Theme: Responding to different learning styles when teaching foreign languages to young learners content introduction chapter general issues of communicative teaching foreign language communication of younger students

2.3 Style of game-exercises in early foreign language learning
Man only plays
when he is in the full sense of the word a man,
and he is fully human only when
when he plays.
F. Schiller
In the game, the abilities of any person, and the child in particular, are manifested especially fully, and sometimes unexpectedly. J. Huizinga noted that human culture arose and developed as a game.
A person is formed in activity, the more diverse it is, the more diverse his personality. Play, communication, learning, work are the main steps that are essential for the development of the child. The game is the way to the knowledge of the world, the way to the knowledge of the child himself, his capabilities, abilities, his limits. Self-examination always encourages improvement. That is why games are an important means of self-education. In them, the transition from upbringing to self-education, to free, internally motivated, conscious work on one's will, character, to the development of positive habits and the acquisition of the necessary skills occurs naturally and imperceptibly. This transition is provided by play interest, the "pleasure principle" on which children's games are based. In no other activity does the child show so much perseverance, purposefulness, tirelessness. An interesting game, he is given entirely. During the game, there are huge educational opportunities. For children, this is work that requires real effort. They overcome sometimes serious difficulties in the game, training their strength, developing their abilities and mind. Here the child feels to some extent independent. That is why he makes high demands on himself, the demands that adults make on him in life. There are various games. Some develop the thinking and horizons of children, others - dexterity, strength, and others - design skills. There are games aimed at developing creativity in a child, in which the child shows his invention, initiative, and independence. They overcome sometimes serious difficulties in the game, training their strength, developing their abilities and mind. Here the child feels to some extent independent. That is why he makes high demands on himself, the demands that adults make on him in life. There are various games. Some develop the thinking and horizons of children, others - dexterity, strength, and others - design skills. There are games aimed at developing creativity in a child, in which the child shows his invention, initiative, and independence. They overcome sometimes serious difficulties in the game, training their strength, developing their abilities and mind. Here the child feels to some extent independent. That is why he makes high demands on himself, the demands that adults make on him in life. There are various games. Some develop the thinking and horizons of children, others - dexterity, strength, and others - design skills. There are games aimed at developing creativity in a child, in which the child shows his invention, initiative, and independence. others - dexterity, strength, others - design skills. There are games aimed at developing creativity in a child, in which the child shows his invention, initiative, and independence. others - dexterity, strength, others - design skills. There are games aimed at developing creativity in a child, in which the child shows his invention, initiative, and independence.
It is important to remember that at primary school age there is a gradual change in the leading activity, the transition from playing activity to learning. At the same time, the game retains its leading role. Children continue to play until the age of 10-12. Consequently, the possibility of relying on gaming activity makes it possible to provide natural motivation for speech in a foreign language, to make even the most elementary statements interesting and meaningful. Even in the works of Ya.I. Comenius, it was noted that with the help of the game, inclusion in educational activities is easier.
Consider the main functions of the game, which are implemented, as it were, in two plans.
1. For a teacher, a game is an analogue of an exercise, an action in which children learn to articulate sounds, perceive sound differences, understand words, choose words, compose a phrase according to a model, and so on.
2. For a child, a game is an interesting, fascinating interaction with a teacher and peers, in which the creation of a statement of a certain type is dictated by the internal needs of the game.[10:50-53]
- developing: the development of attention, memory, speech, thinking, the ability to compare, contrast, find analogies, imagination, fantasies, creativity, reflection, the ability to find optimal solutions; development of motivation for learning activities.
- socializing: familiarization with the norms and values ​​of society; adaptation to environmental conditions; stress control, self-regulation; communication training.
Of course, not every game is suitable for this purpose. It is possible to formulate some requirements for the game as a method of teaching younger students a foreign language:
1). The presence of an imaginary situation, an imaginary plan in which children will act (movement in time, space, imaginary circumstances), as well as other components associated with this: roles, game objects (for example, a stick replaces a horse, spoon, broom, pencil, etc. Further). The latter may not be included in the game, but imaginary circumstances are required.
2). Mandatory awareness by children of the game result (what exactly will be achieved as a result of the game). This is not necessarily a “material” result or other gain - an interesting result, for example, can be the creation of unusual, comical or fantastic images using words (“flying” objects; talking animals, a forest in which everything is of an unusual color).
3). Children's awareness of the rule, following which, this result can be achieved (for example, funny can be created without a foreign language or “on a different topic”, and in the game the teacher sets the rules by which the funny is created by specific means of a foreign language).
4). The possibility of choosing a specific action in the game by each child, which ensures individual activity in the collective form of the game. For example, if all the houses on the street should be painted different colors, the child can choose an adjective of his choice, building a phrase during the game: I have a blue (green, red) house.
Of course, these requirements are formulated in the most general form, but they allow us to evaluate the actions used in the classroom from the point of view of "games - not games." So, if children simply perform some action in turn according to the rule, but do not get an individually significant result, do not make at least the most elementary choice, act mechanically, this cannot be called a game.
But let's not forget that playing in a foreign language class with younger students is not just collective entertainment, but the main way to achieve all learning objectives - from the smallest speech skills to the ability to conduct an independent conversation. So let's now see what requirements the game must meet from this point of view.
1). It is necessary to know exactly what kind of skill, ability is trained (used) in this game, what the child did not know how to do before the game, and what he learned as a result of it.
2). The game should put the child in front of the need for a mental effort, even a tiny one, so that in a game with a choice to tell what color the house is on a "multi-colored" street, you must first think, decide which color you like best and build the phrase accordingly.
3). It is not necessary to give children the rules of a speech game in strict formulations - such a rule can be a model of the teacher's speech. But it is important to emphasize that this is not a model for imitation, but one of the ways to solve a communicative task.
4). The rules of the game should be thought out in such a way that an error in a speech action would lead to a loss in the game, or rather, would not lead to a win.
The formulation of the game situation, the rules of the game, the story to the children about what will happen as a result - all this happens in their native language. Otherwise, the children will not understand what to do, and most importantly, in an incomprehensible language, it is impossible to arouse in them a positive emotion, interest, desire to get involved in the game as soon as possible.
Concluding a brief review of the problems of the game in teaching foreign languages ​​to children aged 8-10, it must be emphasized that the psychological justification for the transition to a new language is “a new game that is different from the one that is already known to children, which they play in their native language classes. This new game is about fantasy, unusual circumstances, new roles.”
The effectiveness of the formation of skills and abilities of foreign language speech is increased due to the interaction of game motivation and interest in schooling, due to the opportunity, on the one hand, to use a textbook, and on the other hand, to make this textbook exciting. More precisely, the fascination lies not in the textbook itself, but in the special organization of working with it. Working with a book also allows you to solve educational and developmental tasks: the ability to work in a team, focus on performing an action, find an independent solution to a communicative task, turn on the imagination, recognize colors and geometric shapes. For example, a textbook page might look like this: each picture is accompanied by conventional icons (triangles, squares, rhombuses, twists, stars of different colors).
In addition to the textbook, the teacher and each student have a set of conventional icons cut out of colored paper and pasted onto cardboard. Based on three pictures on one page of the tutorial, you can organize the following types of actions:
1. Listening. The teacher calls the image one cat, a big cat and a small cat, two cats and a dog). Children, depending on the correct understanding, find a picture and raise the corresponding conditional icon - a triangle, square or circle.
2. Independent statement based on visibility. The teacher raises a symbol, for example a circle, the children find the corresponding picture and tell what is shown on it. You can give a game character to this action (which row will say first) or make mindfulness a game parameter: today a certain color is assigned to each row; if the teacher raises, for example, a red circle, then the middle row should tell what is in the picture (this row is “responsible” for all red icons). With the collective form of action, the children are left, as it were, alone with the task - they need to look for a picture in their own book and find a speech solution themselves.
3. Training of memory and attention. Children should carefully look at the page of the textbook, then close it. The teacher shows the icon, you need to remember what was in the picture with such an icon, and tell.
4. "Revived pictures." At different stages of learning, children, depending on the level of development of skills and abilities, can “revive” pictures in different ways: I am a cat. I am white. I have green eyes. I have a black tail. I am reading a book. A book about a mouse: “Once a mouse sees cheese...”, etc. Pictures “come to life” by the magical appearance of the same conditional icon. Another variant of the condition: the picture must remain alive while the teacher keeps the conditional icon raised.
So, today, according to many experts, teaching foreign languages ​​to younger schoolchildren is a course for the development of a child in the process of learning a language, the active inclusion of thinking, memory, imagination, emotions in this process, the use of foreign language speech in its "human" function - for expression and understanding of thought. Instead of getting the child to accurately reproduce 50 memorized samples, the technique seeks to give the child 50 "cubes" (foreign language units), from which he himself, playing an interesting game, will build 150 statements.