Learning English Through Games--"「課本收起來！」國姓生玩遊戲學英語"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6901/1000412-「課本收起來！」國姓生玩遊戲學英語

「課本收起來！」國姓生玩遊戲學英語

2015-06-18 11:27:41      聯合報 記者陳妍霖／國姓報導

玩遊戲學英語！南投縣國姓國中英文教師李沛鴻教學走美式風格，將英文融入生活，自創玩躲避球學英語，還能邊吃烤雞邊學英語，讓學生不怕說英語，敢和外國人輕鬆對話。

My comments: Sometimes I used a soft ball or a stuffed toy in class. Whoever had the ball in hand got the  right to answer a question.

28歲李沛鴻是東吳大學英文系畢業，曾到美國舊金山當交換生，驚覺美式教學與台灣教學方式差太多，填鴨式的苦背單字及文法，讓學生不敢開口說英語，他把大學帶社團及在國外學的美式經驗帶回台灣。

My comments: Years ago, after a neighbor girl, then a senior high school student, came back to Taiwan from her study tour in the States during summer vacation, she told me she was very surprised and even shocked to find reading taught in a complete different way in the States. Instead of the teaching/learning of vocabulary and grammar in class, there was a lot of discussion about the content of the text.

「將課本收起來，我們來快樂學英語吧！」李沛鴻自創躲避球教學法，在每名學生背後貼上一段英文句，只要念得出來，就能投躲避球得分，或是由學生「比手畫腳」，讓挑戰者猜單字及句子，還教學生寫春聯，每逢過年，學生將單字寫在春聯上，寓教於樂也加深記憶。

My comments: Students are having fun! However, when studying at UOI, I once argued with a good friend over learning English through games. I told her that I, then a teacher in junior high school, used a lot of games in class, but she didn't quite agree it was recommendable. In her opinion, if students learned only when there were games to play, they would stop learning when there were no more games. Further studies became more serious and could not be learned by playing games, she added. My response to her comments was: Once students' interest was aroused, they would go on learning whether there were games or not.

李沛鴻說，用課本上課很難激發學生的興致，透過互動式遊戲有助學習，像是感恩節吃烤雞，耶誕節請學生寫卡片寄到芬蘭、加拿大給耶誕老人，只要說一句英語就可以和同學玩交換禮物；在萬聖節，讓學生講一句英語就能討到糖果，曾有學生搞怪裝扮上街頭，到各店家講英語要糖果，糖果要不成，卻要來整箱蔬菜，雖然爆笑，但可加深學習力。

國姓國中2年級學生鞠克平說，老師教法幽默，常分享趣事，不知不覺愛上英文；林政吉也說，原本害怕講英語，現在敢跟外國人對話。

李沛鴻說，不要靠死記，多講多聽就能增強外語能力，英文融入生活並活用，學英語一點都不難。

My comments: As a teacher, I loved games. I remember how students competed to answer questions in English because they wanted to win a carton of milk for each member of their team. Sometimes, I threw candies to individual students as a reward for speaking English.