Individual Essay (1st Draft)

GAMES TO LEARN ENGLISH CAN DEVELOP HUMAN VALUES ON CHILDREN

Games to learn English in children education are very important, nowadays in Venezuelan institutions, games era used as a method to make easier the process of learning a new language in this case to learn English, since it helps children to increase their knowledge about a foreign language, through games it is looked to create a cooperation environment between the teacher and the student. Games develop human values, such as: respect, self-esteem and friendship; but that will depend on the game that the teacher uses in their English classes.

At the present time, teachers have many opportunities to make their classes fun and interesting, that’s why games have become in a very essential part of the students learning process; for example the hangman game which consist on choosing a word whose letters are guessed at by the others players and for each wrong guess, a new part of the stick figure of a hanging man is drawn. This game can develop on the students the value of Respect, according to Evey (2006), says that, Respect is basically an attitude that is shown towards any individuals’ feelings or interest. It is acknowledging another’s feelings in any kind of relationship. With this game children can learn about the importance of this value, because when they are playing they have to respect the turn of the others, and wait their next turn, so at the same time that they are learning and playing something fun, they are developing the respect value.

Other value is Self-esteem, which is very important at that age, because children can discover many things that are interesting to them, Blascovich & Tomaka (1991), define self-esteem as, an individual's sense of his or her value or worth, or the extent to which a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself. This value can be develop for children with the types of games that allow them to share, but in a not competitive way, games that stimulate and encourage them to do their works at school or homework’s better, to let them know that they can count with their teacher in any moment. But the teachers have to study very careful the type of game that they are going to use in their classes, because a wrong choice can develop other types of values. For example to develop the self-esteem value, teachers can use games such as, spin the bottle, reach for the stars, games that every study win something, a candy, a happy face, a kiss, and so on.

According to Sadler (2002), explain Friendship as, the first and basic human conviction. It is more than an emotion, it is greater than an impulse, it transcends a sentiment. There is something profound about friendship at its best. It is undoubtedly based on the sentiment of love, and has in association with it many other emotions, including, no doubt, both sympathy and respect. Friendship is the equivalent of love plus loyalty and more or less of the sex-element. It is so influential in human experience that there appear to be no lengths to which it will not go to assert itself and to justify its existence. This is a very important value for children mostly at that age when they are discovering many innovating things around them, the teachers should use games that permit children to share with their classmates, to create new relationships, new friends. For example, puzzle, hot potato, between others.

In summary, games are very essential for children, because through them children can learn a new language and can learn the importance of respect, self-esteem and friendship values, which are extremely important in the life of every human being, but if there is the possibility to exploit that values at a very young age, why not do it? So that’s why teachers should considered give their classes in a fun an interesting way, but at the same time children are learning English and developing values, that will help them in a future too be better persons.