Looking into the Review Mirror

Language is my favourite hot sauce, whereas others sometimes find it to be a dry biscuit. Grammar can be a bone of contention, while writing work can suck the marrow from students’ passion.
As a teacher, encouraging students to be passionate about learning languages was what makes me put on my superhero cape every morning. I often pondered ideas on how to get students’ neurons firing while learning a language they are already acquainted with, but do not know deeply.
The answers came to me after conducting extensive research. Our trusty librarian, Ms Arti Gaur and I began perusing material that encouraged critical thinking while enhancing language skills. I became a firm believer in reinforcing language concepts while promoting critical thinking skills, all wrapped neatly in the guise of games.

Grammar Concepts

Parts of speech can be connected to various critical thinking tasks. A few examples are given below.

Providing students with letter hexagons, word searches with riddles, word boxes, and odd one out exercises are a few ways for students to apply their thinking skills while solving puzzles.

When learning is gamified, students are more likely to retain information for an extended period. Grammar concepts become fun rather than a bore when learning becomes a puzzle to be unravelled.

Vocabulary Development

To enhance vocabulary and thinking skills, open-ended puzzles are a must. Whenever an exercise is open-ended, it provides a clear picture of the child’s capabilities.

For instance, in the above example, students are required to use the given word to form multiple new words by rearranging its letters. A child who lacks vocabulary may create only a few 2-3-letter words. On the contrary, a child with a vast vocabulary will form more complex words. These are excellent indicators for teachers to identify areas where they need to focus their attention on individual students.

Magic words encourage students to use their creative thinking skills to transform a word into another based on a clue.

The instructions for Word Hexagons are self-explanatory! Teachers can modify these to ask students to create only verbs, nouns, or any other part of speech.

Hink Pinks are simple riddles where the answers are two rhyming words. They provide an excellent opportunity for students to expand their vocabulary through rhymes. These are not for the faint hearted!

Spelling Prowess

Spelling prowess can be gauged, enhanced or assessed through a variety of games.

Key Takeaway-

Whenever you gamify a concept, it becomes instantly attractive to children, especially in the primary years. Learning a language can be difficult, but sparking active vocabulary can be child’s play if they are reinforced with puzzles or activities that enhance thinking skills. Students love to master various levels of work or solve tricky tasks. If teachers connect grammar or vocabulary tasks to thinking skills, the possibilities are endless. The number of responses from each child is limitless. The visibility of each child’s capability is crystal clear. All teachers have to do is sit back and enjoy the benefits of imparting lasting knowledge with a healthy dose of fun.