pentru obținerea gradului didactic I Coordonator științific, Conf. Univ. Dr. CARMEN BORBELY Candidat, SABĂ U DANIELA -GABRIELA (căsătorită MUREȘ AN)… [613175]

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UNIVERSITATEA BABEȘ -BOLYAI CLUJ -NAPOCA
DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGĂTIREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC
FACULTATEA DE LITERE

LUCRARE METODICO -ȘTIINȚIFICĂ
pentru obținerea gradului didactic I

Coordonator științific,
Conf. Univ. Dr. CARMEN BORBELY

Candidat: [anonimizat] 2017

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UNIVERSITATEA BABEȘ -BOLYAI CLUJ -NAPOCA
DEPARTAMENTUL PENTRU PREGĂTIREA PERSONALULUI DIDACTIC
FACULTATEA DE LITERE

LUCRARE METODICO -ȘTIINȚIFICĂ
pentru obținerea gradului didactic I

TEACHING VOCABULARY THROUGH GAMES AND
STORIES IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL

(PREDAREA VOCABULARULUI LIMBII ENGLEZE PRIN
INTERMEDIUL JOCURILOR SI POVEȘ TILOR LA CICLUL PRIMAR SI
GIMN AZIAL)

Coordonator științific,
Conf. Univ. Dr. CARMEN BORBELY

Candidat: [anonimizat] 2017

3
ACORD

Subsemnatul , CARMEN BORBELY , coordonator științific al lucrării metodico -științifice cu
titlul TEACHING VOCABULARY THROUGH GAMES AND STORIES IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
SCHOOL (PREDAREA VOCABULARULUI LIMBII ENGLEZE PRIN INTERMEDIUL JOCURILOR SI
POVEȘTILOR LA CICLUL PRIMAR SI GIMN AZIAL), elaborat de SABĂU DANIELA – GABRIELA
(căsătorită MUREȘAN), avizez favorabil lucrarea pentru depunerea la secretariatul
Departamentului pentru Pregatirea Personalului Didactic, Universitatea Babeș -Bolyai Cluj –
Napoca.

Profesor coordonator, Conf. Univ. Dr, CARMEN BORBELY

__________________________

Data, 16.08.2016

4
TEACHING VOCABULARY THROUGH GAMES AND STORIES IN PRIMARY
AND SECONDARY SCHOOL

Contents
FOREWORD ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ….. 6
CHAPTER I – THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ………………………….. ………………………….. ………… 9
1.1. Describing young learners ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……. 9
1.2. Vocabulary and its role in the classroom ………………………….. ………………………….. ………….. 13
1.2. Approaches in teaching vocabulary ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………. 15
1.4. The role of memory and motivation in vocabulary acquisition ………………………….. ………… 19
CHAPTER II – VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH GAMES ………………………….. …….. 22
2.1. Building vocabulary. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………. 22
2.1.1. Techniques for presenting the new vocabulary ………………………….. ………………………… 24
2.1.2. Various types of games in language teaching ………………………….. ………………………….. 27
2.1.3. Listening games ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………….. 28
2.1.4. Speaking games ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………….. 31
2.1.5. Reading games ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………… 35
2.1.6. Writing activities ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………… 38
2.1.7. Vocabulary games ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………. 40
2.2. Advantages and disadvantages of using games in language teaching ………………………….. … 49
2.2.1. Advantages of using games ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………. 50
2.2.2. Disadvantages of using games and some practical suggestions ………………………….. ….. 52
CHAPTER III –VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH STORIES ………………………….. …. 54
3.1. What is storytelling? ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………….. 54
3.2. The advantages of storytelling ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………… 55
3.3. Choosing stories ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………….. 56
3.4. Vocabulary acquisition through stories ………………………….. ………………………….. …………….. 57
CHAPTER IV – THE RESEARCH ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. . 61
4.1. Experimental objectives and hypotheses ………………………….. ………………………….. …………… 61
4.2. Research methodology ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………. 61
4.3. The subjects of the research ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. .. 61
4.4. The experimental design ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……. 62
4.5. Interpretation of children‟s observation questionnaire ………………………….. …………………….. 63
4.6. Analysis of the language learning activities used in the classroom ………………………….. …… 65

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4.6.1. Realia ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………… 66
4.6.2. Flashcards and pictures ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. .. 69
4.6.3. Games ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………………….. 75
4.6.4. Stories ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………………….. 79
CONCLUSIONS ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………… 86
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………. 90
APPENDIX 1 ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. … 93
APPENDIX 2 ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. … 94

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FOREWORD

This research focuses on teaching vocabulary to primary and secondary students. I
have chosen this subject matter for my research work first, because I have always been
interested in how children remember words and how they acquire new vocabulary. One of
the main problems in teaching children is to help them remember new words and be able to
use those words when they communicate. How can a new word or a set o f words become
integrated into our existing word store? What is the best way of introducing and practicing
vocabulary? How can I, as a teacher, help my primary and secondary school students
remember and use the new words? All students have difficulty in me morizing vocabulary.
In view of the fact, to improve my students‟ English skill, I used language games and
stories.
Second, another reason for this research is to study and analyse alternative ways for
teachers to help students enhance their vocabulary by using language games and stories in
the classroom, since students feel more comfortable, more secure and self -confident about
these types of activities, less stress out or frustrated and more actively involved and
receptive to them. In addition to it, usi ng language games and storytelling techniques
provides various ways to promote the students‟ creativity, cooperation and interaction and,
finally, help them remember new words easily and develop their communication skills in
English in general.
Third , I acknowledge that this piece of work is a great opportunity and a challenge
for me to introduce vocabulary using different language games and to see whether I can
use stories in primary and secondary classrooms to help, my students acquire and
remember new words.
The theory part focuses on the act ual reasons behind playing games in a language
class and tries to explain why games can be used in language lessons. In the last section,
the research focuses on the SWOT analysis method that will try to show the usefulness of
games and storytelling techniques and how they can be used in language classes .
By highlighting the games and stories‟ strengths , weaknesses, opportunities and
threats, the reader should be able to make a clear picture on how or why games and stories
are a powerful tool in teaching vocabulary to young children. Additionally, the SWOT
analysis method will be evaluated in order to understand why the SWOT analysis is a
practical way when stud ying games and stories and show their advantages and
disadvantages.

7
The objective of the research is improving pupils‟ vocabulary learning by using
language games and storytelling techniques. Taking into account that vocabulary learning
is the first step in learning English as a foreign language , this study will analyse different
techniques that may help children‟s English vocabulary learning.
According to second language acquisition theory, children learn a language faster
and with less difficulty than adults, but in order to do so, they must be exposed to real
communication situations , to natural learning environments and to repeated teaching
practices that make learning a lifelong process , meaningful and enjoyable . Teaching shoul d
be focused on the dev elopment of communicative skills that will enable children to
communicate meanings and messages in real social contexts. Therefore, the main purpose
of this paper is to show that games and stories can help young learners to develop t he
ability to understand spoken language and engage in thinking skills.
As regards its construction, this piece of work consists of an Introduction , four
chapters, Conclusions and Appendixes.
Chapter 1 provides a theoretical overview on vocabulary and its imp ortance in
language learning. Taking into consideration that this research is focused mainly in
teaching vocabulary to primary and secondary school, the first chapter starts with a
presentation of the m ain characteristics of children, as language learners. Moreove r, it
explores some of the main theories about language acquisition and explains the role of
memory and motivation in the learning process.
Chapter 2 continues the exploration on vocabulary development and explores
different techniques for presenting new vocabulary. One of these techniques refers to
games; therefore, this chapter focuses on various types of language games that are used to
introduce and practice vocabulary and focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of
using games as a tool for improving students‟ vocabulary.
Chapter 3 attempts to give definitions of storytelling and deals with characteristics
of a good story. Other issues this chapter deals with are the advantages of storytelling and
the educational value of using stories in te aching vocabulary. This chapter also focuses on
how vocabulary can be improved by using stories and what activities are suitable to
introduce, practice and revise vocabulary.
Games and stories can be used at any point in a lesson, but we have to be careful to
adapt them according to our students‟ level of language and their age. In addition, because
we can use many sources when we look for stories to be used i n lessons, this chapter tries
to show how we can mingle personal stories with fictional or original texts. Chapter 3 ends

8
with a conclusion on how stories can be an ideal tool in language learning as they guide us
through our whole life.
Chapter 4 provides the practical part of this paper, as suggested in the title. The
experimental final analysis clearly indicates that games and stories are the perfect tools for
teachers and students in their effort to memorize vocabulary in a funny but motivating and
creative way. The Swot -analysis tables are meant to highlight the many strengths and
opportunities that games and stories can have in teaching vocabulary in primary and
secondary schools . Moreover, the APPENDIX 1 contains the questionnaire sheet that was
used at the end of the research , in order to see how children feel about using games and
storytelling, as a tool for introducing and revising vocabulary. APPENDIX 2 contains
some story activities that were used in the lessons and some examples of board games that
were used during the implementation of the research.
To conclude with, I consider that my choi ce of this theme has been well inspired
since nowadays we, as teachers, need to find suitable activities for our students, giving
them the opportunity to absorb language in a familiar and creative ways. All skills,
functions and structures may be taught by using games and stories. Through them ,
vocabulary, pronunciation and creativity may be developed.

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CHAPTER I – THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1. Describing young learners

Since this piece of work concentrates on primary and secondary school children , I
think that it is necessary to discuss some of the characteristics of young learners, before
going on to examine the ways of teaching them and the activities we can use in this
respect. One of the most important factors in our decisions about what and ho w to teach is
definitely the age of the students. It is well – known that students of different ages have
different needs, skills and motivation. A young learner in primary or secondary school will
probably learn English through play rather than reading int ensively in the foreign
language. Moreover, it is a common belief that the younger the student is the faster he will
learn a new language.
Lynne Cameron (2003:111, qtd. in Harmer, p.81) suggests that children “reproduce
the accent of their teachers with d eadly accuracy .”1 In this respect, young learners seem to
have a facility with pronunciation that older children do not have. However, it is also clear
that older children learn abstract words more rapidly than younger children do , and that is
probably , because their cognitive abilities allow them to understand those words better.
When teaching English we need to understan d the differences between an eight or nine
year old student and teenagers or adults.
Young children learn differently according to t heir age. Gul Keskil and Pasa Tevfik
Cephe, (2001:61, qtd.in Harmer, p.82) note that “while pupils who are 10 or 11 years old
like games, puzzles and songs most, those who are 12 or 13 years old like activities built
around dialogues, question -and-answer a ctivities and matching exercises most.”2 All these
concepts show that children are unique in their personality and that it is important to
understand how the minds of the children work in order to be able to find the best ways of
teaching them.
Following these ideas, Jane Moon underline s some of the most important
characteristics of young learners , or children :

1 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition, England, Pearson Education
Limit ed, 2007 , p. 81
2 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition, England, Pearson Education
Limit ed, 2007 , p. 82

10
 “Children are capable of draw ing on many of the abilities which they have made
use of in learning their first language. ”3 One of this is the ability of making sense of
what is happening in a situation in which words are presented to them rather than
the language used . Moreover, the author explains, “They do this through using
their knowledge of everyday life and the clues provided by the situa tion, or the
picture. T hey work out the meaning first and try not to pay attention to the words
that are used to express the meaning. ”4 This ability the author claims “is a very
useful one in language learning as it allows students to work out what is happ ening
in a situation, a story, a game, a video or a conversation and this then help s them to
understand the meaning of the words used. ”5 Moreover, t he use of communication
games, drama, storytelling, project work, and practical a ctivities in teaching, all
help children to make use of this ability to catch the meaning.
 “Children use a variety of strategies to learn a foreign language. ”6 Harmer believes
that at this age, children learn indirectly rather than directly –that refers to the fact
that they rely on spoken words and on everything, that surrounds them . This means
that sometimes, children use complete phrases of language they have picked up
from someone else. This are called chunks of language because they are learn and
used in speech as whole phrases. According to Jayne Moon “Children may not have
been taught these chunks formally, but they help children to communicate when
they have very little language. Teaching children chunks of language may be very
useful in the early stages of language learning to enable them to take part in
conversations. ”7 Therefore, it is important to expose children to various activities
that include songs, drama, games that will all, in Jayne Moon‟s opinion “help to
give children access to ready – made bits of language so they can begin to
communicate.”8
 Children do not understand abstract concepts but they are willing to learn and show
great enthusiasm and curiosity about the world around them. Jayne Moon‟s

3 http://dlia.ir/Scientific/e_book/Language_Literature/Language_Acquisition/005422.pdf , Moon, Jane,
Children Learning English, A Guidebook for English Language Teachers, Macmillan Heinemann, p. 5
accessed on 10 June, 2016
4 Ibidem, p.5
5 Ibidem, p.5
6 Ibidem, p.6
7 Ibidem, p.6
8 Ibidem, p.6

11
viewpoint is that “ They are eager to explore the ir environment and interact with
people, which helps them to construct their understand ing of the world they live
in.”9 They can do this by physical activities or by seeing what they have to learn
before their eyes . Games, movement , action songs, drama, all provide excellent
contexts for language learning. Children can get clues about the meaning from the
activity that accompanies the language. She highlights that “ The listen and do
activit ies, or learning through doing activities, are particularly useful for
beginners, as children‟s listening abilities may be far ahead of their speaking
abilities. This type of activity allow s children to be actively learning and
participating, but do es not force them to speak or produce language until they are
ready. It provides them to exposure to meaningful input.”10
 Young learners are logical, eager to play and they respond well to the activities in
which they have to talk about themselves. A primary school child enjoys talking
about himself or asking someone questions without any prompting.
 They do not always understand the adult world and sometimes they mix reality and
fiction.
 What‟s more, t hey cannot concentrate long periods , therefore they need variety in
the activities otherwise they get bored and refuse to continue the activities.
 Moon also points out that “ children have a great capacity to enjoy themselves.
When they are doing that , they are usually absorbed by the activity and want to
continue with it. ”11 If children are enjoying doing an activity for more time, they
will learn words without being aware that they are actually learning language. This
is a positive thing for language l earning, because, on one hand, “it will give them
more exposure to language input ”12 and, on the other, “more chance to practise the
language. ”13 Children will develop positive attitudes towards English because the
activities they are participating are enjoy able and pleasant. Furthermore, they are
creative and inventive and they can use their vivid imaginations.
 Children can work alone but most of the times they prefer the company of their
classmates, this makes them feel more secure and confident . Moreover, Jayne

9 Ibidem, p.7
10 Ibidem, p.8
11 Ibidem, p.6
12 Krashen, Stephens D. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition,
http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf , p.76, accessed on 14 July , 2016
13 Ibidem, p.76

12
Moon also believes that young children “show a lot of eagerness to participate and
express their ideas even though, as near beginners, they have very limited
language.”14 Considering that, the more children grow the shyer they become the
fact that at this age children are willing to express themselves is a positive aspect
for the language acquisition. Moon also acknowledges “their strong desire to
communicate means that they immediately try to use the new language and so get
more practice.”15
All these show that we need to be careful and take into account the children ‟s age and
their special development. It is also important to take into consideration that each child is
unique in his nature and that he learn s in his own way and rhythm. Harmer‟s point of view
is that “good teachers at this level need to provide a rich diet of learning experiences which
encourage their students to get information from a variety of sources. They need to work
with their students i ndividually and in groups, developing good and effective relationships.
They need to plan a range of activities for a given time period, and be flexible enough to
move on to the next exercise when they see their students getting bored.”16
Harmer acknowledg es that even though working with young children is very difficult,
that it need s a lot of time planning and dedication, it still can be rewarding seeing how they
learn and speak in the new language. In his opinion , a teacher must also pay special
attention to the organisation of the classroom. Harmer points out that “t he classroom has to
be bright and colourful, with enough room for different activities to be taking place ”17. In
addition, since the young learners‟ concentration and attention are short they n eed variety ,
variety of activities, variety of voice and variety of pace. Teachers should not be afraid of
using games and stories in teaching children because , these two are part of being a child
and they should be ex ploited at any time in a lesson and because not only games and
stories are fun, at this age, but they are also a valuable tool in the acquisition of the
language.

14 http://dlia.ir/Scientific/e_book/Language_Literature/Language_Acquisition/005422.pdf , Moon, Jane,
Children Learning English , A Guide book for English Language Teachers, Macmillan Heinemann, p. 9,
accessed on 10 June , 2016
15 Ibidem, p.9
16 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition, England, Pearson Education
Limited, 2007, p. 82
17 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition, England, Pearson Education
Limited, 2007, p. 83

13
1.2. Vocabulary and its role in the classroom

Harmer acknowledges, “If language structures make up the skeleton of languag e,
then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh. An ability to manipulate
grammatical structure does not have any potential for expressing meaning unless words are
used.”18 In Harmer‟s opinion, vocabulary occupies a special place in la nguage teaching and
learning , even though, “for many years vocabulary was seen as incidental to the ma in
purpose of language teaching – namely the acquisition of grammatical knowledge”.19
The status of vocabular y seems to be changing nowadays . Jack C. Richards and Willy
A. Renandya sustain that “for one thing, the notion of a word has been „broadened‟ to
include lexical phrases and routines, an d it has been suggested that in the initial stages of
learning these play a primary role in co mmunication and acquisition. In addition, access to
lexical corpora has made it possible for a pplied linguists to access huge samples of
language in order to find out how words are used, both by native speakers and by second
language learners. Such researc h has enabled applied linguists to i dentify common patterns
of collocation, word formation, metaphor, and lex ical phrases that are part of a speaker‟s
lexical competence. ”20
In order to be able to speak, write, listen and read, students need to acquire an
extensive vocabulary , which is a core component of language proficiency. In Richards and
Renandya‟s opinion “ without an extensive vocabulary and strategies for acquiring new
vocabulary, learners often achieve less than their potential and may be discourage d from
making use of language learning opportunities around them such as listening to the radio,
listening to native speakers, using the language in different contexts, reading, or watching
television. ”21
Children learn thousands of words in their first lan guage without much effort but
the acquisition of words in another language is not so smooth and easy. Besides, the
contexts in which they are exposed to the second language may not be as helpful as the
ones in which they learn words in the first language. Harmer considers that “one of the

18 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching , New Edition, Longman Group UK
Limited,1991,p. 153
19 Ibidem , p. 154
20 Richards, Jack C. and Renandya, Willy A., Methodology in Language Teaching – An Anthology of Current
Practice, Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 255
21 Ibidem, p.225

14
problems of vocabulary teaching is how to select what words to teach.”22 In his opinion at
lower levels, concrete words are selected because they are easier to explain, then, as
children grow older, the teachers can introduce abstract words that are more difficult to
represent or explained physically . Nevertheless, this is not the only way to introduce
words; the frequency with which the word is heard, seen and understood is o ne of the
factors that facilitate the teaching process. Furthermore, we should not forget that
nowadays, children are playing a lot o n their computer or tables and they may be surprised
to see how many words they already know.
Teaching vocabulary is quite a difficult task. More than once, students complain
about the fact that they have learnt the words but they keep forgetting them. This is why
Harmer makes a clear distinction between “active and passive vocabulary”23. Harmer says
that active vocabulary “refers to vocabulary that students have been taught or learnt – and
which they are expected to be able to use ” while passive vocabulary “refers to words
which the students will recognize when they meet them but which they probably not be
able to produce.”24 Harmer believes that as far as primary school children are concerned “it
is a good idea to provide sets of vocabulary which students can learn. Most of these early
words will be constantly practiced and so can, presumably, be considered as „active‟.”25
What‟s more, students need to learn not only single words but also they need to be
able to know what they mean and how to use them. Harmer ‟s view is obviously clear in
this respect : “some words are more likely to be taught at lower levels than others, and
some us es of words may be more sophisticated than others – and, therefore, more
appropriate for advanced students.”26 Everything depends on how a teacher introduces the
new words in the classroom and how those words are practiced in order to be memorized
in childre n‟s mind. We must always remember that young learners need variety in the
classroom and they need to play with the language, because they cannot concentrate for
long periods of time, like older students.
It is also believed that a nyone who learns a new lan guage is likely to recognize
more words than he can produce. It is difficult to produce a word correctly. The person has
to pronounce or spell the word in the right way , use it appropriately according to the

22 Jeremy, Harmer , The Practice of English Language Teaching , New Edition, Longman Group UK Limited ,
1991.p. 154
23 Ibidem, p. 159
24 Ibidem, p. 159
25 Ibidem, p. 159
26 Ibidem, p. 23

15
context or situation, use it in the correct grammatical form and so on. More often, the
receptive vocabulary of a person is larger than the productive vocabulary. A child ‟s
receptive vocabulary does not include many words, yet he is still able to follow simple
commands and seems to understand a good chunks of the language to which he is exposed.
Therefore, it is important for a teacher to create meaningful context of language for
the children. In this case, the teacher must decide not only about the amount of the words
that children need to know, bu t also, how to use these words in context, in a conversation
or in writing. Passive and active vocabulary refers to the words that a person knows and
uses in meaningful context. A passive vocabulary includes the words that children
understand but not use, while active vocabulary includes those words that learners
understand and use in speaking or writing.
In brief, al l the statements above lead to the conclusion that vocabulary is the first
and foremost factor that needs to be approached in order to master a language. Without
vocabulary – the most significant one, no other factors can be achieved.

1.2. Approaches in teaching vocabulary

Over the years , there have been many attempts to find the perfect language –
learning method. No one knows f or sure what the best method is and that is because
different students learn differently and because teaching methods have constantly changed
because society itself changes. However, as Harmer suggests “some methods are worth
discussing because they are either a) widely us ed, b) talked about a lot or c) still have
influence in modern teaching practice.”27
Moreover, Harmer makes a clear distinction among approaches, methods,
procedures and techniques. In his opinion, an approach refers “to theories about the nature
of languag e and language learning which are the sources of the way things are done in the
classroom and which provide the reasons for doing them.”28 This means that an approach
tries to describe how language is used and how people learn a foreign language . In

27 Harmer, Jeremy , Teaching Knowledge Core Concepts In English Language Teaching , Pearson Education
Limited, 2012, p.84
28 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition, Pearson Education Limited
2007, p.62

16
Harmer‟ s point of view, a method “is the practical realization of an approach.”29 The
method usually describes the material, which is helpful in the organization of the lesson,
the roles of teachers and students and the types of activities that are used in the lesson.
Harmer also states, “Methods include various procedures and techniqu es as part of their
standard fare.”30
In Harmer‟s opinion a procedure is “an ordered sequence of techniques”, while the
techniques is what is actually used in a particular sequence of a lesson, such as “the finger
techniques”, or the “silent viewing.”31
Harmer ta lks about four methods that have had a great impact on teaching and
learning languages . The first two are in his opinion “more learning -based” , while the last
two are “significantly more acquisition -like.”32
Grammar -Translation approach that Harmer refers to in his book was the first
common way of learning languages for many years. Students‟ efforts concentrated in
studying the grammar of sentences in the language they wanted to learn. They were given
many explanations of individual points of grammar and then, they translated sentences
from their language to the target language or vice versa. In this method, the content
focused on reading and writing skills. In this approach, vocabulary was a mean to explain
grammatical rules .
Carter sustained that “for many years vocabulary has been the victim of
discrimination by researchers who claimed syntax to be a more significant issue in the
language development process”.33 Moreover, Numan theorized that vocabulary “plays a
non-important role in interpreting a text than that of syntax or background knowledge as a
result, vocabulary teaching and learning has not received enough attention in English
language teaching context.34”
As Harmer points out in Grammar – Translation, “there was little if any
consideration of the spoken language .” In this approach, accuracy was more important than
fluency or vocabulary.
The second approach that Harmer explains is the Audio – Lingual methodology. In
Harmer‟s point of view, “Audio -Lingual methodology gave students a lot of spe aking

29 Ibidem, p.62
30 Ibidem, p.62
31 Ibidem, p.62
32 Ibidem, p.62
33 Carter, Ronald. & Mc. Carty Michael (Eds), Vocabulary and Language Teaching , Longman, 1997, p . 62
34 Numan, David, Language Teaching M ethodology, Prentice Hall Macmillan, 1991, p. 18

17
practice by using habit – formation drills. Students repeated sentences again and again until
they were memorized.”35 This methodology is closely connected to the theory of
Behavi ourism, which used a “stimulus -response -reinforcement approach to languag e
learning.”36
As Harmer points out “one of the main ingredients of Audio – Lingualism (language
drilling) is still used in many lessons because we believe that frequent repetition is a key to
successful learning.”37 Moreover, he highlights the fact that “one of the most popular way s
of teaching new language mixes drilling with contextualized explanation and opportunities
for language use.”38
The third main approach that Harmers refers to is the Communicative Approach ,
also known as Communicative Language Teaching. This approach, in Harmer‟s view,
“focuses on the idea that people get language if they have opportunities to use it, and that if
students have a desire to communicate and a purpose for communication (rather than just
practicing a grammar item), then language learning will „take care of itself‟.”39
In this approach, students are involved in many speaking and writing tasks. The
lesson must include meaningful conversations in which students discuss real messages .
This approach focuses on how well students can communicate; therefore, the main concern
is on content rather than on form. Communicative Language Teaching includes a variety of
games, simulations, role -plays and task – based communication activities that are meant to
help students communicate in the target language.
In his book, Harmer also talks about Task – Based learning method, where students
have to complete larger tasks, such as giving an oral presentation, arranging a meeting or
writing a newspaper article, rather than concentrating only on the language. Students study
the language if it helps them to complete the task that is the most important.
One of the approaches that was actually concerned with vocabulary acquisition was
the Lexical Approach. In the early 1990s, Michael Lewis developed the Lexical A pproach
as a method of teaching foreign languages . Lewis quoted in Harmer , believes that

35 Harmer,Jeremy, Teaching Knowledge Core Concepts In English Language Teaching , Pearson Education
Limited, 2012, p.84
36 Ibidem, p.84
37 Ibidem, p.84
38 Ibidem, p.85
39 Ibidem, p.85

18
“language consists not of traditional grammar and vocabulary but often of multi – word
prefabricated chunks. (Lewis 1997:3).”40
However, as Michael Wallace stated “vocabulary teaching is a rather complex area,
methods and techniques of teaching vocabulary should be handled in a more systematic
way”. He also suggested, “Learning a sec ond language requires learning its vocabulary in
an effective way”.41 He argued that the immobility of a learner to find a word, to express
him or herself could be a frustrating and demotivating experience on behalf of the students.
Even though the Lexical Approach was focused mainly on vocabulary teaching, it
is not without problems. As Harmer points out “no one has yet explained how the learning
of fixed and semi – fixed phrases can be incorporated into the understanding of a language
system.”42
One of the methods that still has a great influence in teaching language to young
children was developed by James Asher and it is called Total Physical Response . In this
method , the teacher gives students instructions. Students learn language by performing
those actions. The main idea of this approach is that we learn by doing things. Using
gesture and movements, we can make students follow simple instructions and by doing so ,
they acquire the language. This method relies heavily on drills, repetitions, and learners
have the role of perfor mers. In this method, the children are supposed to listen to the
teacher‟s commands and then respond to them physically.
In conclusion, e ach of these approaches has in common a core set of theories and
belie fs about the nature of language. Most teachers do not follow any one method, but they
use elements of many different approaches. A lot depends on what teachers want to
accomplish, how they get students engaged and how they motivate them to study by
offering them opportunities to communicate into the ta rget language and activate their
previous knowledge.
In communication, the appropriate choice of vocabulary plays an important role in
converting the meaning as much as grammar. Insufficient vocabulary hinders the
compreh ension of the meaning in a text .

40 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition , Pearson Education Limited ,
2007, p.74
41 Wallance, Michael, Practi ce Language Teaching : Teaching Vocabulary . London, Heine mann Educational
Books,1982,p.6
42 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition , Pearson Education Limited,
2007, p.75

19
1.4. The role of memory and motivation in vocabulary acquisition

Vocabulary a cquisition is a complex process, “new words are not learnt instantly,
but through a multi – stage, incremental process , which normally develop s from receptive to
productive vocabu lary knowledge. ”43 Language is a mean of communication, in this case,
we use language as a tool to convey ideas and decode messages, in other words , to
communicate with each other.
Vocabulary acquisit ion in children is mostly affected by the child‟s ability to repeat
back words. Children learn a new language by s tudying it and then speak ing it by using
their memory to retrieve the words that they have learnt. Therefore, memory is essential to
all learning because it allows children to encode, store and retri eve the information they
have learnt. Remembering words is just as important as learning them; young children
must be able to recognize and understand words in order to communicate, and they must be
able to retrieve previously learnt words in order to upda te those meanings with new
information. Because of the importance of retaining words, memory processes need to be
incorporated into word learning research.
According to Wikipedia, h uman memory has two different levels: short – term
memory and long- term memor y. Short –term memory is used to hold a small amount of
information while it is being processed. Long – term memory , on the other hand, contains
all our knowledge and stores unlimited amount of information to be used in the future.
Therefore , if teache rs manage to transfer the information to the long- term memory, that
information will be remembered for a long time.
As words are easy to forget, teachers must find and exploit strategies to transfer the
lexical information from the working memory to the long-term memory during the process
of learning . “This can be done by various ways, such as the Keyword Approach and
grouping the new words with already known words that are similar. Because t he known
words are already stored in the mind, relating the new w ords to them provides a hook to
remember them, so they do not forget them easily. New words that do not have this
connection are easily forgotten. ”44

43 http://www.worddive.com/blog/dont -forget -what -you-just-learned-the-role-of-memory -in-vocabulary –
acquisition/ ,accessed on 18 July , 2016
44 Accessed on 18 July, 2016 from Merriam E Al Nassir, Meaning Recall and Retention: Comparison
between Translation Method and Pictorial Method in Learning Vocabulary in Saudi‟s School

20
“Words can also be forgotten even if a word is well known, as when a learner does
not use a second language for a long time or stops a course of language study. In this case,
it is called attrition … The rate of attrition is also independent of proficiency level; that is,
students who are high proficiency level will lose about the same amount of knowledge as
those who are low proficiency level. Several studies have found that attrition usually
occurs within the first two years, and then it decreases .” 45
Moreover, the research er suggests, “ This long -term attrition is similar to short -term
forgetting. For instance, when students learn new information, they forget most of this
information immediately at the end of the learning session. After the major loss, the rate of
forgetting decreases. By understanding the nature of forgetting, teachers can organize
better review sessions that will help their students. They can also indicate the importance
of having a review session soon after the learning session. ”46
Memory is not the only t hing that can influence the acquisition of a foreign
language. Motivation is also very important because as Harmer suggests, “motivation is
essential to success.”47 That means that the more we can make the students motivated to
learn English the better resu lts we can have. Harmer also says that “an accepted distinction
is made between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation , that is motivation which comes from
„outside‟ and from „inside‟.”48 Moreover, Harmer explains, “Extrinsic motivation is the
result of any num ber of outside factors, for example the need to pass an exam, the hope of
financial reward or the possibility of future travel. Intrinsic motivation, by contrast, comes
from within the individual. Thus a person might be motivated by the enjoyment of the
learning process itself or by a desire to make themselves feel better.”49
In order to create motivation it is important to remember that c hildren have limited
attention span therefore; t o hold students‟ attention and to optimize their processing and
assimilat ion of information , the activities used within the lesson should chang e at frequent
intervals. Children will learn and remember new words better if they are involved in
different activities during the lesson. The challenge for the teacher is to find ways of

http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/webclient/DeliveryManager/digitool_items/csu01_storage/2012/06/22/file
_6/16 1921 page.25
45 Ibidem, p. 25
46 Ibidem, p. 25
47 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition , Pearson Education Limited ,
2007, p.98
48 Ibidem, p. 98
49 Ibidem, p. 98

21
ensuring that students do store and remember important information and one way of doing
this is the use of games and stories. Because children are by nature curious and they like to
have fun, games and stori es can motivate children in learning languages as they provide a
game -like communication and interactive tasks.
Another thing to remember is that children, at this age, as Harmer claims “often
seek teacher‟s approval: the fact that the teacher notices the m and shows appreciation for
what they are doing is of vital importance.”50 Therefore, when teaching young children, it
is important to encourage them to participate in the activities and to make them believe that
they can succeed. A positive atmosphere in the classroom, respect and rewards can all
sustain children‟s motivat ion in learning English.

50 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching , New Edition, Longman Group UK Limited,
1991,p.7

22
CHAPTER II – VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH GAMES

2.1. Building vocabulary.

Vocabulary development is essential for any English learner, without adequate
vocabulary knowledge, students cannot fully understand what they read or write and they
will have difficulty with content instruction. Students with good vocabulary knowledge
will comprehend texts more easily which , will leads them to more extensive reading, and
therefore, more vocabulary growth. Vocabulary is better learnt within the context of
interesting activities that promote students active involvement and provide varied
opportunities for them to practice and apply knowledge of new words.
Walla ce states, “Learning a foreign language is basically a matter of learning the
vocabulary of that language”51. Moreover, McCarty acknowledges that, “the best way of
teaching vocabulary is not teaching students to memorize without context of sentences, to
pronounce words, but learning of its grammar”.52
There are several principles for successful teaching, which are valid for any method.
Accordin g to Wallace , these principles are:
 Aim: In Wallace ‟s opinion, teacher must decide which word his /her students
should master . A teacher should teach high-frequency words or sentences.
 Quantity : teacher must decide the number of vocabulary items to be learnt,
how many words in the lesson can be taught in order for learners to be able
to remember them . Students would be confused, discouraged and frustrated
if they found too many words.
 Need : in teaching vocabulary , a teacher has to choose high -frequency
words. Students should be put in a situation where they have to communicate
and get the words they need.
 Frequent exposure and repetitions : when teaching vocabulary of a foreign
language, teachers should teach new wo rds. They have to repeat them to
make sure the students have already remembered and understood them.

51 Wallace, Michael, Practice Language Teaching: Teaching Vocabulary . London, Heinemann Educational
Books, 1982, p.6
52 Mc. Carty, Michael , Vocabulary , Oxford University Press ,1990,p.5

23
There must be a certain amount of exposure and repetition until the students
know for sure the meaning of the words or sentences they learn.
 Meaningful presentation : this refers to the fact that learner s must have a
clear picture and understand what they learn. Therefore , teacher s should
know for sure the words or sentences and only then, they must present them
to students .
 Situation presentation : Wallace points out that it is important to help
children use appropriate words in different situations.
Learning the vocabulary of a language is a more complex process than it might
appear at first sight.
According to Harmer, “knowing a word involves know ing its form and its meaning
at the basic level. In deeper aspects, it means the abilities to know its
 meaning , i.e. relate the word to an appropriate object or context ;
 usage , i.e. knowledge of its collocations, metaphors and idioms and, as well
as style and register, to be aware of any connotations and a ssociations the
word might have;
 word formation , i.e. ability to spell and pronounce the word correctly, to
know any derivations (acceptable prefixes and suffixes) ;
 grammar , i.e. to use i t in the appropriate grammatical form. ”53
Moreover, when dealing with vocabulary, Penny Ur considers that teachers should
pay close attention to:
 “Form: Pronunciation and spelling . Students must know what a word
looks like and what it sounds like.
 Grammar . The grammar of a new item will need to be taught if this is
not obviously covered by general grammatical rules .
 Collocation . Collocation refers to words that generally go together. Even
though it is possible to use other word combinations, understanding
collocations helps English learners improve their fluency.
 Aspects of meaning: denotation, connotation, appropriateness .
Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the „ dictionary
definition.‟ Appropriateness refers to how the words are used in a ce rtain

53 Harmer, Jeremy , The Practice of English Language T eaching, Longman Group UK Limited, 1993, p.68

24
context, if they are more suitable for formal or informal discourse or
belong to a certain dialect.
 Aspects of meaning: meaning relationships . How the meaning o f one
item r elates to the meaning of others can also be u seful in teaching ( are
they synonyms , antonyms , hyponym )
 Word formation . This refers to the fact that v ocabulary items, w hether
one-word or multi -word, can often be broken down into their component
bits.”54
In conclusion, w hen teaching new vocabulary items, each teache r should bear in
mind the level of his or her learners. Teaching beginners would be different from teaching
advanced learners and teaching nine years old would require different ways of presentation
and aids than at fifteen year s old .

2.1.1. Techniques for presenting the new vocabulary
V ocabulary is a necessary ingredient for any kind of communication. There are two
main categories of words usually presented in a language classroom: incidental words
(thrown up unfamiliar vocabulary from mini -talk, discussion) and intentional words (pre-
selected and in text) vocabulary.
Fully knowing a word involves understanding its form and meaning, what part of
speech it is, how it is spelt and pronounced , all the m eanings it can have. This complex
process cannot take place the first time a learner meets a new word. It may take learners a
long time to fully understand and use a word. Consequently , at first students will probably
just learn its most f requent denotativ e meaning, then its pronunciation and spelling .
Language teachers are responsible for creating conditions that encourage vocabulary
expansion, and a well – chosen way of presenting the meaning can help the learners acquire
new words better.
When deciding what vocabulary to teach and know , it is important to take into
consideration many factors . For example, Thornbury makes five suggestions on what
vocabulary to teach and know:
1. “Learner‟s level (whether beginners, intermediate or advanced)

54 Accessed on 19 Julie, 2016 from: https://sacunslc.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/penny -ur-a-course -in-
language -teaching -practice -of-theory -cambridge -teacher -training -and-development -1996.pdf

25
2. Learner‟s level of familiarity with the words (learners may have met the words
before even though they are not part of their active vocabulary)
3. Difficulty of the words (whether they express abstract rather than concrete
meanings or whether they are difficult to pronounce)
4. Teachability – they can be easily explained or demonstrated
5. W ords to be used for production (in speaking and writing) or for recognition only
(as in listening and reading). ”55
When presenting vocabulary in class, it is helpful to remember what Nation
emphasized, “ Learning vocabulary is a cumulative process and it must be deliberate d by
taught, learned and recycled”.56
There are several techniques in teaching vocabulary and according to Ruth Gairns
and Stuart Redman, these are:57
A. Visual techniques
In teaching the meaning of words, we should try to establish a link between the word
and the meaning by usi ng one of the following techniques , depending on the word to be
taught.
a.) realia for example , objects in the class, including the students, themsel ves and
others brought to class;
b.) pictures, photos, blackboard drawings, flashcards, slides, transparencies and wall
charts ;
c.) mime, gestures, actions, facial expressions .
B. Verbal techniques , which includes :
a.) Use of oral or written illustrative situation
b.) Contrast and opposites
c.) Use of synonym and definition
d.) Scales
e.) Examples of the types
C. Translation
Visual techniques are maybe one of the most useful way s to introduce and practice
vocabulary because they use authentic material. One way of presenting words is to bring

55 Thornbury, Scott ., How to T each Vocabulary , Longman, Pearson Education Limited,2002, p.121
56 Nation, Ian, Stephen, Paul , Learning Vocabulary in Another L anguage , Cambridge University P ress,2001
57 Gairns , Ruth and Redman, Stuart, Working with Words: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Vocabulary ,
Cambridge, Cambridge U niversity Press, 1986, p. 73 -76

26
concrete objects into the classroom. The teacher shows the object, says the word and th en
gets students to repeat it. One of the most common ways to teach vocabulary is using
pictures or flashcards. Pictures give teachers the possibility to catch children‟s attention
more easily, teach vocabulary in a n enjoyable way and exemplify the concepts without
translation . However, sometimes it is impossible to explain the meaning of a word using
realia or pictures. In such a case, other techniques can be used, for example, g esture and
mine can help teacher explain actions .
As the author s suggest verbal techniques are anot her way to present vocabulary . In
these techniques , any communicative activity can be used to infer meaning from the
context . The context must be clear and adapted to the students‟ level of language, because
otherwise, learners may get confused and refuse to work with that particular situation. As
suggested by the author, with low -level students synonyms, antonyms and definition s can
also be used. However, certain knowledge of the language as well as general knowledge is
required when we use definitions and situations to explain the meaning. Learners need to
have an appropriate lexicon to be able to identify the described word.
New vocabulary can also be presented by using translation . Harmer suggests, “There
are many occasions when using the students‟L1 in the classroom has many obvious
advantages.”58 Moreover, he claims that using translation in the classroom can make it
easier for the teacher to “make comparison between the L1 and the L2.”59 That means that
students will be able to see the differences and similarities between their language and the
foreign language more easily. Harmer‟s point of view is that “translation can als o be a very
good way of reviewing how well students have understood grammar and lexis at the end of
a unit of study.”60 Nevertheless, Harmer also sustains that “There are problems with an
unquestioning use of the students‟ L1 in the L2 classroom, just as th ere were with the idea
of a total ban on its appearance.”61 He believes that the over -use of translation will “restrict
the students‟ exposure to English.”62 The teacher is probably the most important source
that students have regarding English; therefore, H armer says “the more time we spend
speaking English, the better. ”63

58 58 Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition , Pearson Education Limited ,
2007, p.133
59 Ibidem, p.133
60 Ibidem, p.133
61 Ididem, p.134
62 Ibidem, p.134
63 Ibidem, p.134

27
To sum up, y oung learners have highly developed the ability to be able to understand
what is being said to them even when they do not understand the individual words.
Gesture , facial expressions , intonation and actions will all help them understand what the
message probably mean. By understanding the message in this way , they learn new words,
concepts, expressions and they start to understand the language . We can introduce and
practice vocabulary in various ways and we should always consider the fact that if
vocabulary items are presented in attractive way s they are easier acquired and remembered
for a longer period of time.

2.1.2. Various types of games in language teaching
The role of vocabulary is to avoid forgetting words already known. Revising
vocabulary is very important as students tend to forget it if they are not exposed to these
words in different contexts. One way to faster their learning is using games.
In Games for Langu age Learning , the authors clearly point out why teachers should
use games in language teaching. Gam es are not just warmer of a lesson , because they can
be used at any stage of the lesson to revise a massive amount of vocabulary in a few
minutes.
According to them, “games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest
and work.”64 Since learning a language requires a great effort, games help students to
understand and use language in a pleasant way. Moreover, the authors suggest that through
games , teachers can “create contexts in which language is useful and meaningful .”65
The teacher may make use of many types of games . They are aimed to develop
different kinds of skills that we want students to acquire . In order to benefit from games,
teachers should often change the type of games used in the classroom.
An experienced teacher is also able to recognize situation s when a game is needed to
be introduced to change the classroom atmosphere; therefore, she/he should have several
games on hand at all times.

64 Wright , Andrew, Betteridge , David and Buckby, Michael , Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition , 2006, p.2
65 Ibidem, p.2

28
In the following section , various games will be introduced; according to the type of
activity, they benefit the most . However, it needs to be mentioned that no game uses only
one type of activity or practices only one skill.

2.1.3. Listening games
Carol Read points out “ When children start learning English at primary and secondary
schools, there is usually an emphasis on developing listening and speaking skills. Through
listening to English, children are led naturally into speaking. ”66 Children start using sing le
words and formulaic language and then they develop the ability to produce language and to
interact with others in a more extended way.
Listening is usually seen as a passive part o f the lesson, which, in fact, is quite the
opposite. It is obvious that listening is the skill that children acquire first, especially if they
have not learnt to read.
When students first learn a foreign language, they rely heavily on the teacher‟s voice .
As suggested in cha pter one, the teacher is the main source of language that children have
at this age. The teacher can use visual techniques and verbal techniques to help children
acquire language such as realia, facial expression, flashcards, pictures or mine .
We should n ot forget that once something has been said then it disappears. We can read
a text, as many times, as we want in order to understand it but when we are liste ning to
something we cannot re -listen it in the same way ; so, it is necessary for teachers to say
things clear ly and to repeat them. Therefore , children, have to concentrate very hard when
they are listening.
It is also worth remembering that y oung learners have a very short attention span. This
is something that deve lops with age for most students and, since young children can not sit
still and listen for longer periods, Scott and Ytreberg advise, “It is important not to
overload children when we are working on listening tasks. ”67 If we want our students to
enjoy listening we mus t bring it closer to them and we must choose a topic they are
familiar with, or a song they would like to hear. We can use many activities using listening ,
not as an aim of lesson, which makes it always more stressful, but as a means to

66 Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for T eachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007 , p.17
67 Scott, Wendy A. and Ytreberg, Lisbeth H. Teaching English to Children , Longman keys to language
teaching, Pearson E ducation Limited, United Kingdom 1995 , p.22

29
accomplish a different task, be it completing the lyrics of a song, getting correct
instructions for playing a computer game or obtaining information about interesting people
or places. In a similar way, listening games can be used in order to maintain the students‟
attention and interest. To ensure the effort put into the listening game and to exploit it
completely , the teacher can continue the listening game with consequent post -activities.
Some listening activities will wake our st udents up, make them move about or
create noise. Other activities will calm them down or will make them concentrate even
harder on the given task, but all of them should create a pleasant and comfortable
atmosphere.
We can use many listening games and activities in a lesson , but here , I will only
concentrate on those listening games that are suitable for primary and secondary school
pupils.

Listen and do activities
Most classroom language is a type of Total Physical Response activity . In such
activities, students must listen to a comman d and then they must physically respond to it.
Scott and Ytreberg‟s points of view is that in listen and do activities “ Communication is
two- way, an d you can see very easily if students have understood the message or not. ”68

Moving about
The younger the students, the more physical activities they need. Children cann ot
concentrate a long time, therefore they need exercise and movement, and the teacher
should make use of this wherever possible. In Teaching English to Children , the author s
suggests that “this kind of games is good because it gives the teacher the opportunity to
know at once if the chi ldren have understood, to check classroom vocabulary, movement
words, counting, spelling and so on. Students learn from each other and if they h ave not
understood the first time, they‟ ll still be able to do the activity by watching the others. The
teacher can ask children to do all sorts of crazy things -„stand on your head by the door‟;
„hop on your left foot five times‟; „ count to ten and then wa lk to the blackboard and
back ‟”.69

68 Scott , Wendy A . and Ytreberg, Lisbeth H . Teaching English to Children , Longman keys to language
teaching, Pearson Education Limi ted, United Kingdom 1995, p. 23
69 Ibidem, p.23

30
Mime stories
In a mine story , the teacher tells a story and the n the pupils and the teacher do the
actions. This game provides physical movement and gives the teacher a chance to play
along with the pupils. The teacher tells a story in which actions play a major part, and
encourages the learners to act it out. One such exam ple can be found in Games for Language
Learning .
Teacher: “You‟ve got a little cat in a box. Put the box on your desk.
Say, „Sit still. Don‟t move.‟ Now stroke the little cat and
say, „You‟re a nice ca t.‟ Take the cat out of the box, very
carefully and slowly. Put it down. Give it some milk in a
saucer. Don‟t spill it! Say, „Do you like the milk?‟ Stroke
the cat again. Now say, „Come on, little cat. Let me put
you in the box.‟ Pick up the cat carefully and put it back
in the box. Say, „Stay there. Go to sleep. Go to sleep, little
cat.‟
Show your friend your little cat. Tell her what it‟s like and
what it is doing. ”70

Listen and draw
This is a favourite type of listening activity in all classes . In these games , the
teacher or a student tells the other students what to draw. This activity is useful for
checking object vocabulary, prepositions, colours, and numbers. The children may describe
a picture, an animal or a place, but we must take under consideration that drawing can
sometimes be difficult, so we need to be careful to keep the pictures simple.

Listening for information
These activities can motivate our students to look for specific information or for
details. They are often used to check what the students know, but they can also be used to
give them new information. Here we can include activities like identifying exercises,
listening for mistakes, putting things in order, questionnaires, listen and co lour, filling in
missing information etc.

Listen and repeat
Listen and repeat activities , are motivating and give the pupils the chance to get to
feel the language. When these activities are combined with movement and pictures, they

70 Wright , Andrew, Betteridge , David and Buckby, Michael , Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition, 2006, p.47

31
also help to establi sh the link between words and meaning. Young learners of English love
rhyme and like to repeat them again and again. “ Rhymes are repetitive, they have natural
rhythm and they have an element of fun, of playing with the language. Children play with
the language in their mother tongue, so this is a familiar part of their world, and it has an
important part to play in their learning process.”71
We can also use songs since children love to sing and drills are a great way to make
students repeat and learn wo rds.

Listening to stories
Children like stories and the authors suggest that listening to stories “should be part
of growing up for every child. ”72 Stories have a crucial role in the child‟s development,
and, therefore, in the development of language. Stories can be used in many different ways
in the classroom . Students can tell stories themselves, they can use traditional fairy tales,
they can create stories with other students, or they can simply read stories aloud from a
book.

2.1.4. Speaking games
Speaking is perhaps the mos t demanding skill for language teach ing. If it is easy for
children to express themselves in their mother tongue, then they expect to be able to do the
same in English. The authors of „ Teaching E nglish to C hildre n‟ make it perfectly clear that
“part of the magic of teaching young children a foreign language is their unspoken
assumption that the foreign language is just another way of expressing what they want to
express, but there are limitations because of their la ck of actual language.”73
Carol Read acknowledges that t here are two things to consider when referring to
speaking : these are spoken interaction and spoken production . In her opinion, “ Spoken
interaction refers to the ability to ask and answer questions and handle exchanges with

71 Scott, Wendy A. and Ytreberg, Lisbeth H. Teaching English to Children , Longman k eys to Language
Teaching, Pearson Education Limited, United Kingdom 1 995, p. 27
72 Ibidem,p.28
73 Ibidem, p.33

32
others, whereas spoken production refers to the ability to produce language, for example,
in a rhyme, a description or an account, such as retelling a story.”74
When children start learnin g English, they need to receive language before they can
produce it themselves. Therefore, at this stage some games provide the learners
considerable support in the language needed for the game, while other games will offer
them the context for speaking , but no specific language focus or support.
In playing games, the students might make mistakes in their use of the language. It
is important to know how to correct mistakes in this case, because, students might lose
confidence in themselves and refuse to speak. Therefore, it is better to let learners finish,
and only then focus on correcting their mistakes. Another way to do this could be by
noting the mistake and focusing on it later, when the speaking is over.
For little childre n it is important to use sentences that are true and accompanied by
the appropriate actions and sounds. One way of presenting language to young learners is
through puppets or a class mascot. The authors of Teaching English to Children suggest that
“having someone familiar constantly at hand with whom you can have conversations about
anything and everything is a wonderful way of introducing new subjects and new language
to young children. For example, if you use a Teddy as your mascot, to can use Teddy to
ask question s. Pupils can ask through Teddy, „Teddy wants to know….‟ You can present
dialogues with Teddy as your partner.”75 Once the teacher has given the model, students
can ask the mascot all sorts of questions and the mascot can provide all sorts of answ ers.

Describe and draw
This type of activity can vary according to the student‟s age, for young learners the
teacher can use simple drawings or pictures, and the instructions must be clear and simple.
The game can be played in pairs; one student can see the picture and he has to describe it
for the other student. David Wright et al. describe the rules of the game in the following
way “t he artist must not see the original. The describer can see both the original and the
copy being made. Alternatively , to m ake the game more challenging, have the learners sit
back to back so that the describer cannot see the copy being made. This is a classic
„information gap‟ gam e of the communicative approach , in which ; one person has the

74 Read, Carol , 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for T eachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007 , p.18
75 Ibidem, p. 35

33
information that the other does not have and needs. Language is used to bridge the gap.
This game represents a communal effort and there is absolutely no reason why the artist
should feel humiliated if their drawing does not turn out well. Indeed much of the success
or otherwise of the arti st‟s drawing is the result of the quality of communicative
competence of the describers. ”76

Describe and identify
The game can be played in many different ways. The teacher can start the game by
describing something and then asking the class to identify what has been described. The
subject and language the teacher uses should be appropriate to the learners‟ level of
proficiency and the language he or she want s to practise with them. The authors suggest
the following variation “r ather than allowing the l earners to call out, ask them first to tell
their neighbours what they think you have described. Then ask for suggestions from the
class. Ask one of the more confident learners to take one of the word cards at random from
your hand. He or she must describe the meaning of the word on the card so well that others
can identify what it is. Give each learner a card and instruct him or her to prepare a written
description of the word on the card. This task is ideal for homework .”77

Compare, match and group
These games are fun because students can take part in a conversation and learn
language even though they are not aware of that. They can compare two or more pictures,
talk about differences or similitudes in two or more pictures. The teacher can write or s how
three words and ask the children to find as many things as possible that might connect
them.

Remember
In these games, students must describe things they have seen or heard. There are
many ways to play this sort of game. The students can be asked to describe the objects in
their classroom or a place they see every day. They can describe what his or her classmates

76 Wright, Andrew, Betteridge ,David and Buckby, Michael , Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition, 2006, p.28
77 Ibidem, p.29

34
are wear ing or what they were wearing yesterday. The teacher can show a picture and they
have to describe it from memory.

Colour dictation
In this game , learners have to listen and colour a picture following instructions. The
speaking part of this activity can b e turned into a memory game by asking children to turn
over the completed picture before describing it.

Role -play
Another useful communicative activity in which vocabulary can be in troduced and
practiced is role -play. Role -plays can be a very powerful tool because , the students can
pretending to be someone else , like a famous person , or a shop assistant, or a parent. For
young learners role -play is more difficult , so at first, they need practice before being able
to produce dialogues themselves. In real role-play, the language used comes from the
students themselves, so they need to be familiar with the language needed before doing the
role-play. The roles that the students play can be given to them orally, but if they can read,
then it is easier to give them written cue cards.
Dialogues and role-play are useful speaking activities because , the students not only
receive language, but they must also produce language. They must le arn to ask and answer
questions in an appropriate way , but also make use of the other parts of speaking a
language, which refers to stress, intonation and facial expression. These activities are
entertaining, motivate students and increase self – confidence of the shy ones.

Board games
Board games are probably the most used games in language teaching at all levels.
At least they are the easiest to understand by the young students and their collection and
presentation is quick and easy. Most of the used board games can be found from textbooks
themselves but the teacher can also take lib erties and design an original game him or
herself. Depending on the game, either the students learn by actively doin g and
experimenting themselves , or by socializing with o ther students and lear ning by following
their actions.
Board games are usually played in groups. All you need is a dice. Once the dice is
thrown the students landing on a square must answer the question or follow the instructions

35
that are given in that sq uare. Board games will help you practice just about any English
language skill you want to practice . (See Appendix 2)

Fashion show
The aims of the game is to describe what people are wearing, using present
continuous, has/have got, clothes and colours. The teacher can ask students to prepare and
bring clothes from home for the fashion show. The teacher divides the class in four groups
and each group must present a fashion show and make commentaries about it. With
younger students, they can prepare their commentaries before doing the fashion show.
While the groups do their fashion show, the rest of the class must find, for example, the
clothes they liked the best or three things that are similar or different from their show.
This game is fun and gives students a real purpose for speaking in English .

2.1.5 . Reading games
Reading is closely connected with the student‟s background exper iences, feelings,
needs and purposes. With young learners, reading should be delayed until they have
acquired some reading proficiency in their first language.
In Carol Read‟s opinion, “ Reading activities should be meaningful, create a reason,
and purpose for reading which practice one or more sub -skills. This include de -coding
written language, skimming a text for global understanding, scanning a text for specific
information, inferring implicit meaning in a text and unders tanding the writer‟s
intention.”78
Just as with listening skills, reading activities can be built by using three types of
activities, such as, before, while and after -reading tasks. Before -reading activities will
create interest and motivation for reading, while after reading activities are meant to
practice understanding of the text.
Most of the games presented here are meant to help children look for and respond
to meaning rather than respond to a text in a formal way.

78 Read, Carol , 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for T eachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007 , p.49

36
Do –move, mime, draw, and obey
What is my mime ? – In playing this game, the students show understanding of a text
by miming it. This game implies skimming and scanning a series of texts to find one
corresponding to actions being mimed. It can be played in pairs , or one of the students
come s in front of the classroom and mine s the action of a text while the others must
recognize the text in front of them .
Just like all language games, there are many different way s to play this game.
David Wright et al. suggest that “t here is a musical chairs version of this game, where
learners walk around a line of chairs (one chair for each person) listening to music. One
chair is removed and then the music stops and all the learners try to sit down. The one
learner who cannot sit down not only loses his seat, but must also mime one of the
sentences before being out of the game .”79

Compare, match and group
These games develop student‟s ability to skimming for gist in ord er to match pairs
of cards. According to Andrew Wright et al. ‟s view , in this game “t he teacher needs a set
of 10 pairs of cards for each group of three to four players. The pairs of cards can relate to
each other in a range of ways, according to the language needs of the learners. Invite the
learners to form groups of three or four. Give each group a set of cards, and help them
become familiar with the pairs. A simple way to do this is to invite them to muddle all the
cards face up and then see how quickly they can pair them together. Ask the learners to
shuffle the cards and lay them face down so that th e pictures and/or writing on the cards
cannot be seen. It does not matter if the players see the cards being put down and if they try
to remember where the pairs were placed. The first players in all the pairs then pick up two
of the cards. If they think their cards match, they make some appropriate comment to the
others, before picking them up. ”80
Jumbled texts
This game involve s cooperatively sequencing pieces of a jumbled text, first
skimming for meaning to establish a quick order, then scanning for detail to confirm its
accuracy .

79 Wright, Andrew, Betteridge ,David and Buckby, Michael, Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition, 2006, p.81
80 Ibidem, p.85

37
The rules of the game are described by the authors “you will need a short text cut
into pieces and reproduced enough times for each group of learners to have a copy; one
complete copy of the text for the teacher; an envelop e for each jumbled copy of the text.
When choosing and cutting up your text, keep the following in mind:
1. Your text may be an article, a story, a joke, a poem, a letter, an essay, an argument, etc.
2. You may wish to cut the text into paragraphs, verses, sentences or even half sentences.
3. Interest is added if you choose illustrated texts.
4. The game can be graded in difficulty by (a) the text you choose; (b) the number of
pieces you cut the text into; (c) the degree to which pictures (if there are any) help to give
the meaning of the text.”81

Wall dictation
The aims of this game are to read, dictate and write missing words in a text and to
use communication strategies appropriately. In this game any language and vocabulary can
be introduce and revise. For this game, the teacher needs short texts on coloured cards for
each group or pictures, w hich match the texts.
Depending on the size of the class, the teacher display s one or more copies of the
text on the classroom wall or on a table. The teacher d ivide s the learners into pairs . Then
she or he explai ns children that the objective of this game is for the group to get the text
from the card on the wall into their notebooks , as fast as they can . One student, from each
pair runs to the text and tries to memorize it in order to dictate the text to his or her partner.
The first pair to complete the task wins the game.
Many students tend to speak very quietly as they are shy, feeling their English is
not enough or they are not sure about the right expression or pronunciation. They have no
choice but to speak l oud enough during this game and therefore , it helps them build
confidence. Children generally enjoy the physica l movement during this activity.
This game integrates listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and helps
develop children‟s memory. They also provide a framework for encouraging children to
collaborate, listen to each other and take turns.

81 Ibidem, p.87

38
2.1.6. Writing activities
Young children may still be learning to write therefore, teachers must know which
skills the students are practising in a writing task. The writing process is a complex one
and as Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster suggest “pupils also need practice in how to use
specific structural patterns to form sentences, how to organise descriptions, comparisons
and instructions in writing or how to plan layout, as in a letter or poster.”82 In their opinion ,
all these are part of the writing process and they need to be practice in order to become
more familiar and easier for chil dren.
Moreover, Wendy A. Scott and Lisbeth H. Ytreberg consider that “Lots of
structures in the language appear more frequently in writing, and, perhaps most important
of all, when we write we have the time to go back and think about what we have written.
Writing activities, like oral activities, go from being tightly contro lled to being completely
free. In general, controlled and guided activities are being done to practise the language
and concentration is on the language itself. Free activities should allow for self-expression
at however low a level and content is what mat ters most. ”83
With young learners, copying is the fairly obvious starting point for writing. This
activity gives the teacher the chance to practice the language that has been presented orally
or through reading. Moreover, we can vary copying by doing dict ation, introducing short
stories and even encourage them to create their own story or write invitations or reports.
We can play a game in which we write a short, familiar sentence on the board, give the
children a few seconds to look at it, and then rub it out and see if the children can write it
down.
Writing is difficult at this level of language; therefore, teachers must find
meaningful context and situation for the writing activities in order to create interest and
motivation for the children.
The following writing activities can be exploited in the primary and secondary
English classes.

82 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf ,
Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language
Teachers, British Council 2002 accessed on 10 July 2016 , p.41
83 Scott , Wendy A. and Ytreberg, Lisbeth H. Teaching English to Children , Longman keys to language
teaching, Pearson Education Limited, Uni ted Kingdom 1995 , p. 69

39
Dictation
Dictation is a very safe type of exercise when the language is elementary and
simple. Dictations at this level should be short, have a purpose and be co nnected to the
work, which has gone before or comes after; it should be read or said at normal speed.

Story circle
The students sit in a story circle and each has a blank sheet of paper. We dictate a
sentence, and then ask them to write the next sentence in the story . When they have written
the sentence, they all pass their papers to the person next to them. Each student now writes
a sentence for the story he or she has in front of him or her . For each new sentence, they
pass the papers to the per son next to them again. When the papers get back to the original
writers, they have to write a conclusion. The students can rewrite a fairy tale and make it as
funny as possible.
With secondary school students, we can play the island game. We can ask them to
create an island and imagine that there is a treasure on it , and they have to write the
directions for others to find the treasure . Alternatively, they can write letters to famous
people or fictional characters.

Category writing game
This kind of game is funny and it gives teachers the opportunity to practice and
revise vocabulary in an enjoyable way. The rules of the game are simple. The classroom is
divided into two or three groups. Each group has a leader. The teacher writes on the board
a word related to a certain topic, for example animal, fruit, and so on. At this point, the
groups must write down as many words as they can which belong to that category. The
group gets one point for each word. In this game correcting spelling is very important and
so is the time that the groups have to complete the game.
Even through writing at this level is quite difficult , we should try to encourage our
students to write, to express themselves on paper , because it is a good way for us to see
what mistakes they make, and what language items the learners can use correctly .
Andrew Wright et al. explain, “Many who are visual learners need to wri te in order
to engage their way of learning; they need to see the language. Writing with this purpose
means that it is relevant even for learners who take no written examinations. Writing just

40
like reading must have a purpose; the students must make sense of what they are writing
and whom they are writing to. ”84
Many children find writing as one of the most difficult thing to do in English.
Therefore, at this level, the teacher should concentrate on those exercises that will reflect
the children‟s world and help them to consolidate language in a pleasant and enjoyable
way. Teachers usually do more guided activities at the beginning but they must not exclude
very simple free activities, because it is important to let children express themselves, even
at this level of language. These free activities will provide variety in the classroom and
they will encourage creativity and learners independence.

2.1.7. Vocabulary games
Just as discussed in chapter one, vocabulary plays an important role in learning how
to communicate in a foreign language. One of the main concerns of any teacher is how to
extend the learners‟ vocabul ary, right from the earliest stages. Learning vocabulary implies
not only attaching meaning to the word, but also remembering the form of that word and
being able to use it in an appropriate situation. As told before, meaning can be explained
through trans lation, but the aim in this section is to explain how vocabulary can be
introduced and practiced in a more pleasant way for both students and teachers.

Ice – breaker and warmer games
Ice – breakers and warmer games are meant to help learners feel comfortable with
each other. They can also make students feel confident and help them concentrate on the
language lesson rather than on other things. Ideal students ar e those who are creative,
happy and thoughtful and are willing to work together with othe r learners. We can help
them develop all these qualities using ice – breakers games with a new class and with
students who know each other we can use warmers . If a game is well chosen, it can be a
great way of warming people and helping them to focus their minds .
The furniture arranged attractively, curious ob jects, coloured cloths, smiling faces
drawn on the board and m usic playing; pictures on the walls can all help to get the lesson
off to a good start. Some of the games that will be presented here can be found in Carol

84 Wright, Andrew, Betteridge ,David and Buckby, Michael, Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition, 2006 , p.58.

41
Read book, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom and in Games for Language
Learning , written by Andrew Wright, David Betteridge and Michael Buckby .
Learning names
It is usually easy to play this game with students who meet each other for the first
time. All they have to do is mill about in the classroom, while the teacher plays some
music. When the music stops, the students must introduce themselves to another student .

Find someone who …
This well-known game prepares students to ask and answer questions giving
personal information. Any familiar language, vocabulary and grammar structure can be
revised using this game.
The teacher writes three or four instructions on the board and asks students to copy
them into their notebooks. Teachers use a sentence such as Find someone who… ; for
example, Find someone who likes football . Some other examples could be:
Find someone who has a brother .
Find someone who has been to another country.
Find someone who plays the computer after school.
After demonstrating how the game is played, the children have to walk around the
class, find a friend who answers yes to one of the questions and write his/her name in the
table. They should find different friends for each question . Children sit down once the
tables are complete.
Carol Read suggests, “In order to ensure children use English during the activity,
you may like to build in a rule that they should only answer questions if they are in
English.”85 As soon as the children have found friends for ea ch question, the teacher can
ask them to write sentences or find other questions that could be used next.
All these games can create a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom and the children will
have the opportunity to use the language they know in order to find out the information
they need to complete the task. It is also true that some of them will probably try to use
their native language as well, but most of them will struggle to fulfil the games using
English as much as possible. These types of games a re also a great tool for teachers to help
students know each other and stimulate cooperation among them.

85 Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for Teachers, Macmi llan
Publishers Limited, 2007 p. 14

42
Another example of how children can get to know each other and cooperate among
them could be by using Questions and questionnaires . These questions and
questionnaires can be used for any topic in the classrooms. For young children they are
useful because they can ask and answer questions according to their level of language,
thus, they will not be frustrated because they do not understand the questions or because
they cannot find words to answer to them. With older students, the questions can be more
personal and demanding.
Teacher must simply e xplain to the learners that the game is based on questions,
which are used to find out more about other people in the class. They can ask f or example:
What‟s your name?
Where do you come from?
How old are you ?
Do you have brothers or sisters ?
What‟s your favourite movie?
Teacher t ells students to leave their seats, mill about, and put questions to at least
three other people. “When students have finished, the teacher can invite the class to sit in a
circle, and ask each learner to describe a classmate using all the information gathered. To
make it even more fun, t he rest of the class should try to guess the person referred to. ”86
Young children like to play and in doing so , they can also learn without even
realizing it. Among the games that my students like are Identify guessing games and I
spy game. These games have many variations and they can be used at any point during a
lesson.
Andrew Wright et al. suggest the following questions :
“What is it? It‟s a …
We can express uncertainty:
I don‟t know. It could be a …
I‟m not sure. I think it‟s a …
I know what it is, but I don‟t know what it‟s called.
I know what it‟s called in (Swedish), but I don‟t know what it‟s called in English. ”87

86 Ibidem, p.38
87 Ibidem, p. 94

43
These games can be used for d escribing objects and speculating about them , asking
questions about objects and their owners or s peaking whole sentences, e.g. lines from a
song, and identifying the speakers .
In Games for Language L earning , the authors give the following example: “ You
will need about ten small objects of different shapes and sizes and a piece of cloth, a thin
towel, or a headscarf, which must be large enough to cover four or five of the objects. For
pair work, you should provide enough objects and pieces of cloth, etc., to keep all the
learners occupied. If the objects are ver y different, then it is not really a challenge to
identify them by touch, so choose some, which are similar to feel, e.g. pens/pencils, coins
of different denominations, plastic bags/paper bags, screws/nails (optional) . You could
provide some pairs of glov es, to make feeling more of a challenge.
Note : Instead of a covering cloth, you may choose to conceal the objects for touching in a
box or bag.
Procedure
1. Make sure that the learners know the names of the majority of the objects , which you
have collected.
2. Put four or five of the objects under the cloth on a table without the class seeing which
ones you have chosen.
3. Ask a learner to feel one of the objects through the cloth and to tell you what they think
it is. Let the learner remove the object to see if they were correct.
4. Repeat with other learners
The learners may touch the objects and then describe it or they can hear a voice and
they have to guess who is talking and so on. ”88
This game is very useful to practice vocabulary that stud ents have already learnt
and to see if they can use the language correctly to describe the object. Young children
may find this game a little difficult, but children love to play and this game can encourage
them to use the simple bits of language they know in order to describe the object.

I spy game
I spy game , just as any other guessing game can be used in the following way: “at
the beginning teacher chooses an object in the classroom and then say I spy with my little

88 Wright, Andrew, Betteridge ,David and Buckby, Michael , Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition, 2006, p.94

44
eye something beginning with … (the initial letter of the word for the o bject he or she has
chosen). The teacher can e xplain if necessary that I spy means I can see .”89 Then the
teacher invites the students to try to guess what the object is, for example:
Teacher: I spy with my littl e eye something beginning with P .
Learner 1: Pencil ?
Teacher: No.
Learner 2: Pen?
Teacher: Yes.
The winner takes over the teacher‟s role.
This is a funny way to practice the alphabet and to revise vocabulary related to
classroom objects, school objects, an imals and so on. Young children may bring toys in the
classroom and play this game.

Stories in ten words
Stories that children know can be used in the lesson not only to revise vocabulary ,
but also to introduce new words. For example, the teacher can ask learners to guess the
name of a story they all know by listing “key words and phrases from them ”90. The teacher
will tell the learners that she or he is going to tell them a story and that t hey will have to
guess the story only by looking at some words. The teacher gives students words such as
sea, little, ship, water, beach, voice, mermaid, price, fish, land. The students must guess
that the story is about the little mermaid. Such an activit y can also be done in pairs. One
learner lists five to ten key words from a familiar story, and the other identifies the story.
Then they switch roles.
Andrew Wright et al. sustain that “r e-telling a story, using key words, is a good way
of building confidence. The learners feel they have achieved something by identifiably
representing an extended text. As a basic technique, in the earlier years, the volunteering of
single words naturally leads to the volunteering of longer phrases and eventually of
complete sentences. ”91

89 Ibidem, p.101
90 Wrigh t, Andrew, Betteridge ,David and Buckby, Michael, Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition, 2006, p.102
91Ibidem, p. 102

45
Bingo games
Bingo games may require a little preparation, but they are “incredible fun games to
play in the classroom. Everyone can play the game together, no matter the level of
language. Bingo games are easy to play and through th em, the teacher can rehearse
anything from vocabulary to grammar and so on. In short, the rules for Bingo games are as
follows: each student gets a large card with squares containing pictures, words or phrases.
Everybody get the same words but in different order. The teacher calls out a word and the
students must search for the right square on their cards and mark it. The first student who
manage s to mar k all the words in a row yells Bingo and wins the game. ”92
There are so me fun variations to Word Bingo. Instead of words, the teacher can use
pictures and call out the words related to those pictures. For more advanced classes the
teacher can make a Synonym Bingo or an Antonym Bingo . Alternatively, teachers can read
definitions of a word without actually sa y the word aloud and the students must guess what
the word is. With young children, the teacher can use translation bingo in which the words
on the card are written in English but the teacher calls out the words in the student‟s native
language.

Ball game
Working with young children is sometimes very difficult, because they can get
bored very quickly and thus, they lose motivation in participating in the lesson. The teacher
must find ways to create a pleasant atmosphere for the children. Sometimes, thi s can be
achieved by simply playing with a ball. The students pass the ball to each other and they
have to share information about them with the others classmates. Just like all other
language games, there are many variations of the ball game. The teacher can add music
while playing the game. Children pass a ball around the class and when the music stops,
the child who has the ball has to read a sentence, ask a question or simply describe an
object or a person. In playing the ball game, the teacher must pay attention to all the
students and try to involve them in the game.
Key word crossword and word search.
Key word crossword and word search help students think in a logical – deductive
way and improve spelling of fam iliar vocabulary . The teacher divides the class into pairs .

92 https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2014/1 1/fun -classroom -activity -bingo , accessed on 19 July 2016

46
Then she tells the students that they are going to design and write a crossword for another
pair to do. Every crossword must have a key word. To make them understand , the teacher
can demonstrate what he or she means by building up part o f a crossword with the key
word on the board. Moreover, the children must write clues for their crossword with their
partner. When they finish they exchange and do each other‟s crosswords to find the key
word and then return the crossword to the original owners to check the answers.
Word search or word snakes are fun because the children will struggle to find as
many words as they can. To make this puzzle even more challenging the teacher can set a
time for the completion of the task. However, since word search does not focus on
meaning or use of vocabulary, the teacher must combine it with other activities that do.

Mine and guess
This game has many variations. The teacher can divide the class into two teams.
Then she or he writes a word, a verb or an adjective, on a piece of paper and hands it to
one player from the first team. The player must mime the word, in this case, the action, and
his or her team should try to guess it. If the student recognizes the word , that team wins a
point. The teacher can set a time limit (say not more tha n two minutes).
To make this game more interesting, the teacher can invent as Carol Read suggests
“a simple sequence of events about something that happens to the children. T ells the events
to the children and gets them to respond by miming what happened … Through miming the
events, students associate meaning kinaesthetically , which helps to make it memorable.”93
With primary school children, it is advisable not to include more than three or four
short sentences to mime. Otherwise, it could be a little confusing for them. With secondary
school children, the teacher can repeat the sequence and leave more and more of the
language for the children to supply. Moreover, she suggests that as a follow -up activity , the
teacher “can ask students to write or complete a version of what happens or to prepare
another similar sequence of events to tell the class in the same way. ”94
Odd one out
The aims of this game are to make children think about the meanings and properties
of words, to make them identify a vocabulary item in a sequence that is different and to say

93 Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for Teachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007 p.23
94 Ibidem, p.23

47
why it is different. The teacher writes a sequence of four or five words on the board.
Among those words, one does not belong to the same category with the others an d is
therefore, the odd one. The children must identify that word and say why it is different.
This activity encourages children to think about the meaning of words. The fact that
they have to say why it is different makes the game more interesting, becau se children
have a great imagination and their answers can be quite surprising. With secondary school
children, this game can be used as a grammar awareness activity.

Hangman spelling
Hangman game can be played in the classroom by us ing the board or the teacher
can use the internet to make it more appealing to the st udents . The following site can be
used http://www.manythings.org/vocabulary/games/k/words.php?f=classroom_1
According to Wikipedia “hangman is a paper and pencil guessing game for two or
more players. One player thinks of a word, phrase or sentence and the other tries to guess it
by suggesting letters or numbers , within a certain number of guesses. The word to guess is
represented by a row of dashes , representing each letter of the word. In most variants,
proper nouns , such as names, places, and brands, are not allowed. I f the guessing player
suggests a letter, which occurs in the word, the other player writes it in all its correct
positions. If the suggested letter or number does not occur in the word, the other player
draws one element of a hanged man stick figure as a tally mark .
The player guessing the word may, at any time, attempt to guess the whole word. If
the word i s correct, the game is over and the guesser wins. Otherwise, the other player may
choose to penalize the guesser by adding an element to the diagram. On the other hand, if
the other player makes enough incorrect guesses to allow his opponent to complete th e
diagram, the game is also over, this time with the guesser losing. However, the guesser can
also win by guessing all the letters or numbers that appears in the word, thereby
completing the word, before the diagram is completed. ”95

95 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangman_(game) , accessed on July 25 2016

48

Board games
In board games, children learn to cooperate with each other and they revise
vocabulary and grammar structures in a pleasant and meaningful way. The teacher divides
the class in pairs and gives out the Animal board game (see Appendix 2). She makes sure
that th e children have a coin and counter to play the game. The teacher explains the rules
of the game. The children must take turns to spin the coin. If it lands on heads, they move
one square, if it lands on tails, the children move two squares. This game can a lso be
played using a dice. When the children land on a square, they have to say the name of the
animal. If the answer is correct, they move ahead two or more squares. The game continues
until someone reaches the finish and then sees who finish second, thi rd, etc.
Basic board game does not only provide useful language practice and revise
vocabulary, but it also helps training children to work together and take turns in pairs.
Another version of board game is question board games . They are useful revision
activity and children generally find asking and answering questions in this context
motivating, as there is a re al purpose and a real audience.

Hot seat
The aims of the game are to ask relevant questions, to describe words, to revise
vocabulary and encourage friendly competition in the classroom. In this game, children

49
will practice both sp eaking and listening skills and it can be used at any level of lang uage.
The teacher divides the class in two teams or more if the class is larger. Then, she or he
selects one child from each team to sit in the hot seat, facing the classroom with the board
behind them. The teacher writes a word on the board. The others me mbers of the team help
the student guess the word by describing it, without saying or spelling the word. The
teacher sets a time limit.

Hot, hot, hot!
Young students are very fond of this game . In this game , one s tudent has to wait
outside t he classroom door for a moment. While he o r she is outside the door, hide one of
the vocabulary cards somewhere in the classroom. Ask the child back into the classroom
and find the card, while the rest of the class helps by saying hot, hot, hot if the child moves
near where the card is hidden and , cold, cold, cold if he moves away.
Such activities can help students focus their attention on key vocabulary; require
students to retrieve the forms and meanings of the new words. In order to find the hidden
card, they must ask and answer questions therefore, this game will show the teacher if
there are any problems in how children formulate questions in English.
All in all, games can provide an opportunity for real communication and bridge the
gap between the cla ssroom and the real word. One thing about games is that children enjoy
playing them and they are more motivated in learning English if they hav e fun and are
involved in free -stress activities.

2.2. Advantages and disadvantages of using games in language t eaching

What is a game? The word game is mostly regarded as an activity in which the
learners play and usually interact with others following certain rules , an activity which is
entertaining and engaging, often challenging . Jill Hadfield defines games as “ an activity
with rules, a goal and an element of fun .”96 Therefore, games involve many factors: rules,
competition, fun, relaxation but also learning.
The main reason for using games in a language class is to help students learn and
have fun. In playing games, competition is very important because it can stimulate and

96 Hadfield, Jill, Elementary Vocabulary Games , Longman, Pearson Education Limited, 1998, p.4.

50
encourage students to participa te in the activity, but we should not forget that most of them
play because they want to beat the other teams . Nevertheless, it is important to remember
that competition may be stimulating for some, but it can also be destructive, making
players anxious, with losers thinking of themselv es as „no good‟ and the winners thinking
of themselves as „very good‟. As Andrew Wright et al. su ggest, “Neither of these things
may be true, and neither helps learning .”97
While playing, students have fun, tease their friends , exercise, and relax . However,
apart from having fun, students learn. They revise and acquire and new vocabulary along
with its spelling and pronunciation. If they want others to understand what they are saying ,
students realize that they have to pronounce and speak the words clearly .

2.2.1. Advantages of using games
Even though games are considered amusing and fun, we should not forget that they
also have a pedagogical value, especially in second language learning. Games are
important because they bring about motivation; they lower students‟ stress and give
students the opportunity for a real communication.
There are many advantages for using game s in language teaching. Perhaps, one of
the main reasons for using games is that , if students enjoy the learni ng activities, they will
want to get more involved and this may increase their desire to continue. This is very
positive for language learning, beca use, as Stephens Krashen suggests , “if children want to
do with an activity for some time, it will give them more chance to practise the language
and more exposur e to language input. ”98 Moreover, if the children assoc iate English with
something enjoyable and pleasing , they will develop positive attitudes towards the foreign
language . Students are sometimes , embarrassed, insecure or frightened about speaking or
readi ng in a new language, therefore, the use of games can lower students‟ stress in the
classroom. As teachers, we need to be very sensitive to pupils‟ feelings as this may affect
their motivation and attitude to learning the language. Jane Moon believes that “if they feel
„at home‟ in the classroom , they are more likely to participate and take risk s.”99 Moreover,

97 Wright, Andrew, Betteridge ,Da vid and Buckby, Michael , Games for Language Learning , Cambridge
University Press, Third Edition, 2006, p.2
98 Krashen, Stephens D. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition ,
http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf , p.76, accessed on 14 July 2016
99 Moon, Jayne , Children Learning English , MacMillan Heinemann ELT, 2000, p.10

51
in Andrew Wright et al.‟s point s of view “g ames also help the teacher to create co ntexts in
which the language is useful and meaningful. The learners want to take part, and in order
to do so must understand what others are saying or have written, and they must speak or
write in order to express their own point of view or give information. Games provide one
way of helping the learners to experience langu age rather than merely study it.” 100
Furthermore, games help increasing students' proficiency. Children need a real
situation and a purpose to use the language. Their ability in using the language will
enormously increase when playing games, because games can provide a purpose and a real
situation for them. As Hadfiel d suggests “the emphasis in the game is on successful
communication rather than on correctness of language… They can provide as much
concentrated controlled practice as a traditional drill or an opportunity for real
communication at the freer end of the sp ectrum and thus constitute a bridge between the
classroom and the real world.”101 As suggested, children need opportunities for repetition,
but it needs to be done in an interesting and meaningful way. Mechanical repetition, as in a
chorus drill, where child ren do not need to pay attention to the meaning, has limited value
for language learning.
In addition, we should not forget that the games make use of a variety of
techniques. Variety is important in language teaching. In playing a game students have fun ,
but they also learn even though they a re not aware of this fact. They have fun and they do
not worry about errors and punishment , thus, they learn unconsciously without realizing
they are learning. Consequently, s tudents will begin using language in a natural and
spontaneous manner within the classroom. Moreover, they will develop the ability to relate
vocabulary to meanings and study language forms and functions more explicitly.
In conclusion, it is crucial to provide children plenty of opportunities to practice,
memorize, extend and recycle vocabulary in meaningful contexts throughout the primary
years. Thus, games should be regarded as “central to a language teacher‟s repertoire a not
merely a way of passing the time”102, because games provide intense and meaningful
practice of language.

100 Wright, Andrew, Betteridge, David and Buckby, Michael, Games for Language Learning , third edition,
Cambri dge University Press, 2006, p.2
101 Hadfield, Jill, Beginners‟ Communication Games , Longman, Pearson Education Limited,1999, p. 8
102 Wright, Andrew, Betteridge, David and Buckby, Michael, Games for Language Learning , third edition,
Cambridge University Pre ss, 2006, p.2

52
2.2.2. Disadvantages of using games and some practical suggestions
Using games in language teachi ng is not appropriate at all times. Some games
require a large working surface , which is not always available. Sometimes th e children get
too excited and there is a lot of noise. One of the golden rules for using games successfully
with children is that they all know exactly what they are supposed to do, how they are
supposed to do it and when. They should know what the aim of the game is right from the
start.
One of the easiest ways of avoiding chaos in a class is either to demonstrate the
game yourself or to ask a pair or group of learners to come up to the front to demonstrate
the game so that , the other children listen to the instructions before they look at the
materials.
Another disadvantage could be the fact that there are too many children in one class
and the teacher cannot control the language they are using. Children who have a limite d
amount of English will find it difficult to carry out the whole activity in English. It is
therefore important for the teacher to be sure what the aim of the activity is. If the children
use their mother tongue then , they have failed in the aim of the ga me. Moreover, the
instructions of the ga mes must to be clear and simple, and if there is no cooperation among
students then the game may fail to succeed . Sometimes games involve competition and
competition tents to bring out the worst in children and can l ead to aggression and over
excitement. These can be difficult to manage, especially with large classes. Therefore, the
teacher must consider the negative behaviour of the competitive games and must tell the
children what is going to happen if they do not o bey them. As suggested by Carol Read,
the teacher should “Be fair and firm about enforcing rules (children expect and want
this).”103
Games may not work all the time due to several factors such as the nature of games,
the natural of the teachers, the fact that students have different learning styles and
preferences or maybe because the time chosen to play the game is inappropriate. Howev er,
it is still worth trying to use games in class because they provide stimulation, interest,
variety, motivation and help promoting positive attitudes towards learning English. They
develop active participation skills and in the same time, they build chi ldren‟s self-esteem
and confidence. It is also true that games require some skills from the part of teachers and

103 Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for Teachers, Macmill an
Publishers Limited, 2007 p.152

53
that it is not always easy to incorporate them into the class. Nevertheless, games offer
many advantages to the students and that is why they m ust be a tool for every l anguage
teacher.

54
CHAPTER III –VOCABULARY ACQUISITION THROUGH STORIES

Everybody loves stories. Just as games can be used in teaching vocabulary, stories
are another great tool for introducing, practicing and recycling new words. Gail Ellis and
Jean Brewster believe that “s tories hold a strange and magical quality that can interest and
engage learners in a way that few other materials and methods have. While the telling of
stories in class is often associated with primary age children, the attraction of the story
remains throughout life. ”104 Moreover, Carol Read‟s point of view is that “t hrough stories,
children develop understanding of themselves and the world around them. The distance
afforded by characters and events, which are not real, also helps children to explore
significant issues that are relevant to their daily lives in a way that is safe and
enjoyable. ”105
Carol Read sustains that “i n storytelling and drama, the usual norms of time, plac e
and identity are temporarily suspended, as for example, in a story which spans a hundred
years yet takes three minutes to tell, or a drama activity which transforms the classroom
into a jungle a nd all the children in is into „hungry lions‟ . Storytelling and drama are above
all shared, communal classroom events , which engage children‟s interest, attention and
imagination and develop their language skills in a holistic way. They also appeal to
children with different intelligences and learning styles and pr ovide a framework for
fostering social skills and attitudes, such as active listening, collaborating, turn taking and
respec t for others, in a positive way.”106

3.1. What is storytelling?

Storytelling means telling a story, a sequence of events, to someone who is willing
to listen. The events can be real, fictional or some combination of the two . We can read
stories from a book, we can orally tell them to an audience or we can even tell anecdotes or
jokes. The challenge of any storyteller is to maint ain the listener‟s interest and attention.

104 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf ,
Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language
Teachers, British Council 2002 accessed on July 10, 2016 , p. 2
105 Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for T eachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007, p. 114
106 Ibidem , 114

55
In other words, we can say that s torytelling is an essential part of human nature.
According to http://literarydevices.net/narrative/ “Man is the only creature that tells
stories. Man has been telling stories and listening to them since the time he learnt to speak.
The storytelling began with oral traditions and in forms of myths, legends, fables,
anecdotes, ballads etc. These were told and retold and we re passed down from generation
to generation and they show the knowledge and wisdom of early people. ”107

3.2. The advantages of storytelling

Carol Read sustains that “m ost children start school familiar with stories and
narrative conventions in their mother tongue and quickly transfer this familiarity into a
willingness to listen to and participate in stories in English. ”108 Therefore, it is important to
introduce stories in the language acquisition as soon as possible. In her opinion, “s tories
provide a natural, relevant and enjoyable context for exposure to language and an
opportunity to familiarize children with the sounds, rhythm and intonation of English. The
discovery and construction of meaning is supported through things such as visual, mime,
gesture, voice and characterization, and children also develop learning strategies and
thinking skills, such as, predicting, hypothesizing, guessing and inferring meaning. ”109
Children can develop concentration skills and emotional intelligence if teachers use
stories in the classroom . Carol Read acknowledges, “Stories also provide a springboard
for a wide range of activities, which develop language, thinking skills, positive attitudes
and citizenship, as well as, appreciation of other cultures, or understanding of content from
other areas of the curriculum. As children develop their ability to understand, retell, act
out, or create their own stories in English, this also has a positive effect on their
motivation, confidence and self – esteem. ”110
Ellis and Brewster highlight the fact that “listening to stories in class is a shared
social experience. Storytelling provokes a shared respon se of laughter, sadness; excitement
and anticipation which is not only enjoyable but can help build up the child‟s confidence

107 http://literarydevices.net/narrative/ accessed on 10 July 2016.
108 Read, Carol , 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for T eachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007, p. 114 .
109 Ibidem , p.114
110 Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for T eachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007, p. 114 .

56
and encourage social and emotional development.”111 Moreover , stories are perfect tools
for revising vocabulary and sentence structu res, providing a type of pattern practice in a
meaningful context. If the story is told in a colourful and challenging language or read
from the works of good writers stories can help expand vocabulary.
Primary and secondar y school students like stories. Therefore, it is important to
introduce stories from early ages, because stories provide variety and as Ellis and Brewster
say “learning English through stories can lay the foundations for secondary school in terms
of learni ng basic language functions and structures, vocabulary and language – learning
skills.”112

3.3. Choosing stories

We can select stories from many sources. We can use graded readers, story
websites on the inte rnet or picture books written and adapted for chil dren. Carol Read
sustains that “ Whatever the source, the most impor tant thing is that the story the teacher
choose s is suitable for the children it is intended for. ”113 Another important aspect that
needs to be taken under consideration is the content of the story. Read emphasizes that the
content must be relevant , appealing and interesting. Some stories can have pictures. A
good illustrated storybook should have clear and attractive visual images to support
children‟s understanding of the text.
One of the m ost important aspects in choosing a story is the language level. In
Carol Read‟ s point of view, “ the language level of the story also needs to be appropriate
and to fit in at least partially with the syllabus. ”114
When choosing a story, teachers must pay attention to other features such as
whether it contains repetitions of key vocabulary and structures or rhythmic refrain.
In order to create variety, we can vary the kinds of stories we use in the classroom,
from traditional stories, myths, funny stories t o fables and stories with a moral. In this way,
teachers can create a link between the children‟s own culture and other culture s.

111 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf ,
Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language
Teachers, British Council 2002 , accessed on 10 July 2016 , p. 7
112 Ibidem, p.7
113 Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for T eachers, Macmillan
Publishers Limited, 2007, p. 114
114 Ibidem, p.114

57
3.4. Vocabulary acquisition through stories

Young are usually full of enthusiasm and energy, and the language lessons will be
full of variety and changes of activity. We need to have an idea of what we hope the
students will achieve in a lesson. We need to think of the best ways to help them do this.
Lesson plans are like maps; they tell us where we are going and help us to get the
best route to get there. When we create a story -based lesson plan , we need to decide what
our precise learning aims are and what activities can be used in order to achieve those
aims. It is very important to know how t o work with the story we choose, how to adapt the
tasks according to input, output and the resources th at are used within an activity. First, a
story telling lesson should include a pre, while and post -storytelling activities.
Second , the teacher must give students clear instructions abou t the tasks they have
to do and communicate to learners what is expected of them. If necessary, we can modify
the story to make it easier for the children to understand. We can also help them
understand the story with the support of visual and audio mater ials, masks, puppets, real
objects, flashcards, and drawings.
Third , the teacher can decide how much after -storytelling activities should be done
in order to make sure that the story is fully understood . The teacher must check that each
lesson provides var iety and the opportunity for recycling language previously introduced.
It is also important to develop students‟ awareness of how stories are constructed and to
give them opportunities to create stories themselves .
According to Ellis and Brewster “Vocabulary in stories is usually presented in a
vivid and clear context and the illustrations helps to convey meaning. ”115 Therefore, the
context and the situations must be carefully chosen to make vocabulary easy to remember.
Moreover, the authors claim “ Words are often remembered if they are introduced in lexical
sets, rhyming sets, colour sets or grammatical sets. Grouping w ords in this way can help
children associate new words with words they already know and can aid retention and
recall. ”116
The authors suggest that n ew vocabulary can be introd uced using different
techniques such as:

115 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf ,
Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language
Teachers, British Council 2002 , accessed on 10 July 2016 , p. 31
116 Ibidem, p.31

58
 Using objects : sometimes the use of a real object helps pupils memorise
the word through visualization.
 Pictures and books cover : seeing a picture of a word or a group of wo rds
is also a good way of helping pupils remembering the words more easily.
 Drawings : the teacher can draw the object on the blackboard or she can ask
the pupils to draw it.
 Using opposites : this can be helpful in case of adjectives slim/fat, big/small
etc.
 Miming and guessing from the context : pupils are creative and they can
enjoy doing these activities, “they can also help them build up self –
confidence so that they can work out the meanings of words when they are
on their own and will help them remember a word. ”117
 Eliciting : once the context is established, pupils can be asked questions
about a situation in order to elicit vocabulary.
 Translating : sometimes we may need to translate some words and save
time.
The goal of any teacher is to make stude nts remember new word s therefore ,
teachers have to give them plenty of opportunities to practice and revise vocabulary, once
the words have been introduced. Various activities can be used to make sure that the
students have under stood the meaning of the wo rds, such as:
 Matching words with pictures . Ellis and Brewster suggest that p upils
match words with the correct picture.
 Guessing games . Here we can include games like „Hide -and -seek‟, or
Mime games, in which pupils have to guess the words that are mime d or
hided by the other pupils. These games are not only amusing but they can
help pupils revise questions too, since in order to guess the words they must
ask questions, for example, „Is it under the desk?‟, „Is it a …?‟.
 What is missing or Sort the odd one out . This game can be played by
sticking a maximum of ten illustrations or words on the board. The pupils
must close their eyes. Remove an item from the board and then ask the

117 https ://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf ,
Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language
Teachers, British Council 2002 , accessed on 10 July 2016 , p. 31.

59
pupils to open their eyes and say what is missing. If the pupil is correct, she
or he wins a point. In sort the odd one out , pupils must choose which , out
of four words , doesn‟t fit with the rest.
 Picture dictation . “First of all explain to the students that they are going to
do a picture dictation, that y ou are going to describe a picture to them and
that all they have to do is simply listen and draw what they hear you
describe. You then describe a simple and easy -to-draw picture to them and
they draw it.”118
 Word search or word chains . Pupils have to find words or separate out
words from a string of unseparated letters. This help to train pupils to
recognise English spelling patterns.
 Memory games . In this game, one student must memorize some words or
sentences and then tell them to his/her partner without looking at the cards.
If the words are correct, the team wins a point.
 Classifying/sorting . Pupils sort words into categories.
 Bingo ! “This game can be played with words or pictures. As words are
called out, pupils put pictures cover cards or word cover ca rds on the board
on the item that has been called. ”119
Furthermore, Ellis and Brewster„s point of view is that “many children learn new
words quickly but they need to recycle them regularly to aid retention. ”120 We often, as
teachers, hear our pupils say that they have learnt a word but they cannot remember it
anymore. Therefore, in their opinion, once a new word has been introduced and practi sed,
it is important to help students find ways to consolidate and revi se vocabulary. In this
regard, they can use:
 “Vocabulary cards . Pupils can make their own sets of vocabulary cards for
self –testing. On one side, they can draw a picture and , on the other side,
they can write the word in English. In this way they can use the cards to see

118 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/picture -dictation , retrieved at 19th of July 2016.
119 https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf ,
Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language
Teachers, British Council 2002 , accessed on 10 July 2016, p. 32
120 Ibidem, p. 33

60
if by looking at the picture they draw they can guess the word in English
too.”121
 Word families or sets . Pupils can be encouraged to make their own word
sets as an alternative to a picture dictionary. Pictures can be copied from
stories and labelled, and kept in envelopes with headings such as Fruit,
Toys, Animals, etc .
 Picture dictionaries/vocabulary books . The whole class can create a
picture dictionary for everyone to use durin g the English classes. Pupils can
collect or draw pictures to illustrate the meaning of a word and write the
word alongside. Ellis and Brewster believe that “It is a good idea to have a
dictionary for classroom use. This will enable children to find out th e
meaning of new words themselves.”122
 Collages . Pupils collect pictures around a particular theme and they put
them together to create a poster . This is a useful way of revising vocabulary.
 Creating stories from given words . Pupils can be encouraged, as they
grow older to create their own short stories. This can help them not only
revise vocabulary but also develop their imagination and creativity.
Stories , whether they are told or read , should be a feature of children‟s experience
in every class. Th roughout their school lives, they should have the opportunity to listen, on
a regular basis, to a rich and varied selection of stories . Stories can give children an
appreciation of the potential of language and develop their own use of language.
Discussing events, characters, motives and consequences in stories , assists cognitive,
imaginative and emotional development.
To conclude with, I can strongly say that there a re so many reasons to use games
and stories in teaching English. Through games a nd stories, students can develop the
receptive and productive skills, in a pleasant but meaningful context. T hey stimulate
curiosity, imagination and encourage children to lea rn more about English language in
general.

121 Ibidem, p. 33
122 Ibidem, p. 33

61
CHAPTER IV – THE RESEARCH
4.1. Experimental objectives and hypothese s
The hypothese s of the research :
1. Using games and stories as a means for acquiring vocabulary can help pupils
enha nce their vocabulary and help memorize it when needed.
2. Using games and stories by teachers in classr oom brings out significant difference
in language learning as compared to a situation where no games or stories are used.
This research deals with two important questions:
1. Does the use of lan guage games have a positive effect on vocabulary development
of primary and secondary school pupils?
2. Does the use of stories help pupils acquire and enh ance their vocabulary
knowledge?
The objective of the research is improving pupils‟ vocabulary learning by using
language games and storytelling techniques.

4.2. Research methodology

The methods used in gathering the data were systematic observation when I used
games and stories in the classroom, interviews and self-reflection form.
In the analysis sections, the focus will also be on the SWOT analysis method ,
which tries to explain the advantages and disadvantages of using games and stories in
primary and secondary school.

4.3. The subjects of the research

Taking in to consideration that I teach both primary and secondary pupils , who have
the same level of language and the difference of age is not so big, I have decided to focus
my research on a group of thirty – six pupils from two different classes , IIIrd B and Vth A
from Secondary School Tureac , Bistrița. All my students are from the village called
Tureac and they have been studying English for 3 years.

62
An observation questionnaire was given to the students at the end of the research in
order to analyse the students‟ responses about the different techniques that were used in
teaching English vocabulary.
4.4. The experimental design

This research attempts to identify and understand how children in the third and fifth
grade of a primary and secondary sc hool respond to different vocabulary teaching
techniques. In order to do this, I have introduced different kinds of games and stories in my
lessons so that I could observe how children react to this method of learning vocabula ry. I
also wanted to find out, whether there were any problems during the process of teaching.
To achieve my goal, I used observation questionnaires, systematic observation
when I used games and stories in the classroom and the SWOT analysis method, which
tries to explain the advantages and disadvantages of using games and stories in primary
and secondary school. Owing to the fact that the part icipants‟ level of English is A1
(elementary level), some of the questions from the observation questionnaire they had to
answer to, were translated to them in Romanian, so that I could be sure that all of them
understood the questions and the information I sought were correct. (Appendix 1)
Moreover, during a period of four months , I tried to apply as many games and
stories as possible in the two classes to learn from learners‟ reaction whether they liked
games and stories or not and if games and stories could improve their existing vocabulary.
Finally, the researcher will try to analyse different aspects of the game s and stories
that were used during the implementation of the research . In order to show why games and
stories can be gr eat tools for any language teachers, the researcher used the SWOT –
analysis method. The SWOT is an abbreviation for Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats . By using this method, the researcher will demonstrate the
fact that games and stories provide many opportunities and advantages in teaching
vocabulary in primary and secondary school .
The theory chapters clearly poin ted out that successful learning requires more than
a good atmosph ere in the classroom or a well -prepared teacher. Children need plenty of
opportunities to use the language and variety to sustain their motivation . If children are
having fun during an activ ity, they will probably be more motivated in learning. Therefore,
the intention of this research is to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of language

63
learning games and stor ies in order to see if they should be a part of the language teaching
methods and strategies.
At the end of the analysis part a con clusion will be drawn from the findings that
should give an indication of how, what, when and especially why a teacher should use
games and stories when teaching English to young children.

4.5. Interpretation of children’s observation questionnaire

The first two question s asked to children were How old are you , and, How long
have you been studying English? Considering their responses, I can say that the children
were between the age of nine and twelve. 26% of the children were nine years old, 24%
were ten years old, 35% were eleven years old and 15% were twelve years old. This shows
that most of the children were ten and eleven years old and that all of them have studied
English language for thr ee years now.

When asked why they like English , all of them answered that they like English
because they think that it is fun but it is also necessary to know a foreign language. Some
of them said that English is an international language and that many people speak English
worldwide so , it is important to know English in order to communicate with other people.
The younger children said that they like English because most of their computer games are
in English. The third question had a personal inter est. Although this may be considered
irrelevant for this study, I decided to include this question because it was important for me
to know if children liked the course, I had given them so far. At question five, would you
like to have lists of new words t ranslated to you in Romanian? all my students answered
yes which , was not a surprise for me , because I know that students feel more secure when
the words are translated to them in their first language , especially since most of them do
not have dictionaries and the discovery methods are s till new to them. Question six, Do
0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%
nine
ten
eleven
twelve

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you feel comfortab le to learn new words by heart, showed me once more that none of my
students liked learning words in this way and that I would have to find ways to help them
memorize word s using different techniques. Finally, questions seven and eight were
focused on the purpose of this research. To analyse the results of these question s, which
were would you like to read stories in English or listen to them ? Would you like to learn
new words through pictures, realia, gam es, songs or storytelling, w hy? I designed a gr aph
to illustrate what techniques children preferred.

Techniques to teach EFL vocabulary

According to children‟s answers, they preferred gam es because they found the
classes fun when I used games in teaching English. They said that they felt more secure
when games were used in the lesson because they could cooperate with other classmates
and they learnt while having fun.
The second most pref erred technique was storytelling. Children‟ s answers about
this technique were that they liked it because they liked listening to stories and because it is
good for them to read. In their opinion, stories should be used in teaching English because
first, they are challenging, enjoyable, and second, because children loved to hear stories
about tal king animals and heroes who manage to do great things . Some of them said that
they loved stories because the pictures and the story helped them to imagine that they were
somewhere else and they could travel to awesome places in their imagination.
The third technique children chose was realia because they could use their sense s.
For example, most of them mentioned they fou nd the class interesting when I used toys to
teach animal vocabulary because they could play and touch them. In addition, they can see
these objects every day in their home and this helped them to remember the vocabulary
more easily. 10%
20%
38% 8% 24% Pictures
Realia
Games
Songs
Storytelling

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Pictures were preferred by 10% of the students . They answered that it was fun to
learn new things by using pictures because it was easy for them to remember the new
vocabulary. Moreover, students also said that they loved pictures because they helped them
to „see‟ what they were learning.
Songs was one of the techniques with an apparently l ow preference percentage only
8% of the 100%. They said that they liked songs because it was easy for them to learn new
things by singing. The song that some children remembered was „Head, shoulders, knees
and toes ’. It is because they loved to move and touch the parts of their body as they were
singing. I think that one of the reasons why children did not feel comfortable to sing is that
sometimes children feel insecure and shy to sing in front of other people.
To conclude with, I think that t he questionnaire was a very useful instrument f or
collecting data, because the questions allowed me to register the information I needed
without making children nervous. Throug h these questions, I realized that the techniques
children preferred were games , stories and realia. In contrast, the techniques that least
caught the children‟ s attention were songs and pictures. Their choice s showed me that
children preferred to learn English while playing with the language . Children enjoy games
and they participate without anxiety if the teacher can create a pleasant atmosphere in the
classroom . Even though children love games, it is still i mportant to vary the material used
in the classroom. After all, students might get bored with doing the same type of activity
all the time . Therefore, it is important to use a variety of different materials: games for
active participation, and an overhead projector to display something or tape recorder to
listen to a story in English. Alternatively, the teacher can use colourful images from the
internet or use colouring pens and pencils to get students doing interesting activities in
English.

4.6. Analysis of the language learning activities used in the classroom

In this section, I focused my attention on the language learning activities that were
used in the classroom and I tried to make a SWOT analysis, which will attempt to explain
the advantag es and disadvantages of using games and stories in teaching English in
primary and secondary school.
In teaching different topics, I used realia, flashcards, games and stories and I have
tried to learn from my students ‟ reactions whether they liked them o r not, whether they

66
encountered any problems in doing a particular activity and whether a certain activity
could be more beneficial to primary school children and less to the secondary school
children. I also took into consideration the fact that all of my pupils believed that learning
English through games and stories is more fun and pleasant and that they usually got bored
when vocabulary words were presented to them by the teacher in lists that they had to learn
by heart at home.

4.6.1. Realia
I employed realia with the topics of animals, classroom objec ts and toys in the third
grade students. Meanwhile, in the fifth grade the topics were animals , clothes and toys.
What I noticed when using toy animals for teaching vocabulary related to domestic a nd
wild animals was that , at the beginning of the lesson , all the pupils looked really interested
and excited about what was going to happen. Soon they lost interest and became distracted
because they wanted to play with the animals and the noise in the cl assroom suggested me
that I had to change the activity so that , I would not lose control of the class. Nevertheless,
the activity was a success because the pupils mostly used English language rather that their
first language , in describing their animals. W ith the fifth graders, on the other hand, the
activity was much more relaxed and the pupils enjoyed bringing animals‟ toys in the class.
I was surprised to see that many of them knew many words and , when we played
the recycling race game , all of my pupils could use the w ords related to animals and they
were able to ask questions in English correctly. The use of realia in this case served to
create an active learning environment and facilitated the language acquisition and
productivity.
When I taught the topic of classroom objects, I used the objects that were in the
classroom such as chair, blackboard, chalk, sponge, desk, etc. What I noticed was that the
pupils were interested in learning how to say the objects that they could see and use during
the English lessons. Because there were too many words, I also tried to vary the activi ties
and play a games „hot seat‟ , where we practiced the vocabulary learnt by describing the
objects.
With vocabulary related to cloth es, to the fifth grade , I decided to have a fashion
show because children love to dress up and it was a great opportunity for them to show off
their unique style and creativity. We revised vocabu lary related to clothes and colours and

67
because they had to describe each other using s entences like , She is wearing a… ; they also
learnt to use present continuous in a meaningful context.

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When examining and questioning the realia method used in this lessons according
to the SWOT analysis, one can easily sum up the positive and negative aspects of this
technique.
Table 1: SWOT analysis of realia

Strengths
-stimulates the mind;
-makes the vocabulary more memorable
than a picture would;
-elicitation of vocabulary becomes much
easier by simply holding up the object
-it is a fun and enjoyable way to introduce
and practice vocabulary. Weaknesses
-materials are needed;
-some pupi ls can get too excited or bored.

Opportunities
– save time and the pupils can make use of Threats
-many words are introduced in a less on and

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all the senses smell, touch, taste;
-can be improved;
-can be used to teach other aspects of the
language (grammar), not just vocabulary.
-realia can be used in role – play bringing
realism into the role-play. pupils may not remember them all;
-some of the pupils can get distracted
because they will want to play with the
objects .

From table 1 one can conclude that using realia in teaching English , in primary and
secondary classrooms , is a great option even though , young children can get distracted
sometimes. The use of realia in the class, as a visual technique to introduce and practice
vocabulary, can stimulate the mind of the students and make learning of words more
memorable and ea sy than a picture would do.
As discussed in chapter one and two, young children need to understand the reason
they are learning something . Realia provides the perfect context for learning words. The
children can see and touch the concrete objects and they will understand what they are
learning while playing.
Moreover, another good aspect about realia is that it saves time, students will
recognise the object immediately and so there is no need for lengthy explanations, drawing
funny pictures on the board or giving translations . Furthermore, e licitation becomes much
easier and simply showing the concrete object will usually result in the ir desired to speak .
As shown in table one, we can use concrete object not only for teaching vocabulary,
but also for other aspects of the language. We can use realia to generate ideas for speaking
and writing, or we can use real objects to teach different aspects of grammar. Even though,
young children can get distracted sometimes, realia can be a wonderful visual technique to
use in class to create interest and an opportunity for communication.
4.6.2. Flashcards and pictures
During the period of the research , flashcards and pictures were used in teaching
different topics, such as weather, colours, clothes, family, etc. I rea lized that pictures and
flashcards were a great tool when teaching English especially with young children , because
I could easily catch their attention, consequently making the learning process easier.
With both classes, I used big colourful flashcards to teach weather and clothes. I
also used the video projector to show them pictures of weather and different items related

70
to clothing. Since the internet is nowadays a great tool for teachers, I used the following
site in my lesson: http://esl -kids.com/flashcards/weather.html .

In both classes students seemed to enjoy the activity and they memorized
vocabulary really easy. We also played different games using flashcards such as bingo
games, matching flashcards, flashcards in a chain and the magic eye. All these games were
used to help them recognize, memorize and pract ise vocabulary through associating words,
meanings and pictures. For the games in this lesson, I used the following site s:
http://www.mes -english.com/flashcards/weather.php , accessed on 10 D ecember 2015
http://www.mes -games.com/weather.php .

71

The final project that students did when talking about the four seasons , made me
realize that they had acquired many words related to the topi c and were able to remember
how the weather in each season was and what clothes people wear in each season.

72

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Therefore , pictures and flashcards were in this case successful with both classes.
Students enjoyed the activities and participated with great enthusiasm. Moreover, the final

74
project of their work showed me that this type of activity is suitable for big classes , for all
ages and it is a great way to make students use English language more. All the positive
effects of using flashcards and pictures can be seen in the SWOT analysis from table 2:

Table 2: SWOT analysis of flashcards and pictures

Strengths
– offer fun, interactive learning for all levels
of education for all subject types;
– tools that can help stud ents learn new
material quickly;
– provide students with a portable learning
tool;
– are easy and fast to reproduce;
-skills students learn using flashcards
include memory, association, verbal,
cognitive, interaction, mathematical,
listening and more.
– flashcards, particularly image flashcards,
help learners understand new words ,
definitions and facts which builds
comprehension skills
Weaknesses

Opportunities
-flashcard software is becoming
increasin gly popular
-tablets, c omputers and other technology are
used more and more often in education.
– learning with flashcards is quick, direct,
and comfortable Threats
– the biggest problem when using flashcards
is that the activity quickly becomes boring
when using over and over without varying
the way in which the flashcards are applied .

As seen in table 2, flashcards and pictures are in deed great tools not only for
teachers but also for students because they are a handy resource to have and can be useful
at every stage of the lesson . They are a great way to introduce , practise and recycle

75
vocabulary . Flashcards are easy and fast to reproduce and the technology that exits
nowadays can make the teachers‟ job much easier. Students love using flashcards and
picture in the classroom because flash cards can be bright and colourful . Visual learners
will most likely benefit if flashcards are used in teaching. What‟s more, they can be used to
stimulate imagination and creativity and students can make their own flashcards and
display them in class for everyone to see. In this way, learning new words and recycling
them will be more memorable for them because, by creating their own posters using
pictures and flashcards, they feel they have accomplished something of their own that can
be shown to a real audience.
Flashcards can also accompany reading and writing activities. When we use for
example stories, we can show flashcards to illustrate that story and, thus, make sure that
students have understood it more clearly. We can use flashcards not only to illustrate the
story but also to work with that story. We can give students small flashcards to cut from a
paper and to arrange the sequence of events from the story they have listen to or read. We
can use flashcards at any time in a lesson and, because they are suitable for any level of
language, makes them even greater for a language teacher in man y ways.
4.6.3. Games
During the four months of my research, I tried to use as many games as I could in
the classrooms, at different stages of the lesson. The games used for this purpose were ice –
breaker game s for example „ Find someone who …‟, ball games, Abracadabra for
introducing animals, number s presen t continuous, actions ; „Simon says …; „Can I c ross
your river, Mr Crocodile ?‟ to introduce can for permission, clothes and parts of body,
prese nt continuous; matching games, „ Hot! Hot! Hot !‟ to ask and answer questions;
memory games, guessing games; „hot seat’ to practice different vocabulary such as fruit or
vegetables; board games; „Hangman ‟; „I spy’ ; video games. All these games are described
in chapter 3, so, in this section, the researcher focused her attention on the SWOT analysis
that I hope will show the positive and negative aspects of using games in teaching English
as a second language.
The ice – breaker games and warmer games were used in both classes. The third
graders seemed to enjoy these games because they had a chance to move around the
classroom and interact with their classmates. However, I also noticed that some of them
used Romanian language rat her than English when asking questions to find the information
they needed.

76
One of the difficulties that I had faced in doing these games was to quiet students
down after the activity in order to be able to continue the lesson. Some of them got too
excited and noisy therefore, it was difficult to relax them and catch their attention during
the lesson. On the other hand, the fifth grade students were able to use English most of the
time and even though there was noise during these activities, they could focus their
attention to the ot her activities of the lesson . The same situation appe ared when I used ball
game in my lesson because the group was big and students got anxious and bored while
waiting for the ball. However, one of the things that I observed doing this game was that
most of the students were willing to join in the activity and were anxious to share personal
information in Engli sh with the other students. In „pass the ball‟ game, it was easier for me,
as a teacher, to control the activity and to help students use English rather than their first
language. The following SWOT – analysis table evaluates the charac teristics of ice –breaker
games.

Table 3: SWOT -analysis of ice – breaker games

Strengths
-transform a rather dull lesson in a special
one;
-help relax students and get to know each
other or the things they have in common far
more quickly;
-motivate participants and help shyer
students;
-allow students to move and be creative;
-help revise previous knowledge in an
interactive way;
-help recycle new words;
-create a comfortable atmosphere;
-they are easy and quick, no special mate rial
needed for the games. Weaknesses
– teacher cannot control the language
students use;
– can be noisy sometimes;
-students can get anxious even bored.
Opportunities
-offer an opportunity to share their Threats
-consume precious time if the rules are not

77
knowledge and learn from each other ;
-open the door to new ideas and concepts;
-make way for meaningful interaction and
relationship;
-many topics can be chosen for the game. clearly explained;
-lack of variety and potential repetition;
-the feedback from students may not be
always evaluated;
-placed in wrong time span can be just an
activity without aim .

From table 3 one can conclude that , even though , there are some negative
characteristics of ice – breaker games, they offer more positive aspects and opportunities.
Therefore, I truly believe that ice – breaker games and warmers should be used in teaching
English , not only with young students but also with teenagers . They strengthen oral and
social skills and create a warmer atmosphere and , in the same time, they can b e excellent
devices to help students feel more secure and comfortable with themselves and wit h others
and develop a feeling of belonging to that group . In order to make sure that icebreaking
game is a success, the teacher has to keep it simple. The teacher should design the game
with specific objectives i n mind and make sure it is appropriate and comfortable for
everyone involved.
Even though students understand the importance of vocabulary when learning a
foreign language, most Rom anian students learn only the words that the teacher gives them
during the English classes.
In students‟ opinion, vocabulary learning means knowing the primary meaning of
the words , they ignore all other functions that words can have. In this case, most of them
are afraid to use words in communication . Therefore, variety of activities can help students
to pass the barriers of knowing a word but not being able to use it appropr iately. They can
make a conversation, describe a picture, and play a mime game or board game or other
activities that can help them s tore the new words in the long -term memory . Such activities
also include vocabulary games which focus on helping learners develop and use words in
meaningful contexts and thus, making the lessons enjoyable.
There are many vocabulary games nowadays , which can be used in teaching
English, but here, I focused my attention on those games that I most fr equently used in my
classro oms. When I used memory games, guessing games and bingo games, I realized that
most of my students not only enjoyed them but they actively participated in the games. To
my surprise, even the shyer students wanted to come in front of the classr oom when we
played mime games, „I spy game‟ or „ Hot! Hot! Hot! ‟ Another thing that I observed when

78
playing games was that most of them could remember new words more quickly and they
were able to use new words correctly afterwards. The following SWOT – analysis table
evaluates the characteristics of vocabulary games.

Table 4 : SWOT -analysis of vocabulary games

Strengths
-quick and easy;
-can lower anxiety;
-increase motivation;
-provide language practice in a meaningful
context;
-strengthen oral skills and social skills;
-involves friendly competition and keep
students interested in learning the language;
-they involve a lot of repetition;
-encourage spontaneous and creative use of
language. Weaknesses
-the rules of the games ca n confuse
students;
-students use their first language instead of
English
-the space in the classroom is too small for
the game.
Opportunities
-many topics can be chosen in a game;
-students can play games outside the
classroom;
-can offer variety in teaching and learning
English Threats
-too much use of students first language;
-some students may be reluctant in playing
games;
-the size of the classroom can be an
impediment in playing certain games.

As one can see, vocabulary games offer many strengths and opportunities.
Nevertheless, when games are used in teaching, the teacher must consider the factors that
can negatively influence the learning process. Children will always enjoy games because
they lik e to play. Every time I used games in my classes, children looked enthusiastic
about these and wanted to participate. Games help students to learn and to be motivated
during the activity.
When learning and practicing new words , repetition seems to be the key; therefore,
games provide the context for repetition , not in a boring way b ut in a funny and enjoyable
one. Games can also involve a wide variety of learning styles from visual to dramatic, from

79
kinaesthetic to auditory or creative. Even though, games are a great tool for learning and
teaching young children, teachers should pay atten tion to the weaknesses and threats that
can make a game unsuccessful. When playing a game, the teacher should consider the level
of proficiency of the students, the context in which a certain game is used, they should see
if the game is suitable for the children and they should make sure that they have sufficient
surface to play the game. The language that students use when playing a game, is also
another threat that can mak e the game unsuccessful. Not to mention that, doing the same
game repeatedly can have the opposite effect; students will get bored and they will refuse
to participate in the activity. Therefore, as seen in the theoretical section of this paper, it is
impor tant to vary the game we use in the class in order to create surprise and motivation.
However, games offer many advantages for students and, t herefore, the results of
this research sugg est that games can be used at any stage of a lesson, not just to introd uce,
practice and recycle vocabulary, but also to develop students‟ receptive and productive
skills . All these will lead towards the goal of improving learners‟ vocabulary and
communicative competence.

4.6.4. Stories
Stories were also used in teaching and practicing vocabulary during the fourth
months of the research. From the questionnaire sheets, I noticed that most of my students,
from both classes liked stories very much. 80% of them like to listen to stories and only
20% of t hem like to read stories themselves. The third grade students were more
enthusiastic when they could listen to stories online, because they could also see pictures
and it was easier for them to follow the story in this way. On the other hand, the fifth gra de
students heard the stories from their teacher or they read the stories themselves. The stories
that were used in the l essons were „Cinderella‟, „The Sleeping B eauty‟, „Hansel and
Gretel‟, „ Rapunz el‟, „Ariel the Little M ermaid‟ and „the Gingerbread M an‟.
Since technology is now a huge part of the human life, I have decided to use the
internet when teaching vocabulary through stories. Therefore, I used the stories from
http://princess.disney.com/ariels -story ,
http://www.kidsworldfun.com/short -stories/the -gingerbread -man.php . (Accessed on 14
October 2015.)

80

81

I have chosen these stories because students are familiar with the characters and
the plot and it was easier for them to link new information with their prior knowledge thus,
making the input more comprehensible to them. The prior knowledge helped studen ts to
complete the pre -, while – and post -listening and reading tasks.
I also considered the s tudents‟ levels of proficiency. Elicitation of new words
became easier because I used flashcards to illustrate the events and the characters of the
stories that w ere read by the students. When children listen to the story from the internet,

82
it was easy for them to understand it because, the stories there had pictures and the
language was adapted to their level of proficiency. All these gave me the opportunity to
recycle vocabulary learnt and raise learners‟ motivation to listen or read the story.
The stories helped me to introduce and practice different topics , in this case,
vocabulary related to family, animals, friends and friendship, food. When stories were used
in the class, I follow ed the before, while and after -reading or listening method to introduce,
practice and recycle vocabulary. When the new words ha ve been introduced, it is important
to give students a chance to see if they can remember and use these words in different
situations.
The third grade students enjoyed the stories and even though they had some
difficulties in fulfilling the tasks, I obse rved that most of them remembered the sequencing
of the stories and were able to complete the vocabulary tasks using the words from the
stories. I also noticed that younger students do not like to read stories in English, because
they are afraid o f making pronunciation mistakes; therefore, they prefer to hear the story
told by someone else. Furthermore, I realized that storytelling works better when it is
accompanied by pictures or realia . Combining pictures with storytelling is more successful
because chil dren can visualize the vocabulary and this helps them to use it correctly.
The fifth grade students, on the other hand, were more confident and they wanted to
read stories themselves in the classroom. They also preferred working in groups rather than
individually when fulfilling the tasks. From what I could observe, storytelling was a good
option to present and revise vocabulary. In addition, it helped children to develop their
listening skills as well as comprehension.
The lessons were more pleasant an d enjoyable because students like stories and
want to listen to them over and over again. I was also surprised when my students
suggested me to have a storytelling competition. They all prepared a story to read in the
classroom and the rest of the students had to recognize the title of the story. This was a
great opportunity for me to see how my students can use English and how they can use
vocabulary in context. I realized that many of them had acquired quite many words and
were able to use them correctly when reading their stories. There were some grammar
mistakes, but at this level of language, they seem inevitable and I was more concerned with
their vocabulary acquisition.

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The following SWOT – analysis shows the positive characteristics of storytelling.
Table 5: SWOT – analysis of storytelling
Strengths
-stories are motivating and fun;
-stories exercise imagination;
-stories link fantasy with real life
experiences;
-stories offer a meaningful context to
introduce, practice and revise vocabulary;
-stories develop children‟s learning
strategies;
-stories add variety and allow children to
play with ideas and feelings and to think
about issues that are important and relevant
to them;
-stories contain natural repetition of key
vocabulary and structures; Weaknesses

85
Opportunities
-stories develop different types of
intelligence;
-stories help develop vocabulary, language –
learning skills and basic language functions
and structures;
-stories can provide a novel alternative to
the coursebook;
-stories can build up the child‟s confidence
and encourage social and emotional
development ;
-digital stories can play an important part in
any lesson and enables children to create
multimedia resou rces. Threats
-if the story is too complicated stu dents may
lose their confidence;
-vocabulary must be pre -taught otherwise
students may not be able to understand the
story;
-just listening to stories can be a waste of
time if t here are no activities involved;
-extensive use of storytelling can produce
passive listeners .

From table 5 , one can see that using stories in teaching English is a great tool for
teachers because of their positive characteristics and opportunities. Stories have always
been an important part of human beings and they should be used in teaching as well , since
they are a means of developing children‟s potential as autonomous learners. By using story
as a teaching strategy, students‟ long-term memory is improved, because the language is
reinforced through repetition. The use of flashcards and pictures in a story faci litates words
acquisition. Stories and games can be used together in the classroom, thus helping children
to play with the story and learn in the same time in a warmer and pleasant atmosphere.
To conclude with , this research has tried to highlight that stories and games are not
only great tool to introduce and practice vocabulary , but they establish good relationships
among students and their teacher. Icebreaker and warmers games can make students
comfortable within a group and in the same time, they help the teacher to develop go od
relationships among students; ball games and other vocabulary games create the perfect
atmosphere for developing different skills. They can help the teacher understand the
problems the students face in dealing with real situatio n of communication. When used
together games and stories offer a great arsenal for any language teacher.

86
CONCLUSIONS
The goal of this research was to highlight how useful games and stories are in
learning and teaching English vocabulary in primary and secondary schools . The theory
sections on games and stories and the SWOT analysis method have clearly demonstrated
that games and stories can and should be used in teaching vocabulary in primary and
secondary schools.
In Romania, learning vocabulary has be en considered a boring and difficult subject
for a long time and the traditional way of learning vocabulary by merely translating words
and learning them by heart has proved to be less than effective. Meanwhile , games are still
seen as time -filling activit y in most English classrooms. Even though words are better
understood and memorize in a meaningful context, many teachers are still reluctant to use
stories with young children because they are afraid that at this level stories c an be too
difficult for the m.
However, from this research , I found that there is a need for a new way of teaching
vocabulary, and that students themselves are in search of a new way of learning this subject
as well. Taking into consideration the study made on various researchers in the field of
education in chapter II and III, I can say that the use of games and stories made the
language learning process meaningful and fun for the children.
During the implementation of the research , students showed a lot of motivation for
learning, because, on one hand, games offered them a break from the traditional teaching
lesson, and second, because the stories were appealing and interesting to them. The variety
of activities made the lessons interesting, fun and motivated the students to participate in
an act ive way. Games create d a stress – free learning environment where children felt
secured and relaxed during the learning time.
At first, I thought that using stories would be the most difficult pedagog ical technique
for me, but I was surprised by the students‟ response every time we listen to a story. The
students were not only interested in the story, but they demonstrated their understanding of
the story and their language learning. This was probably because the stories used were
familiar to the children and therefore, they could find meaning in the story . That motivated
them to try to improve their ability to understand the events and the language used in the
story . Furthermore , if the activities are familiar and enjoyable to them , students have an
amazing ability to absorb language when. It is important to know what kind of activities
children like, such as drawing, singing, acting, moving, etc. when planning the lessons in
order to involve children in all the activities.

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I also observed that with third grade students , games involving movement were more
successful that other games. Maybe this is becaus e at this age, most of the children are
restless and the teacher needs to be patient and need s to vary the activities in order to
capture their attention. Through the techniques used and their SWOT – analysis tables, I
observed that children of this age enjoy interacting with other childr en of the same gender,
movin g, singing, touching and seeing . Through games, they developed their receptive and
productive skills in a meaningful and pleasant context. They sometimes competed with
each other and therefore, their desire to finish the game sustained their motivation for a
longer period.
Games can provide a good learning and teaching opportunity if they are properly used .
Otherwise, game s will have the opposite effect and students may not benefit from them at
all. When done correctly, games can offer a wide range of teaching materials to spice up
the language classrooms. From what I could observe, the successful of games in teaching
vocabulary depends on different factors such as:
 the simplicity of the game especially in large classes,
 the cooperation among the students,
 the involvement of all students in the game,
 clear instructions facilitate the participation of the children in the game,
 pre teaching interactive vocabulary for playing the game and encourage students to
use it,
 ensure that students understand why a certain game is played can h elp students
make an effort to use English rather than their first language.
As stated in chapter I motivation should be taken into consideration because when
students have opportunities to practically use language and vocabulary in a way that is
personally meaningful to them, the content learning can be said to be more illuminatin g
and personally motivating. Memory plays a crucial role in language learning acquisition.
Therefore, in order to transfer the information to the long – term memory, the teachers
must find tasks that are suitable and challenging for the children.
As Jill Hadfield points out “the games make use of a variety of techniques.”123 The
author also sustains “ games can be used at all stages of the progression from controlled to
free practice, serving at one end of the range as a memory aid and repetition drill, at t he

123 Hadfield, Jill, Elementary Vocabulary Games , Longman, Pearson Education Limited, 1998, p.4

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other, as a chance to use language freely and as a means to an end rather than an end in
itself. They can also serve as a diagnostic tool for the teacher, who can note areas of
difficulty and take appropriate remedial action.”124
The same idea s can be ap plied to stories. Even though children like to hear stories ,
there are many factors to consider when stories are used in teaching young children. The
teacher should see if it is inte resting, motivating, and suitable for young children and if the
activities give students an opportunity to develop their language skills.
Stories help students develop different learning strategies , stories provide different
contexts that allow teachers to introduce and practice new vocabulary by expo sing children
to authentic language. In doing so, teachers help students enrich their thinking skills and
gradually introduce them to the productive skills.
As stated by Ellis and Brewster , “Stories are a useful tool of linking fantasy and the
imaginatio n with the child‟s real world. They provide a way of enabling children to make
sense of their everyday life and forge links between home and school.” 125
Another important thing that I observed during the period of my research is that young
children like pic tures and colourful images, therefore, at this age; it is probably a good idea
to use pictures with stories because children can associate pictures with words and they
will understand the story better. If the students can related the story to a sequence of
pictures, it will certainly make the story more memorable. Pictures can be used not only at
the beginning of a story to elicit vocabulary or to predict what the story is all about, but
also with activities that come after the listening or reading of the s tory to make sure that
the students are able to use the language afterwards.
Moreover, games provide a great opportunity for students to practice and reinforce the
vocabulary needed to achieve a better understanding of the stories. Students have a chance
to practice and revise vocabulary in a meaningful and pleasant way. The games I used i n
class also helped me to create a relaxing environment.
In this research, I have tried to respond to two important questions: does the use of
language games have a positive effect on vocabulary development of primary and
secondary school pupils and does the use of stories help pupils acquire and enhance their

124 Hadfield, Jill, Elementary Vocabulary Games , Longman, Pearson Education Limited, 1998, p.4
125https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/tea cheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf ,
Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language
Teachers, British Council 2002 , accessed on 10 July 2016, p.7

89
vocabulary knowledge. By studying the appr oaches made on vocabulary acquisition by so
many researchers in the field of language teaching and by showing the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of games and stories, I can conclude by saying that
learning vocabulary through games and sto ries makes teaching English more effective and
interesting.
The results of this research suggest that games and stories have a positive effect on
vocabulary development of primary and secondary school pupils . The use of games and
stories can indeed improv e students‟ receptive and productive skills and help them acquire
and enhance their vocabulary knowledge. During the period of the research, I came to a
better understanding of how to use language games and storytelling methods in English
teaching process. Moreover, I can say that working with young children is something
interesting and fun but it is also very difficult because children , at this age, are all unique in
their nature and they tend to pay more attention to the whole s ituation than to language.
Teachers have to make sure that the context in which children learn English , in the primary
and secondary classrooms , is relevant and natural and provides a way for children to
discover and use the language for real purposes.
This paper is relevant because it points out that games and stories can create optimal
learning conditions for children. One of the great challenges for the primary and secondary
school teachers is to create a balance between the children‟s enjoyment and their attitudes
towards the English language learning. Despite the difficulties, working with young
children can be a wond erful and unique experience for any teacher.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Accessed on 18 July 2016 from Merriam E Al Nassir, Meaning Recall and
Retention: Comparison between Translation Method and Pictorial Method in
Learning Vocabulary in Saudi‟s School
http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/webclient/DeliveryManager/digitool_items/csu0
1_storage/2012/06/22/file_6/161921
2. Carter, Ronald and Mc. Carty, Michael (Eds), Vocabulary and Language Teaching,
Longman, Pearson Education Limited, 1997
3. Gairns, Ruth and Redman, Stuart, Working with Words: A Guide to Teaching and
Learning Vocabulary , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986
4. Hadfield, Jill, Beginners‟ Communication Games , Longman, Pearson Education
Limited, 1999
5. Hadfield, Jill, Elementary Vocabulary Games , Longman, Pearson Education
Limited, 1998
6. Harmer, Jeremy, Teaching Knowledge Core Concepts In English Language
Teachi ng, Pearson Education Limited ,2012
7. Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, 4th Edition, England,
Pearson Education Limited, 2 007
8. Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching , New Edition,
Longman Group UK Limited , 1991
9. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Storytelling_handbo
ok_FINAL_web.pdf , Ellis, Gail and Brewster, Jean, Tell I t Again! The Storytelling
Handbook for Primary English Language Teachers, British Council 2002 , accessed
on 10 July 2016,
10. Jack C. Richards, Willy A. Renandya, Methodology in Language Teaching – An
Anthology of Current Practice , Cambridge University Press, 2002
11. Kras hen, Stephens D. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition,
http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf , accessed on
14 July 2016
12. Nation , Ian, Stephen, Paul , Learning Vocabulary in Another Language , Cambridge
University Press, 2001
13. Numan, David, Language Teaching Methodology , Prentice Hall Macmillan, 1991

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14. Read, Carol, 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom , Macmillan Book for
Teachers, Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2007
15. Scott, Wendy A. and Ytreberg, Lisbeth H. Teaching English to Children , Longman
keys to language teaching, Pearson Education Limited, United Kingdom 1995
16. Thornbury, Scott ., How to Teach Vocabulary , Longman, Pearson Educat ion
Limited, 2002
17. Walla ce, Michael, Practice Language Teaching: Teaching Vocabulary. London,
Heinemann Educational Books,1982
18. Wright, Andrew, Betteridge, David and Buckby, Michael, Games for Language
Learning , Cambridge University Press, Third Edition, 200 6

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1. http://www.manythings.org/vocabulary/games/k/words.php?f=classroom_1 .
Accessed on 10 July 2016
2. http://esl -kids.com/flashcards/weather.html . – accessed on 23 September 2015
3. http://www.mes -english.com/flashcards/weather.php .-accessed on 23 September
2015
4. http://princess.disney.com/ariels -story . – accessed on 23 September 2015
5. http://www.kidsworldfun.com/short -stories/the -gingerbread -man.php . – accessed on
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Resource%20Books%20for%20Children).pdf . – accessed on 8 June 2016
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Moon, Jane, Children Learning English, A Guidebook for English Languag e Teachers,
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memory -in-vocabulary -acquisition/ , accessed on 18 July 2016
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APPENDIX 1

OBSERV ATION QUESTIONNAIRE

1. How old are you?
2. How long have you been studying English?
3. Do you like English, w hy?
4. Do you like English language games?
5. Would you like to have lists of new words translated to you in Romanian?
6. Do you feel comfortable to learn new words by heart?
7. Would you like to read st ories in English or listen to them?
8. Would you like to learn new words through pictures, reali a, games, songs or
storytelling, w hy?

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APPENDIX 2
These are some of the before, while and after –storytelling activities that were used
in teac hing vocabulary using the story of Cinderella. The story can be read or listen to
online and for my lessons, I have chosen the following online version
http://www.learner.org/interact ives/story/sequence.html (accessed on 24 September 2015)
Then I present some of the board games that were used to teach vocabulary in the
class. The board games were retrieved from
http://eslgamesworld.com/members/games/vocabulary/index.html (accessed on 24
September 2015)

My favourite character is…

95

I like them because…

The words that describe this character best are…

The story of Cinderella is set in…
the wicked stepmother's house. the palace of the King and Queen

96
I will set my story in…

97

Cut out the pictures and put them into the correct order.

98

At the beginning of the story…

In the middle of the story…

99

At the end of the story…

100

101

102

103

104

105

Declarație de autenticitate

Subsemnatul(a) SABĂU DANIELA -GABRIELA (căsătorită MUREȘAN), înscrisă la examenul
pentru obținerea Gradului didactic I, seria 2015 -2017, specializarea LIMBA ȘI LITERATURA
ENGLEZĂ, având funcția didactică profesor la unitatea școlară , ȘCOALA GIMNAZIALĂ TUREAC,
BISTRIȚA, p rin prezenta declar pe propria răspundere că lucrarea cu titlul TEACHING VOCABULARY
THROUGH GAMES AND STORIES IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL (PREDAREA
VOCABULARULUI LIMBII ENGLEZE PRIN INTERMEDIUL JOCURILOR SI PO VEȘTILOR LA CICLUL
PRIMAR SI GIMN AZIAL) , având coordonator științific Conf. Univ. Dr , CARMEN BORBELY , a fost
elaborată personal pe baza studierii bibliografiei de specialitate, a experienței personale și îmi
aparține în întregime. De asemenea nu am folosit alte surse decât cele menționate în bibli ografie,
nu au fost preluate texte, date sau elemente de grafică din alte lucrări, fără a fi citate și fără a fi
precizată sursa preluării, inclusiv în cazul în care sursa o reprezintă alte lucrări ale candidatului.

Data 16.08.2016 Semnătura candidatului
MUREȘAN DANIELA -GABRIELA