Board Games for Teaching: Get Ready to Play and Learn!
words & photo by Alyson Wang
Recently, with children’s increasing pressure because of overwhelming amounts of school work, many teachers have started to use games as an alternative teaching strategy in order to reduce learning stress and to support learning. As an instructor for the English Club at Guo-Tai Elementary School, I also want to offer children a stress-free learning environment.
In 2016, the director of and chief of curriculum at Guo-Tai Elementary School discussed how the English Club could work with the professor in Fu Jen English Department, and she recruited English major students to be instructors in the English Club. I was responsible for making lesson plans related to board games. Board games are tabletop games involving pieces moved or placed on a board.
Some students, teachers, and parents may wonder how board games can benefit children’s learning, since board games are not seen as traditional teaching tools like blackboards, CDs, printed materials. However, some research shows that properly designed team-based board games inspire learning and encourage communication, collaboration and risk taking. Many teachers already use them in class and regard board games as a teaching method that can lead to positive learning results.
In my experience, at first, I found that some of my students could not get used to playing board games in class because their way of learning is to “write more,” and they needed to spend more time understanding the game rules. However, after some familiarization, many students gradually enjoyed the learning process with board games. What’s more, they were more willing to speak English in class.
Using the board games, children learned vocabulary related to animals, emotions, body parts, and fruits, which are all useful in their daily lives, and we practiced these words through playing board games. For children who are not able to focus on the same thing for too long, playing games can incidentally give them motivation to keep learning by playing.
I found one popular board game among the students was Dobble, a kind of speed competition. There are 31 Dobble cards, and each has 6 different graphics. As the game starts, each student holds only one card, and a pile of remaining cards are placed downwards in the middle. Students then take turns flipping over a card in the middle. As long as students see the same graphic that is on his or her own card, he or she needs to say the word out loud to win the points. More points are awarded for speediness.
In addition, instead of using internet-purchased board games, I let students help to make the teaching tools. As they were making the materials, they learned English vocabulary by linking the graphics on the cards. Moreover, students worked in groups, so they learned teamwork and made good use of job division, resulting in an efficient and effective learning process. Some students were responsible for cutting paper, some pasted the paper on the cupboards, and some even helped collect the trash! They learned to be great teams!
Although different English levels might be a problem, with the help of board game learning, children did improve their English vocabulary. For instance, one student’s English level was the lowest in class. At first, she told me that learning English was not interesting, and she gradually lost her confidence and motivation. However, when playing board games, she could keep improving and memorizing the vocabulary, and she even won the first prize at the end of one class. Her motivation and confidence in learning gained a lot, and the overall performance was positive. She kept telling me that board games are much more interesting!
As their teacher, I am glad to see students improve their English vocabulary inspired by board games. Furthermore, children not only discussed the words with each other, but they also worked and played together at the same time; thus, they overcame anxieties by having fun together and became more confident and want to keep learning. Some of the students I taught in English Club told me that they looked forward to playing board games every week because they were not learning under pressure. Instead, they played and learned at the same time. I realized that the more pressure they feel, the more that children become passive in learning. Using various teaching tools and methods can help students. While board games can be a strong teaching tool, they are not a substitute for all kinds of teaching tools, but they can be an efficient learning method for children as well as a novel teaching tool for teachers.
In 2016, the director of and chief of curriculum at Guo-Tai Elementary School discussed how the English Club could work with the professor in Fu Jen English Department, and she recruited English major students to be instructors in the English Club. I was responsible for making lesson plans related to board games. Board games are tabletop games involving pieces moved or placed on a board.
Some students, teachers, and parents may wonder how board games can benefit children’s learning, since board games are not seen as traditional teaching tools like blackboards, CDs, printed materials. However, some research shows that properly designed team-based board games inspire learning and encourage communication, collaboration and risk taking. Many teachers already use them in class and regard board games as a teaching method that can lead to positive learning results.
In my experience, at first, I found that some of my students could not get used to playing board games in class because their way of learning is to “write more,” and they needed to spend more time understanding the game rules. However, after some familiarization, many students gradually enjoyed the learning process with board games. What’s more, they were more willing to speak English in class.
Using the board games, children learned vocabulary related to animals, emotions, body parts, and fruits, which are all useful in their daily lives, and we practiced these words through playing board games. For children who are not able to focus on the same thing for too long, playing games can incidentally give them motivation to keep learning by playing.
I found one popular board game among the students was Dobble, a kind of speed competition. There are 31 Dobble cards, and each has 6 different graphics. As the game starts, each student holds only one card, and a pile of remaining cards are placed downwards in the middle. Students then take turns flipping over a card in the middle. As long as students see the same graphic that is on his or her own card, he or she needs to say the word out loud to win the points. More points are awarded for speediness.
In addition, instead of using internet-purchased board games, I let students help to make the teaching tools. As they were making the materials, they learned English vocabulary by linking the graphics on the cards. Moreover, students worked in groups, so they learned teamwork and made good use of job division, resulting in an efficient and effective learning process. Some students were responsible for cutting paper, some pasted the paper on the cupboards, and some even helped collect the trash! They learned to be great teams!
Although different English levels might be a problem, with the help of board game learning, children did improve their English vocabulary. For instance, one student’s English level was the lowest in class. At first, she told me that learning English was not interesting, and she gradually lost her confidence and motivation. However, when playing board games, she could keep improving and memorizing the vocabulary, and she even won the first prize at the end of one class. Her motivation and confidence in learning gained a lot, and the overall performance was positive. She kept telling me that board games are much more interesting!
As their teacher, I am glad to see students improve their English vocabulary inspired by board games. Furthermore, children not only discussed the words with each other, but they also worked and played together at the same time; thus, they overcame anxieties by having fun together and became more confident and want to keep learning. Some of the students I taught in English Club told me that they looked forward to playing board games every week because they were not learning under pressure. Instead, they played and learned at the same time. I realized that the more pressure they feel, the more that children become passive in learning. Using various teaching tools and methods can help students. While board games can be a strong teaching tool, they are not a substitute for all kinds of teaching tools, but they can be an efficient learning method for children as well as a novel teaching tool for teachers.