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This is a project funded by CETL

Language Games for Learning Arabic

by Amal al Ayoubi CONTENTS Introduction – why use games? Find someone who … The Noughts and Crosses Game Catch Phrase Split Sentences Crime Investigation Write a Story The Auction Game Introduction - why use games? There are several reasons for using games in the language classroom and for providing examples of games here. 1 Language games can provide learners with useful language practice in a

relaxed and enjoyable way. 2 They can help improve classroom atmosphere and dynamics by

encouraging peer support and interaction. 3 Many coursebooks do not provide this type of practice material. 4 Language games are flexible and can be used at almost any time in a

lesson. 5 Games can be used for both accuracy-based work and fluency-based

work. 6 Games can be long or short depending on the time available. Below are descriptions of six language games you might like to try out with your learners.

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The Auction Game

Aims: accuracy and revision work Grammar points: mixed structures, adjectives Level: Beginner 3 – Lower Intermediate Time: 30 minutes Materials: Sentences prepared by the teacher according to the student level.

A hammer if possible. An auction sheet with a budget for spending and a list of bought items.

Procedure 1 Create the atmosphere of an auction room with the teacher standing behind

a high desk. Ask students if they are familiar with the words used in auctions and introduce them to the class. The game is also a chance to reflect on the cultural interaction between Europe and the Middle East. For example, words used in auctions are adapted from Italian words such as:–– ريز ى ت ى دوه عل ه عل ى اون عل

2 Put students into pairs and give each pair an auction sheet with the

sentences you have prepared. Tell them that some of the sentences on the sheet are correct and some are incorrect. They must read through and decide which sentences are correct and which are not. Tell them that if they buy an incorrect sentence they lose a certain amount of money. After you start the auction the students bid for sentences that they believe are correct. Tell them that each pair has a certain amount of cash that they can spend on buying the sentences. They should write the prices of the sentences they buy onto their auction sheet. They must not exceed the amount of money they were allocated. The pair with the most correct sentences and the most money at the end of the auction are the winners. Note that the teacher should not help the students while they are discussing in pairs which sentences to buy before the auction starts.

3 Start the auction

a) Read out the first sentence in a persuasive way even if it is wrong, and then ask them to bid for it. b) Keep the bidding moving fast to convey the excitement of an auction room. c) If the students buy an incorrect sentence, tell them that it was a wrong and what the right structure would be, but don’t go into details at this

point so as not to lose the momentum of the auction atmosphere. 4 At the end of the auction discuss with the students the wrong sentences. Acknowledgment I first used the auction game with my lower intermediate class after finding it in “Grammar Games” by Mario Rinvolucri, Cambridge University Press.

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Example Auction Sheet

مزاد علني

الجمل الميزانية شراء

بيت القديم في وسط المدينة

ما اسم مكتب السيارات الجديد؟

لندن أآبيرة عاصمة للفلوس

آان محمد رجل لطيف ولكن غريب

وجد لورا الشباك المكسور

سأشرب بيرة مع صديقتي أمس

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Find someone who …

Aims: to provide learners with interactive question practice Grammar: mixed structures, question forms Level: Beginner 3 – lower intermediate Time: 20 minutes Material: Sentences prepared by the teacher according to the level of the students. Preparation Write a number of sentences that go with the heading “Find someone who … ”, for example, “… is going to the Middle East this summer.” Write the sentences on cards or on a worksheet and distribute to the students. You can use the sentences on the card to revise a recently taught structure or to introduce a structure you want to deal with in the lesson. Procedure Distribute the cards (or worksheet) among the students. Then tell them to move around the classroom, talking to their classmates, in order to find someone who can answer the question on the card or who fits the description on the card. For example:

Find someone who:

لى الشرق األوسط في الصيفسيذهب إ -

تروليعمل في شرآة ب

عنده أسرع سيارة في العالم

عنده سيارة يابانية

لى السينما يوم السبتيريد أن يذهب إ

يسكن في بيت قديم

يرآض آل يوم في الحديقة العامة

الطعاملم يحبلى مطعم عربي و ذهب إ

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The Noughts and Crosses Game

Aims: Revision and accuracy work Grammar: Modals Level: Beginner 3 – lower intermediate Time: 20 minutes Material: drawing on the board Procedure 1 First check that the students know how to play Noughts and Crosses, i.e. learners

play the game using either noughts or crosses, they take turns and they try to get three noughts or three crosses in a straight line either vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

2 Draw this grid below on the board. 3 Divide the team into two groups and tell them that they have to choose a word

from anywhere in the grid and use it to form a correct sentence. If you want you can give a time limit, e.g. a student can not take more than 20 seconds to produce a correct sentence. Alternatively, you can tell each group to select a spokesperson who is responsible for giving you a perfectly correct sentence with the word. This encourages lots of discussion in the team to find a correct sentence using the word. Teams take turns and try to get three noughts or crosses in a row.

4 This is a very flexible game which can be used at almost any level since you can choose easy or difficult words to put in the grid.

Example grid: زم ال ممكن ضروري مستحيل ما الزم )بيجوز(يجوز ضروري ما ممكن ما معقول

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Catch Phrase Aims: Listening and speaking practice Grammar: modals Level: Beginner 3 – lower intermediate Time: 30 minutes Material: translation Preparation Write a number of short sentences which will use the Arabic modals you would like to teach. Write sentences that can be used as a catch phrase. For example, “I didn’t know such a thing was possible.” (This sentence will require the Arabic modal بيجوز–

. ممكن الخ–ضروري ). Put the sentences onto an OHP transparency so that you can show it on a projector in the class. Procedure 1 Ask students to translate the sentences you show on the overhead projector/board. 2 Put the students into pairs and ask them to choose one of the sentences that they

have translated. Then they need to create a dialogue in which they use the chosen sentence as the catch phrase.

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Split Sentences

The girl who…

Aims: Listening, speaking and grammar Grammar: relative pronouns Level: Upper Intermediate Time: 30 minutes Material: translation Procedure 1 Divide the class into group A and group B. Provide each student with a card

that has part of a sentence written on it. Tell them to learn to say by heart the words on their card. Then collect the cards. Alternatively you can let them keep their cards if they lack confidence or have poor memories!

2 Ask students to walk around the classroom repeating their sentence to other students until they find the person who has the other part of their sentence.

3 Note that this is a very flexible game because you can use it to practise a variety of structures and linking words. When you write your own sentences, make sure that the different sentence halves will match with only one other sentence half.

Example: Group A Group B I saw the girl…………… who worked as a secretary. I attended a lesson ………….. that I enjoyed a lot. This is the car …………….. that I have been dreaming of.

فئة ب فئة أ الذي يعمل في شرآة الزجاج قابلت الرجل

يعمل في السعودية تزوجت رجلالذي عصرته لي في الصباح شربت العصير

التي لحنها الرحباني سمعت األغنية الذي طبخته أمي أآلت الطعام

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Crime Investigation

Aims: Speaking and listening practice, past tense question practice Grammar: Past Tense, Past Tense Questions Vocabulary: family members, dates, times, places Level: Lower intermediate 1 Time: 40 minutes Procedure 1 Tell the class a murder has been committed: a man has been found dead next

to the swimming pool in his garden. 2 Tell two students they will work as investigators and their job will be to find

out who committed the crime. Ask them to leave the room and prepare questions they will each ask a group of suspects. Provide them with some help if necessary.

3 Divide the rest of the class into two groups. Each group must decide among themselves who is the murderer and why the murder was committed. They must also decide who they are, what relation they have to the murdered man, where they were at the time of the murder, and what their alibi is. Allow the learners some degree of creativity at this stage.

4 Invite the investigators to return to the class and question the people in the group. The groups can take turns, with one group listening to the other group being questioned and trying to work out who committed the murder.

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Write a story

Aims: word-building activities, story writing Grammar: Consolidation of a variety of structures Level: Beginner 2-3 Time: 40 minutes 1 Provide students with a sheet of paper that has examples of a number of

related words and ask them to see if they can find the relationship between the words. For example, words with a similar prefix or suffix, nouns derived from the root verb, adjectives, etc.

2 Ask students to write down other words they remember and tell them to try and derive related words as in the examples you have given.

3 After each student has collected a number of words, divide the students into two groups, Group A and Group B. (The teacher has the chance here to regroup the students according to their strengths, e.g. strong students can be put together if it is a class with very mixed abilities).

4 Ask the members of Group A and Group B to select the words they want to use to write a story.

5 Once the students have written the story, each student needs to memorize a sentence from the story. The group then practise telling the whole story.

6 Each group narrates their story to the other group. 7 The members of the other group can ask questions about the story.

شراب شرب مشروب يشرب شربانرسمة رسم مرسوم يرسم رساميطير طار طائرة طيار طير

Acknowledgment: This game was used by Ghinwa Mamari and Reem el- Botmeh on an intensive summer course at SOAS Language Centre. Amal al Ayoubi, SOAS Language Centre, November 2005