Teaching foreign languages through games

The consideration of game technologies as means of raising motivation. The contribution of drilling lies in the concentration on a language form and its frequent use during a limited period of time. Many games provide this repeated use of a language form. By making the language convey information and opinion, games provide the key feature of drill with the opportunity to sense the working of language as living communication. Games also help the teacher to create contexts 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 the speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information[1]. Many games cause as much as density of practice as more conventional drill exercises; some do not. Want matters, however, is the quality of practice. To raise an interest for vocabulary through games, to analyze theoretical material on the problem under discussion, to reveal game technologies as means of raising motivation, to find the advantages of game technologies as means of raising motivation. The subject of research - game technologies as means of raising motivation. The articles from methodological journals, educational and methodological literature and internet resources were also used during writing of the work. Now let us consider the first part of my research work.I have chosen this theme because games are often used in teaching process. Because of it lessons can be more interesting and effective. In my opinion, language learning is hard work. One should make an effort to understand, to repeat accurately, to manipulate newly acquired language and to use the whole range of known language in conversation or written composition. Effort is required at every moment and must maintained over a long period of time. Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work. Teaching vocabulary is considered in the first chapter. What teachers really mean is that students are not motivated to behave in the way teachers would like them to behave. Game technologies as a way and raising of motivation in teaching foreign languages are given in the second chapter. I take into account different opinions and methods of scholars about using games in teaching process, how they 44 can improve and develop skills and motivation of student during educational process. The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years. Vocabulary acquisition is increasingly viewed as crucial to language acquisition. However, there is much disagreement as to the effectiveness of different approaches for presenting vocabulary items. Moreover, learning vocabulary is often perceived as a tedious and laborious process. In this article I would like to examine some traditional techniques and compare them with the use of language games for vocabulary presentation and revision, in order to determine whether they are more successful in presenting and revising vocabulary than other methods. From my teaching experience I have noticed how enthusiastic students are about practicing language by means of games. I believe games are not only fun but help students learn without a conscious analysis or understanding of the learning process while they acquire communicative competence as second language users. There are numerous techniques concerned with vocabulary presentation. However, they are few things that have to be remembered irrespective of the way lexical items are presented. If teachers want students to remember new vocabulary, it needs to be learnt in context, practiced and then revised to prevent students from forgetting. We can tell the same about grammar. Teachers must make sure students have understood the new words, which will be remembered better if introduced in a "memorable way". Bearing all this in mind, teachers have to remember to employ Games encourage, entertain, teach and promote fluency. If not any of these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see beauty in a foreign language and not just problems Choosing appropriate games. There are many factors to consider while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must correspond to either the student's level, or age, or to the material that is to be introduced or practiced. Not all games are appropriate for all students irrespective of their age. Different age of groups require moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups and the like. Furthermore, structural games that practice or reinforce a certain grammatical aspect of language have to relate to students' abilities and prior knowledge. Games become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the student's experience. Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time necessary for its completion. Many games have a time limit, but according to SiekPiscozub, the teacher can either allocate more or less time depending on the students' level, the number of people in a group, or the knowledge of the rules of a game etc. When to use games. Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee observes, a game 45 "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do". Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon suggests that games be used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen. At different stages of the lesson, the teacher's aims connected with a game may vary: 1. Presentation. Provide a good model making its meaning clear; 2. Controlled practice. Elicit good imitation of new language and appropriate responses; 3. Communicative practice. Give students a chance to use the language. Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. all authors referred to in this article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate fluency. However, can they be more successful for presentation and revision than other techniques? The following part of this article is an attempt at finding the answers to this question. The other group of students had to work out the meanings of the idioms by means of translation. Unlike the previously described group, they did not know the definitions. The expressions were listed on the board, and students tried to guess their proper meanings giving different options[4]. My role was direct them to those that were appropriate. Students translated the idioms into Polish and endeavored to find similar or corresponding expressions in their mother tongue. Unlike the game used for the purpose of idiom introduction, this activity did not require the preparation of any aids. Fewer learners participated actively or enthusiastically in this lesson and most did not show great interest in the activity.