Why we really do what we do Part Two- Games
There are plenty of good reasons for using games in the classroom, but I doubt if few of them outstrip the influence of happy students giving teachers a buzz and keeping them going in their jobs when other things might get them down.
I’m not going to be yet another portentous voice saying “Smiling faces doesn’t mean satisfied students” (what is the point of saying something in a workshop or article that no one could possibly disagree with?), because it sure does mean satisfied teachers! The chemical high of getting paid for 60 minutes of adding joy to people’s lives is an addiction that is difficult to shake. I have at times got the same kick out of trying something new, getting students through an EFL exam, learning about the world through my students, or really interesting discussions, but replacing something that gives you a buzz and so is difficult to judge in language learning terms with something that just makes you feel just as good hardly seems like a solution.
In fact, I have no solution- hence the series on drawing games in the last three editions of Modern English Teacher! I live in hope that staying aware of when I’m indulging myself in class as much as my students will keep me somewhat on track, though…
April 3rd, 2010 at 6:04 am
Two other solutions occured to me today:
- Sorting out my personal life and personality so that students’ reactions to my classes aren’t so important to me
- Focusing on student improvements, and somehow gathering the data to know that they have done so
April 4th, 2010 at 5:08 am
Absolutely agree. I like to play games, and I like to watch the students enjoying the games I’ve thought up or more usually found for them to play. I think all ages from pre-school to post 60 can enjoy and learn from playing games in class. But the reason I do it and will keep doing it is cos it’s fun for me.
Sometimes, we get negative feedback about game play – rarely as long as the games are obviously useful use of class time – but there are some miserable g*ts who seem to get the same pleasure out of killing the buzz as we get out of creating it.
I’m enjoying this series. A subtext is perhaps how pointless research and theory is in EFL – cos teachers do things the way they do for personal or interpersonal reasons that cannot be influenced by new ideas. If someone has a new idea that fills the real needs of teachers then it will catch on. But our real needs are not always what they’re supposed to be!!
Having said that – one thing I’m sure of – people like to learn. Nothing seems to give people more pleasure than learning new skills or knowledge. The process of getting to that wonderful ‘ahah’ moment when we feel we have got it can be quite miserable though.
The kind of students I just don’t get on with are the – ‘just tell us what we need to know and we’ll learn it later’ types – even if they will in fact learn it later (and many won’t). A lot of what I like about EFL is making it easier and more fun and the students who are genuinely able or highly motivated don’t really need my help.
Many students in Asia are used to working very hard and spending perhaps 2-3 hours at home to learn the material from one hour of class time. My lessons aim to be self contained, so if you pay attention and get involved in class, you will pretty much have learned all you need to after the lesson. That’s the plan anyway. I have evolved this approach after working in Korea, Japan and Vietnam and accepting that students will not do homework, will seldom attend the whole course, and have much higher level of knowledge about English than they have ability to use English.
I also think it’s paramount to break up the phalanx of students versus lone teacher for as much of the lesson as possible and to get students to motivate each other. This helps to deal with some of the miserable killjoys – or at least takes the pressure off you to do so. Taking away points for use of Korean was the only way I could get even higher level students to use English in pairwork/groups. I did give an adjumma some (bamboo – not metal) chopsticks and tell her to stab anyone she caught speaking Korean – that worked too for a while.
April 5th, 2010 at 2:46 am
Thanks Andy. Great comment as ever. You strike me as a man who has a blog, or at least a couple of guest posts in him. If it’s the latter, TEFLtastic is the place!
April 5th, 2010 at 6:26 am
I don’t think I have the energy or focus to sustain a blog for very long. So I’m glad to be able to chip in here for now. Thanks again.
May 31st, 2010 at 6:56 am
Forgot to link to Part One, which is here:
http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/teaching/tefl/why-error-correction/
October 14th, 2010 at 6:35 am
Part Three has been up for a while, and is here:
http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/teach-abroad/asia/japan/why-we-really-do-part-three/