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Q: Why do Chinese think playing games is an effective way of learning English?

I just played Half-Life 2 for a couple hours. According to Chinese logic, I should now be a nuclear physicist.

Does it only work when I play Half-life 2 in the same room as a physicist? So maybe I can pick up the physics naturally through osmosis? Listen, I don't want to put a lot of time or effort into this pHd!

12 years 13 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - China

 
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My logical explanation for this way of thinking is that in order to learn a language, you must practice.  Repetition of a word helps you memorize it.  As you play games (and I assume you enjoy playing games) and have fun, you listen to new words, hear pronunciation a lot, even repeat it as you discuss the game with friends.  So, for them playing games is a fun way of learning new vocabulary.

If it does work, what difference does it makes ?.  I once learned quite a bit of a new language myself by reading books, using the dictionary a lot and writing down translations (or meanings of new words) near or above word in question.  It worked for me, even if I do not recommend reading Don Quijote as a way to learn Spanish

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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It falls under the category of "learning through osmosis."  I mean that the only way I got through school was using my text books a pillows to give my brain time to asorb information.

So yeah if you want to learn via Half Life, you would get better results if you play it in a room of physicists. 

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Because one of the number one factors when teaching is having fun. You also need to have some fun while you learn as well or else the lesson will be boring. I assume that they like to play games and think it is effective because they believe they are having fun while learning. IMHO playing games should come after the real teaching if you have time and it should be a game that is related to what you had already taught. Kind of like getting dessert after you eat your main course dinner. imo.

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One of the highest reccomended teaching aids we learnt about at uni, when studying education to become a teacher, was games. They offer variety and interest to the learning process. People tend to remember things when they participate in it, rather than just listen to someone talk.

Even in uni, games are still entertaining and informative, though it might only be  crosswords or cloze puzzles to test learning, rather than plain old "question and answer" tests. And hangman is popular with all age groups, on occasions.

kchur:

Thanks for your input, kindergarten cop.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

Games can indeed be a fun way to supplement language learning. One of my friends from home, his wife does not speak Spanish. Anyway, they bought their kids various computer games designed to help kids learn foreign languages and when I went to visit last year, I was astounded at how well they speak spanish! Naturally, Miguel speaks to them in Spanish at well, which helps reinforce the lesson leaned. While this certainly does not take the place of formal instruction, it can be indeed a fun way to supplement it. The problem I see is that too many people want to use the games IN PLACE OF formal instruction.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Lol! I am wondering what someone would sound like if they learned all their English from games like Counter Strike....

mattaya:

It would probably sound like ...pssh...breaker breaker nine...target on site..fire! I never played that game but whatever words they had that's probably what it would sound like.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

Can you imagine asking someone for a date with that vocabulary....? lol!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Shining_brow:

Contact. Fire in the hole.... HEADSHOT!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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actually games are a great way to use english in practical scenarios. also games forces them to be creative in their thinking i love playing "sausage" with kids

crimochina:

actually videos games can help you learn terms. i watch sports a lot and sports center. i picked up on many terms i used to be able to explain the difference between an mcl tear and a pcl. i used be able to explain the circumstances with tommy john surgery

12 years 13 weeks ago
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crimochina:

actually videos games can help you learn terms. i watch sports a lot and sports center. i picked up on many terms i used to be able to explain the difference between an mcl tear and a pcl. i used be able to explain the circumstances with tommy john surgery

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Just for some context:

1) I teach adults. Most of my students are in their thirties.

2) I've been learning foreign languages for a good twenty five years now, and in my experience, the only way to do it is to bust your ass. Roughly, to be properly competent in a language, you need to be able to properly use 50,000 words on a daily basis, and you need to be able to understand about three times that. Plus far, far, far more idioms. Plus grammar, pronounciation and all that other good stuff.

It's one thing to bribe the little children with games to get them to do something they'll never be interested in. It's another thing entirely to waste time with people who should be mature enough to put in the effort they need.

freakboy:

Games work for adults as well, most TESL school will tell you that playing games that gets the students to use the new language in real fun situations will help them remember the newly taught language. The biggest problem is the quality of the games that are being played. The student here go through a very boring English learning process and they will tune out and therefore lower their learning ceiling, by adding fun and simple games to every lesson plan you will help them use the language that they just tuned out and force them to remember it.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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kchur:

If my numbers up there (derived from research in applied linguistics) are more-or-less right, that means that to learn a language in three years, you'll need to learn about 109 words a day (in addition to the other stuff). Now, how long would a game of hangman take to *review* *not learn* a single word? I get one hour a class three times a week. Most of my students fully expect perfect English is six months. I see them 72 hours in six months, which means I have to teach them 2778 words in every hour-long class. I don't have time to play a game. If they want the results, they need to actually do what successful people with huge ambitions do: work.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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xinyuren:

Then it's the student's expectations that are out of line. Using games is great as a teaching method but it can't work miracles. Time is still needed to learn any language and definitely more than 6 months.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Shining_brow:

I question your numbers there, Kchur! Is that supposed to be 50000 DIFFERENT words? Or are most of them the same ones repeated over and over? I read an ESL article suggesting that some US college students wouldn't use more than 10000 words in their vocabulary (those are the not-good college students). Presuming that 50K are for different words, is that 50K unrelated words? Is 'be', 'is', and 'am' 3 separate words? Or the same word?? Same goes for any verb forms, and plurals, and the add in the changes via prefixes and suffixes for adjectives and adverbs, etc. When you take all of that into account, that 50K drops quite substantially as to the amount of actual teaching of vocabulary that is needed. It makes a lot of sense to introduce Greek and Latin roots and affixes pretty early on, and to continually reinforce the idea with those words that keep coming up that are related. But, I do agree with the idea of the OP... most just want some fun and games to relieve the tedium. Occasionally I do games now, but not so often (they'll hate me next semester, when we do IELTS preparation :P). As GuilinRaf said earlier, games shouldn't take the place of real instruction!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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freakboy:

If you are trying to teach your student 109 words a day then you are boring the pants off them. Unless they are all girls that would not be the way to teach the class, Vocabulary must be reinforced or it is not retained. Hangman is not the right game for that. But Word find or role playing is, I am starting to questions your teaching skills here sir you are either new at this or have been boring your students for years here. The fact is if your student don't want to learn English they won't, your job is to not give them 100 plus new vocab everyday, it is top give them 10 or 15 new word and have them relate the new words through usage. If you students are willing to learn English, then they will learn the new words on their own time. Your job in the class is to produce the new vocab and then show them how to use it by thinking about the new word and the parts of speech that these words belong to. Just reciting new words will not help them learn they must be able to use the words and that can be done with any number of will designed class room games.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

This is no joke: One of my Chinese colleagues told me his secret when I remarked on his son's proficiency in English. He said that every day, his son must learn as many new words as his age by the end of the day. For every word he does not learn, he gets hit. How the words were chosen, I dont know. This poor kid is going to grow up HATING English....

12 years 13 weeks ago
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The Francis and Kucera English Usage Analysis allows that the 2000 most common English words provide about 80% comprehension in formal English, and about 96% comprehension in natural English. It also allows that a  colllege graduate will have about 15,000 words vocabulary, providing 96% comprehension in formal English (roughly the same as 2000 words in natural English).

Games and role plays allow for an easy way to practice natural English, which is the English that students will encounter in the majority of interactions with English speakers. Formal English simply increases vocabulary without significantly increasing comprehension.

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Just to clarify:

1) My numbers were taken from the various studies done by Seashore and Eckerson (rounded from memory).

2) My choice of wording was poor. That estimate is based on words that a native speaker uses, in general. You might not say a word like "flashlight" or "baggy" or "wheel" every day but, nevertheless, they are words that most native speakers are familiar with and would comfortably use should the situation arise. I go months at a time without saying the word "ambulance", for example, but it doesn't mean that it's marginal or obscure vocabulary.

3) S+E focuses particularly on high-status, well educated people. Most people who learn a foreign language want to sound mature, professional and well-educated. I forget that most 30- or 40-something Chinese want to sound like a teenager with a backwards baseball cap.

4) I don't disagree that  words like "the" or "and" are extremely useful, and make up a good percentage of our day-to-day usage, but words like that can only get you so far, if your goals are actually being able to operate with near-native proficiency. Go google up a Swadesh list, or a list of "simplified English" vocabulary, and ask yourself if you could hold a good job/rent an apartment/get a driver's licence/call a repairman, etc with just those words. 80% Chinese comprehension wasn't good enough for me when my (landlord) asked me to check my (gas) (meter), or I needed to (figure out) the new (tax) (laws), or when I needed a new (perscription) for my (nearsightedness) and I had to (judge) (varying) (levels) of (clarity) for the eye (exam).

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