Content introduction

2.4. Developing discursive competence via role-playing games
In most schools today, children begin to learn a foreign language (FL) from the second grade. On the one hand, this is difficult for them, since often a new language can come into conflict with their native languages due to its specificity and a number of differences. On the other hand, the earlier children learn something new and find themselves directly in a situation conducive to obtaining new knowledge, the easier it will be for them to learn new material. After all, for children there is no concept difficult, but there is a new concept. Masaru Ibuki in his book “It's too late after three” wrote: “For a child who does not have a clear, well-established idea that it is “difficult” or “easy” - English or Japanese ... - everything should start at the same time, for him everything is new [5, p. 34]. That is why the study of foreign language begins at primary school age. There are different teaching methods that can be used at this stage.
One of the most effective methods is play.
It is well known that, based on age characteristics, any activity of primary school children begins with play. At the same time, “play is a form of organizing activities that performs entertaining, communicative, diagnostic, socializing and aesthetic functions”. In the game, each child can open up in different ways, show his best qualities. And the main thing is that the game will help make the learning process interesting, entertaining and as productive as possible. The following main functions of the game are distinguished:
- Educational
- Entertaining
- Communicative
- Psychological
- Relaxation
Each function is aimed at obtaining certain results. Teaching implies the
development of the acquired knowledge, the development of educational skills in
mastering the subject (IL). Educational teaches children to respect each other and to other people's opinions. The entertainment function helps to keep children interested in a tempting play situation. Communicative is the creation of a situation in which children can apply FL in various communication situations that are close to real ones.
Developing is aimed at the harmonious development of the child's personality. Psychological provides a comfortable state for children to master new knowledge. And the relaxation function helps children to cope with stress, relieve emotional stress.
Games used in English lessons form children's language skills and speech skills. Based on this, grammatical, lexical, phonetic and spelling games are distinguished. Let's consider the grammatical game "Spy Message" and analyze it from the point of view of the implementation of the previously mentioned functions.
"Spy message"
The goal of the game is to practice the skill of constructing sentences.
Task: to restore the order of words in sentences.
Course of the game: Children are divided into three teams and receive three envelopes with "encrypted letters" containing sentences in which the word order is out of order. Based on the learned grammatical material, children reconstruct sentences.
This game has a learning function: children need to use previously acquired
knowledge in order to correctly build sentences in a letter, so they learn to apply the knowledge gained in a specific practical task. Educational function: since children are divided into 3 groups, and there will be about 8 people in one group, they will have to listen to each other, take into account each other's opinions and come to a common one - after all, the text is one and the mistakes must be corrected together. Of course, not a single game is complete without an entertaining function: children have to do a fairly common exercise, but in the format of a game, with a well-thought-out legend and rules, they have a goal - to decipher the message, and children are always interested in it. Also, in this exercise there is a communicative function: children communicate while playing and solve a problem together in order to achieve the final goal.
The developing function of this game is to develop attention and critical thinking. Another function smoothly flows from this function - psychological. With a friendly atmosphere, the psychological background in the class will be as favorable as possible and this has a good effect on the performance of children and, accordingly, on the quality and effectiveness of the game. And if we consider this game from the side of the last function - relaxation, it can be noted that the game will help in relieving emotional stress, relieve children and reconfigure them to an easier type of information perception.
All this helped us understand that this game is a good example of the
implementation of all the functions of game activity in general and is recommended for use in foreign language lessons when practicing other skills and abilities. It should be remembered that “the information offered to children should be presented at different levels of accessibility. Adaptive didactic speech will help the teacher in sorting issues out.
Thus, play is an important method of teaching primary school children. With its help, in a playful way, you can better and more productively teach foreign language. The main thing is to choose games according to the desired results.