Use of play-way in language teaching

In Play, a person experiences the pleasure of performing a task for its own sake. Thus, when enjoyment is introduced in an activity, it is said to be done in the “play way” spirit. According to Bhatia and Bhatia, the play way makes difficult and boring task, delightful and pleasurable to the doer, but it does not mean shirking from real work; it is introducing element of happiness and satisfaction into otherwise dull and irksome tasks.

The activities in the play way method are according to the person’s ability and physical fitness.

The term ‘plays way’ was first used by Coldwell Cook to describe his method in teaching English.

We generally bind the application of the play principle in the Project Method, the Dalton Plan, Montessori Method, and Froebel’s Kindergarten method.

We will now consider some practical ways in which the spirit of play may be utilized in the work of the teaching of mother-tongue.

I. Dramatics.

The drama or the piece of drama which is to be selected should be according to the mental level of the students, and that must have learning significance also. The story of the play is to be given to one child and the child is free to express himself accordingly. Here the teacher can only show the guidelines, not interfere in their ways of expression, in pronunciation or in anything else connected with the use of the mother-tongue. The children should be encouraged to have their own plays. Besides dramatic activities, mock trials or mock interviews etc. can be taken up.

II. Magazines

To write articles for the display magazine in the class or for the school magazine will definitely add greatly to the interest taken in writing in the mother-tongue. Everyone in the class is expected to make some contribution. But the topics must be properly selected. If there is financial problem, it can be written by the students who have good hand-writing and discussed in the class so that the participants will be encouraged.

It is suggested that as magazine is a good creative device in using the play way method, both the class and school magazines should be published only to develop the creative talents of the children.

III. Games

The nature of games differs according to the level of intelligence. Here, it is important to highlight the various devices used I for different classes.

Primary Classes

Games are most important for developing intelligence among the students. During the childhood period, the students are not in a position to receive direct instructions. However, they are interested in learning through different types of games and activities. Some such games and activities are suggested below:

1. Pictures.

A picture with a large number of objects is shown to the children. They are required to write down all the names accordingly or they may be asked to detect one particular object among all the objects. This is the very principle that is applied to the Kindergarten school now-a-days.

2. Matching Board.

It is prepared with letters or words in horizontal lines. Below each letter or word, a space is left empty. The children have sets of letters or words. They are required to select their sets corresponding to the first one on the board, and put in the space on the board under the first letter or word.

3. Flashing the Card.

It is a card which is shown by a child to a group or the child of another group for two seconds and then he is asked what is written on it. If the child says the word correctly, the child who asked the question comes to the other group and vice versa. The group which has more members wins in this competition.

4. Passing an order.

The class is seated in a large circle. The teacher whispers a sentence or an order to the first child. Then that child whispers exactly what he heard to the next child and so on right round the circle. Then at the end, the last child will say what he hears.

5. Word building.

Saying the word by one child using the letters given by another

6. Spelling games.

The child may be asked to spell the word as quickly as possible when it is said to him/her.

7. Making sentences.

Framing the sentences using the words given by the teacher is a good language game. In the sentence making game, it is for the teacher to put up on the board a number of words. The pupils are then asked to make as many sentences as possible using only those words but using them as often as they like.

8. Finding the stranger.

A list of words is given in which one word is not linked to the other words. It will be detected by the child as stranger in the line.

9. Description game.

The teacher describes some object without mentioning its name. The class has to guess what the object is.

Middle Classes

1. The story game.

In terms of a story, the teacher can present the facts before the students. The students are welcome to appreciate the story and also say the similar events.

2. Description game.

In this game the class is divided into two groups. Two different things decided by these two groups but one member of each group must remain outside. So, they will be stranger to the decision of the group. The game starts which one child speaks a sentence on the decision so that the stranger can know about the decision taken. If he fails another student speaks another statement. If one child fails, to understand the decision, then he will be out from the game. In this way, this game continues.

3. Question game.

Questions are asked between two groups and marks are given to the group that gives the correct responses.

4. Missing term.

Here the child is given two related terms, i.e., one word is related to the other. But in case of blank, giving only one| word, the child has to fill up the blank taking cue from the given pair.

IV. Play way Exercises. It is already said that play way method differs from one level of students to the other. The play way exorcists for the children are:

1. Give both the noun, verb forms of words to the students. Here, they have to match the noun to verb.

2. Give the response like ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the said statements.

3. A number of pictures can be given to the students. The students indicate their names.

4. Statements on grammar can be asked to the students. Use of conjunction, i.e., and, but, etc. through examples.

5. Play exercises for the middle classes are:

6. The words in a sentence are put in a wrong order, the pupil is required to arrange the words properly or find out the error if there is any in the sentence.

7. The pupil may be asked to join two sentences using different conjunctions or phrases.

8. Matching type test can also be given. In one column the name of the books and in the other column the name of the authors

9. The pupil can also be asked to supply words for pictures or models, or diagrams.

10. The different meanings of the same word can be asked.

These are some of the ways by which the play way method is applied to the learning situation. In short, due to the following advantages, it is accepted in the teaching of mother-tongue or Oriya language. They are:

1. Children willingly undertake to do a piece of work or learn subject gladly if it is interesting.

2. The play way is an active way of acquiring knowledge and learning.

3. The attitude of mind created by the play way brings about the greatest success in intellectual effort.

4. Play way is a great incentive to original creative work.

Lastly, it is more accepted as it stresses on the use of the three H’s-Hand, Heart and Head. It makes the teaching- learning process active one which is the basic idea of educational setting.

At present, realising the importance of the play way method and its use for different levels of teaching, it is introduced from the Pre-school stage onwards. Good planning and efforts of the teacher make the application of this method a successful one.