving opinion
 Materials: photos of children when they were babies, sheets of paper, pencils, duct tape or blue tack
 This game or activity needs a little preparation. Children are asked to bring a baby photo of them. At the beginning of the class they give the photos to the teacher, who tapes on a sheet of A4 paper. Then using blue tack, stick them all around on the classroom’s walls. As a pre-task teach the children what you expect them to do. They have to write two sentences on each sheet of paper (except theirs), like this: I think this baby is Tom/Paula….. He/She was a happy/cute/naughty/dirty/funny …. baby.
 When everyone has finished writing, children get their photos back, and some of them may read what the others have written about them. They like this activity, because it’s fun, relaxing. They can hardly wait to read their classmates’ opinions about them and keep these sheets with their classmates’ handwriting as a treasure.