Playing Around Olha Madylus

Opposites Game Love Happy Learn Work

How important is play to you? The healthy individual is someone who can work, play and love effectively G. W. Allport Pattern and Growth in Personality, 1961

In teaching children… need to encourage free expression and natural playfulness… Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1762

Piaget play leads to consolidation of newly learned behaviours… exposing the child to new experiences and new possibilities for dealing with the world

We encourage students to play with English: To make them feel comfortable To help the language be memorable To practise language To facilitate involvement It’s motivating Because we recognise that language learning is affective as well as cognitive

learning is affective as well as cognitive

Why play games? get attention change pace get ‘into’ English maximize practice stress-free

games challenge / competition makes language memorable collaborative learning appeal to multiple intelligences it’s serious fun

Csikszentmihalyi The theory of flow

laughter and yoga Laughter raises blood pressure just long enough to increase oxygen and blood supply to tissues. It alters the breathing cycle so that oxygen is inhaled and carbon dioxide exhaled. Muscles throughout the body tense and relax during laughter in exactly the same way as with stress reduction techniques such as yoga.

Thinking …need to empower learners to think for themselves, Von Glaserfield The fifth skill, John McRae

short versus long-term memory

The process of transferring information from STM to LTM involves the encoding or consolidation of information. This is a process of organization, the meaningfulness or emotional content of an item plays a vital role in its retention into LTM. As instructional designers, we must find ways to make learning relevant and meaningful enough for the learner to make the important transfer of information to long-term memory.

Woody Allen on Death I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.

‘Granny, have you lived here all your life?’

Not yet, son, not yet.

Humour in language teaching A good vehicle for providing cultural information Builds bridges between cultures Practices language in genuine contexts Brings students closer together Releases tension Develops creative thinking Provides memorable chunks of language Generates a happy classroom Peter Medgyes, Laughing Matters, CUP