Developing a1 level learner`s grammatical competence through games contents introduction chapter I. Developing a1 and a2 level learner`s grammatical competence through games

CHAPTER II. GAME AS A MEANS OF FORMING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AT THE INITIAL STAGE OF LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
2.1. Game technologies as a way to develop communicative competence
The game always involves making decisions - how to act, what to say, how to win. The desire to solve these questions speeds up the mental activity of the players. What if the child thinks in a foreign language? Of course, there are rich learning opportunities here. Children, however, do not think about it. For them, the game is primarily an exciting activity. Everyone is equal in the game. It is feasible even for weak students. A sense of equality, an atmosphere of enthusiasm and joy, a sense of the feasibility of tasks - all this enables the children to overcome shyness that prevents them from freely using the words of a foreign language in speech and has a beneficial effect on learning outcomes. The linguistic material is imperceptibly assimilated, and along with this, a feeling of satisfaction arises - it turns out that I can speak on an equal footing with everyone.
Thus, we consider the game as a situational-variative exercise, which creates the opportunity for repeated repetition of a speech sample in conditions as close as possible to real-speech communication with its inherent features - emotionality, purposefulness, speech impact.
Games contribute to the implementation of the following methodological tasks:
- creation of psychological readiness of children for verbal communication;
- ensuring the natural need for repeated repetition of language material by them;
- training students in choosing the right speech option;
As you know, the driving force of speaking as a type of speech activity is the motive. Creating a speaking motive is the most important component of the teacher's activity when organizing role-playing games.
In the collection "Questions of Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages Abroad" the German methodologist Fr. Leisinger shows the great communicative and, therefore, educational possibilities of role-playing for the development of oral speech. Role-playing game, in his opinion, most accurately recreates the atmosphere of communication. A certain character is assigned to its participants (students), they are in certain relationships within the framework of any particular situation, which implies a variety of speech reactions, including emotional ones. Students need to express joy or grief, delight or indignation, and they must find means to express their emotions.
The game, as you know, is the leading form of activity of a child in primary school age. It is no secret that many prominent educators rightly paid attention to the effectiveness of using games in the learning process. And this is understandable. In the game, the abilities of a person, a child in particular, are manifested especially fully and sometimes unexpectedly.
This topic is extremely important for its deep study and especially its practical application in schools. Its relevance at the present stage is obvious, and taking into account new trends in the education system, giving teachers scope for innovation and implementation of their own heterogeneous ideas and solutions. And it is the game, as the most not constrained by conventions and various kinds of frameworks, that has acquired learning, as well as the children's audience for which it is designed, the most acceptable for its use in the lower grades, because. it is here that there are unlimited opportunities for realizing the creative potential of both the teacher and the students. The game forms a steady interest in the further study of the English language, as well as confidence in the successful mastery of it. But I want to note that the game has not only motivational functions. The use of gaming moments in the classroom and in extracurricular activities contributes to the activation of the cognitive and creative activities of students, develops their thinking, memory, fosters initiative, and allows you to overcome boredom in teaching a foreign language. Games develop intelligence and attention, enrich the language and consolidate students' vocabulary, focus on the shades of their meaning. The game can make the student remember the past, replenish their knowledge.
The place of the game in the lesson and the time allotted to the game depend on a number of factors: the preparation of students, the material being studied, the specific goals and conditions of the lesson, etc. For example, if the game is used as a training exercise during the initial consolidation of the material, then 15-20 minutes of the lesson can be given to it. In the future, the same game can be played for 3-5 minutes and serve as a kind of repetition of the material already covered, as well as relaxation in the lesson.
When using the game method of teaching, the task of the teacher is, first of all, to organize the cognitive activity of students, during which their abilities, especially creative ones, would develop.
Games can be grammatical, lexical, phonetic, spelling. All of them contribute to the formation of communicative competence.
The same game can be used at different stages of the lesson. But it all depends on the specific working conditions of the teacher, his temperament and creative abilities. It should be noted here that for all the attractiveness and effectiveness of the game method, it is necessary to observe a sense of proportion, otherwise the games will tire the students and lose the freshness of the emotional impact.
The success of using games depends on the atmosphere of the necessary verbal communication that the teacher creates in the classroom. It is important that students get used to such communication, get carried away and become participants in this process together with the teacher. The trust and ease of communication between the teacher and the students, arising from the general game atmosphere, disposes the students to serious conversations, discussion of any real situations, since a foreign language lesson is not only a game. Experience shows that the use of the game method of teaching contributes to the development of cognitive activity of students in learning the language. The game carries a considerable moral principle, because it makes work (mastery of a foreign language) joyful, creative and collective. After all, the purpose of the game teaching method is to promote the development of speech skills and abilities. The ability to show independence in solving speech-thinking tasks, quick reaction in communication, maximum mobilization of speech skills - the characteristic qualities of speech skills - can be manifested during the games.
From understanding the meaning of games, the following requirements for them follow:
Each game should give exercises useful for the mental development of children and their education.
The game must have an exciting task, the solution of which requires mental effort, overcoming some difficulties.
The game should include entertainment, humor. Passion for the game mobilizes mental activity, facilitates the task.
It should also be taken into account that any game in the educational process is a methodological technique that belongs to the group of active methods of teaching practical knowledge of a foreign language. The introduction of this technique into the educational process contributes to the achievement of the goals of teaching dialogic speech and extended monologue utterance, the activation of the speech-thinking activity of schoolchildren, the formation of their skills and abilities for independent expression of thought, the education and upbringing of students by means of a foreign language.
There are basic requirements for games.
The game should stimulate the motivation of learning, arouse students' interest and desire to do the task well, it should be carried out on the basis of a situation that is adequate to the real situation of communication.
The game must be accepted by the whole group.
It is certainly held in a friendly, creative atmosphere.
The game evokes a feeling of satisfaction and joy in schoolchildren. The freer the student feels in the game, the more proactive he will be in communication. Over time, he will develop a sense of self-confidence.
The game is organized in such a way that students can use the language material being worked out with maximum efficiency in active speech communication.
The teacher himself certainly believes in the game, in its effectiveness. Only under this condition will he be able to achieve good results.
Another important requirement when conducting various kinds of games is the use of all kinds of visualization.
In addition, the teacher should always remember such elementary requirements as the appropriateness of the game for the age of the children and the topic being studied; it is impossible to allow such a moment when not all students are involved in the game. You also need to make sure that the instructions are clear and understood by everyone and that the students are ready for the implementation of the game activity.
Also, do not forget that when discussing the game, evaluating the participation of schoolchildren in it, the teacher should show tact, especially when evaluating the results of the game. A negative assessment of the activities of its participants will inevitably lead to a decrease in activity. It is advisable to start discussing the results of the game with good moments and only then move on to disadvantages.
Having considered the classification of the functions of gaming activity, we should consider the classification of the games themselves. Starting to consider this issue, we should immediately make a reservation that at present in the philosophical, psychological, pedagogical and methodological literature there is no unambiguous classification of it. Let's try to understand the diversity of views on this problem.
Speaking about the classification of games, it should be noted that attempts to classify games were made in the last century by both foreign and domestic researchers who dealt with the problem of gaming activity. For example, J. Piaget identifies three main types of play, which he correlates with the stages of child development:

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  exercise games - the first games of the child associated with grasping, actions with toys (the first year of life);
  
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  symbolic games based on imitation of the world of adults with the help of a special system of symbols (early preschool age);
  
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  games with rules, which, in fact, are role-playing games.
  

Among domestic psychologists and teachers, such authors as N.P. Anikeeva, M.F. Stronin, L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein and D.B. Elkonin.
The author of another classification is the domestic psychologist P.P. Blonsky, who distinguishes the following types of games:

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  imaginary games - manipulations of impulsive origin in infants, which are not actually games;
  
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  construction games, which are based on the construction art of the child;
  
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  imitative games based on imitation of adults;
  
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  dramatization, i.e. games based on the dramatic art of the child;
  
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  outdoor games in which running plays a huge role;
  
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  intellectual games based on the activation of the mental abilities of the child.
  

Another researcher of creative games A.P. Usova proposes a classification of games, where among action games, in which the action itself is depicted, building and constructive games, she singles out role-playing games. She considers role-playing those games in which the child creates this or that image.
N.P. Anikeeva offers the following classification of games:

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  dramatization games based on the performance of a plot, the script of which is not a rigid canon;
  
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  improvisation games, where the characters know the main plot of the game, the nature of their role, and the game itself develops in the form of improvisation;
  
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  games to overcome the stages, when the stages are determined, at each of which a certain task of a cognitive nature is performed;
  
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  business games in which situations are played out, built on the identification of functional connections and relationships between different levels of management and organization.
  

Famous psychologist L.S. Vygotsky gives a psychological classification of games, based on the fact that the game includes actions related to the child's activities:

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  mobile, which are associated with the development of the ability to move oneself in the environment and navigate in it;
  
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  construction, related to work on the material, teach the accuracy and fidelity of movements; develop valuable skills, diversify and multiply our reactions;
  
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  conditional, which arise from purely conditional rules, actions associated with them, and organize higher forms of behavior.
  

Other domestic psychologists S.L. Rubinstein and D.B. Elkonin single out intellectual and role-playing games, and they pay attention to the fact that if the first category of games is "subjective-objective", then role-playing games are "subjective-subjective".
The use of role-playing games in a foreign language lesson provides ample opportunities to enhance the educational process.
• It is known that a role-playing game is a conditional reproduction by its participants of the real practical activities of people, creates conditions for real communication. The effectiveness of training here is due, first of all, to an explosion of motivation, an increase in interest in the subject.
• The game activates the desire of the children to contact each other and the teacher, creates conditions for equality in speech partnership, destroys the traditional barrier between the teacher and the student.
• Play provides an opportunity for timid, insecure students to speak and thus overcome the barrier of insecurity.
• In games, students master such elements of communication as the ability to start a conversation, support it, interrupt the interlocutor, agree with his opinion or refute it at the right time.
• Almost all the time in the role-playing game is devoted to speech practice, while not only the speaker, but also the listener is as active as possible, because he must understand and remember the partner's remark, correlate it with the situation, and respond to it correctly.
• Role play motivates the learning process, it answers the questions (Why?) - motive and (Why?) - goal, ie. something needs to be said. The focus is on the content of the conversation.
• Games have a positive effect on the formation of cognitive interests of schoolchildren, contribute to the conscious learning of a foreign language. They contribute to the development of such qualities as independence, initiative; fostering a sense of community. Students actively, enthusiastically work, help each other, listen carefully to their comrades; The teacher only manages learning activities.
• Role-playing game allows taking into account the age characteristics of students, their interests; expands the context of activity; acts as an effective means of creating a motive for foreign language dialogic communication; contributes to the implementation of an activity approach in teaching a foreign language, when the focus is on the student with his own interests and needs.