Learn by playing

Since forever, children have to learn new languages. The English is one of the most important they have to learn. It’s for that reason that the teachers and the parents have to look for the best way to do it.

For us, playing is the best idea. The reason is because they have fun, participate, learn and memorize songs and rhyme easily.

They have to mix class and plays, and a good way to play is with traditional games.

Everybody, when they were children used to play typical games, like “I spy with my little eye…” (“Veo, veo”) or “1, 2, 3, plan”, so what we want is that the children play them, but in English.

It’s a good method to learn the language while they’re having fun.

There are a lot of traditional games, but we choose four.

I spy with my little eye

It’s like “veo, veo” in Spanish.

One child starts with the sentence: “I spy with my little eye…” and according with the age or school year it can be:

-          … something + the colour. For example: something pink. It’s easy to practice the colours.

-          … something + what it looks like. For example: something that looks like a square. It’s good to practice the shapes.

-          … something + the first letter of the word. For example: something that begins for the letter “b”. It’s good to practice the alphabet.

Here you can see a video of the game. It’s very visual. 

 

Video: I spy

Telephone

It’s a well-known game and very easy. The teacher and the pupils make a row. The first child says a question or a sentence to the classmate behind him/her. This pupil has to pass the message to the next child. And so on to the end. The last classmate has to say out loud what he/she heard.

This exercise is useful to practice the language and very funny.

Simon says

One pupil is “Simón” who manage the action and the rest have to obey his commands.

The magical sentence is “Simon says…”

If Simon says “Simon says, jump” everybody has to jump. If they don’t do it, they are eliminated. But if Simon just says “Jump” everybody who jumps, they will be eliminated.

Summarizing, players are eliminated from the game by either following instructions that are not immediately preceded by the phrase, or by failing to follow an instruction which does include the phrase "Simon says". It is the ability to distinguish between acceptable and invalid commands. And with this game the pupils can improve their knowledge about actions, parts of the body…

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

It’s a well-known traditional game. They have to sing a song and move.

One child has the cookie and all the class say:

-          "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?”
“(The name of the child) stole the cookie from the cookie jar”

And he/she answers:

-          “Who? Me?”

Everyone:
- “Yes, you!!!”
He/she:
- “Not me!”
Everyone:
- “Then, who?”

Children close their eyes and the child put “the cookie jar” behind a classmate. When they open their eyes, the child who has the cookie jar has to purse him/her.

Children can learn the dialogue with this song:

Video: Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

These traditional games are good at school and at home too.

Finally, when we have to choose who starts a game, the best idea is to flip a coin to see it. It’s like “pito, pito"

Here, there is a song to choose who starts:

One, two buckle my shoe.

Three, four, knock on the door

Five, six, pick up sticks.

Seven, eight, let them straight.

Nine, ten, a big fat then.

What we want with all of these exercise is that the children have fun and learn in English something that they know in their own language.



Iria Álvarez Liz
Lara Conde Faría
Ana Fernández Custodio