EFL English teaching is very formal sometimes. Though students do not speak this language outside the class, teachers should give them as much information as possible. But also it’s a problem with this type of teaching – students lose their motivation which is one of the causes of failure in college. Also, these students need a lot of speaking practice and everyone should be involved. How to perform this? Edutainment can help!
What the edutainment is
Edutainment is a very broad term used to describe an educational approach based upon entertainment and education in one single package. Educational entertainment, as early as 1954 by Disney, has been called educational entertainment. It includes entertainment intended to educate but also has other incidental entertainment value. Education and entertainment are often thought of as opposites, but they really are not.
The term “education” has become very vague and there are many ways in which it is used today. In education, we refer to the process by which children learn to become well-rounded individuals with good judgment, critical thinking skills, and an understanding of how the world works. Education can be taught in many different ways, including direct instruction, tutoring, textbooks, video games, art and music lessons, etc.
So, what games can both help with learning English and also be fun?
1. Who’s Telling the Truth?
What do you need: pieces of paper and pencils.
Tell each student to write three (or more, depends on the group size) facts about themselves. Then choose randomly three students and collect their sheets. Tell the whole class one fact about one of these three. All picked students should claim it’s about their life. The class should ask questions (one per person) to each of the three students. The idea is to detect whose fact it is.
Another version of this game is the following: each student tells one fact and his or her neighbor should detect if it is true or not.
It’s good for developing speaking skills and expanding vocabulary.
2. Descriptive drawing activity
What do you need: cards or printed pictures, paper, pencils.
Pair your students. Offer to one person to pick the card. Let them sit one in front of the other. Then a person with a card should describe the picture and another one should draw what he or she heard. The more complicated are drawings – the more vast vocabulary your students can use. You can make the task harder using the time limitation.
3. Secret word
You only need your fantasy!
It’s a good game suited for every group size. Pick one student and tell the topic he or she should talk about. Add also unrelated to this speech word – the secret one. Well, let’s the fun begin! Now selected student should talk and hide the word in the speech. The task of the rest of the class is to guess what this word is.
4. Use songs
What do you need: a smartphone or notebook, paper, pencils.
It’s simple and a little tricky. Play the song in English and offer students to write down the lyrics and translate them into your native language. It will develop listening skills and can help with grammar and vocabulary. If your students are not that advanced, you can print the lyrics with blank spaces and offer your students to fill the gaps.
5. ….and movies
A lot of non-native English speakers admit they used movies as an English environment. Also, these people said the Friends TV series is good enough for their aim. It’s simple to understand, especially while using subtitles. You can choose the cartoon or movie depending on the age and interests of your class. In the end, give them a questionnaire or just start a conversation and ask about the plot, new words they learned, etc.
