Nowadays, people are aware of the negative effect of the teacher-centered class, and require educational reform. Therefore, the Ministry of Education has carried out a battery of measures to solve the problem, but the situation is still unimproved. According to a newspaper survey on children’s attitude to English course, 70 percent of the children think English class is boring and they don’t like it. That’s just the main reason that blocks children’s progress of English study. So is there anything we can do to change the situation? After a crowd of surveys, educators discovered that using language games is one proper strategy to boost language acquisition. 源:自'优尔.·论,文;网·www.youerw.com/
This study focuses on the games in children’s English teaching. Though quite a lot of people know the significance of games in children’s English teaching, they still can’t figure out best ways to organize them. This thesis presents the various types of games, definitions of games so as to improve the games’ efficiency in the English class. Through the right use of games, the goal of arousing children’s interest is hoped to be achieved by the author.
2. Literature Review
Games have great impact on primary school English teaching. So far, many scholar and experts have systematic researches and explanation.
From ancient Greek, many scholars exposited the relationship between games and teaching on children’s education in western countries. Plato (428-347B.C.) focused attention on the role of games for education of children and thought games should be played by combining with education in ethics. In the 17th century, Czech Comenius suggested teachers use children’s senses instead of memorization in instruction. Rousseau, a philosopher of eighteenth-century, advocated that children should develop their inpidual talents by expressing their energies freely. Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel (1782-1852), the father of children’s education, founded the first kindergarten. He wanted children’s potential abilities to develop freely and to unfold as natural as flowers. In the early 20th century, progressive education still focused attention on the potentials and needs of the children instead of the principles of religion. There were many influential reform educators of that century like John Dewey, Swiss, and Maria Montessori.文献综述
In China, educators always thought highly of children’s education since ancient time. In Song and Ming dynasty, the elementary teaching paid much attention to the children’s interests. Zhu Xi laid stress on the significance of happy teaching. Since the liberation of Chinese, education has changed a lot. Games have been taken in the teaching and many children’s educators have achieved great success. The greatest educator in modern time is Chen Heqin who made the great contribution to children’s education and set up the first research center of children’s education-Kindergarten in Gulou District of Nanjing. He explained that games were activities which benefited children’s psychological development (Chen Heqin, 1984). Hu Chundong emphasizes that games make children increasingly motivated and lively, so teachers ought to use various game materials and these games must be given enough changes to practice according to children’s age (Hu Chundong, 1990). Many educators and thinkers claim that the game has both functions of entertainment and learning, such as, Li Shengping, Hong Zirui, and Hui Youlian. The introduction of game mechanism to teaching is not the simple addition between them but to find a corresponding point between game and teaching and unite them organically.