Teaching Preposition Using Games

English Preposition Games - For many students of English, preposition is an easy material to learn. So easy is it, that they think they don't need any explanation from the teacher. What they need to do is just to open the dictionary, look up the meanings, and memorize them. This view is true for many, but not all, students. Some students, no matter how little their number is, still need teacher's explanation and instruction. Some students even depend on teacher's explanation very greatly. Without teacher's instruction, or perhaps, demonstration, they just can't understand the material thoroughly.

Related to that fact, we, teachers of English should view the material and the students in clear perspective. Eliminating the material from our English teaching and learning plan will be unfair for the later group, those who need teachers' instruction. Meanwhile, teaching the material, preposition, in a conventional way will make the first group bored. The solution for this is for teachers to keep teaching the material while at the same time make those the first group feel involved. And to achieve this purpose, using game to teach preposition is the wisest choice. But, what kind of game I can use to teach preposition? That's the question which may echo in your head. Well, if you are looking such game, then I hope the following game, "do what your teacher says" game is applicable in your class.

Game Properties
Well before I explain how to play the game, let's us first enlist and learn about properties of this game. By the phrase, I mean any learning aspects which the game has and anything required to play the game. This includes objective of the game, language focus of the game and materials needed. To be short, the game is intended to practice English prepositions. The language focus of the game is simple one or two words preposition especially prepositions of location including in, at, on, under, above, below, next to, behind, in front of, beside, etc. Meanwhile, the materials needed in the game are students' learning instrument such as book, ruler, pen, bag, pencil, eraser, drawing book, calculator, etc.

How To Play The Game

For the sake of clarity, I'll break down the game to steps:
Step 1
The teacher prepare the students for the game. S/he should have told them to bring materials needed. Students should understand what they should bring.
Step 2
In this step, the teacher explains about preposition. The explanation should be made as short as possible. However, s/he should make sure that the students understand the function and meaning of prepositions.
Step 3
Assume all students bring all materials needed in the game and they have understood the meaning and function of each preposition. In this step, the teacher tells the students about what they are going to do, namely playing preposition game. S/he also explains the properties of the game.
Step 4
The teacher begins to explain the rule of the game. The students should understand, with teacher's explanation, that they will have to practice teacher's direction. When the teacher says "Put your pen UNDER the book!" for example, they should move their pen and place it under the book. All students in the class should do it together. There is a time limit. Students who could not do the direction in the specified time, then they are out of the game. If they mistakenly practice what teacher says, they are out. The winner is the student who could practice all teacher's direction up to the end.

p.s.: The teacher should prepare as many directions as possible. Over time, the direction should be made more complicated and involve more prepositions. To discriminate the level of students' attention, it is recommended that the teacher use variation of voice speed.

Well, that's a game which can be used to teach preposition. If you have your own games to teach preposition, feel free to share here.

English Preposition Games

How To Teach English Preposition - English preposition is basically one of the easiest to learn English material. It is not difficult because its structure is not complicated, its meaning is clear, and its form is fixed. If there is a difficulty with this material, it could be because the fact that for some prepositions its meaning in Indonesian language is not only one. Take, for example, preposition 'before'. In English this preposition may refers to time or location. When it refers to time, before is translated into 'sebelum' in Indonesian language. If it refers to location, however, before is translated into 'di depan'. This is of course a minor difficulty compared to difficulty found in other materials.

However, being easy to learn does not necessarily mean being easy to teach as well. In fact, assuming that student could understand the material about preposition themselves, teachers often forget to give sufficient attention to this subject. As a result, students often get difficulties with the material and finally fail to use preposition appropriately. This condition is understandable since however easy a material is, students still greatly depends on teachers' instruction. In other words, material about preposition is easy to learn only if it is appropriately taught by the teacher. Therefore, teachers need to teach preposition in a way that both helps students understand the material as well as encourages them to practice it so that they could store their understanding about preposition in their long term memory. To achieve this goal, I usually use games. And one game I recommend you to also use is the one called "Find The Person".

As the name implies, the objective of this game is for students to find someone using preposition and the clues. To narrow the scope of the game, the preposition involved in this game is only preposition of location such as front of, between, behind, next to, near, beside. For other prepositions, I use other games which will be discussed in the articles to come. Be patient :)

How Is The Game Played?

Preparation: On pieces of paper, the teacher writes instructions containing preposition in it as many as the number of students in the classroom. He also makes flash cards of prepositions which will be used in the game.

Before the game begins, the teacher shows and discusses all the preposition which will be used in the game. The meaning of each preposition is explained. For the sake of clarity, the teacher may practice all the prepositions. For example, he may write "Amir is behind Budi" then he goes to Amir and say the sentence again by pointing out where Amir is and where Budi is. "It is Amir, and it is Budi. Amir is behind Budi." After all prepositions are discussed and students understand their meaning, it's now time for the game.

Here we go!
Firstly, the teacher asks the students to sit on their seats. He then gives a piece of paper written with a name to all students. Each student have to get a name. This name will function as their fake name during the game. For example, there is a student named Budi and he gets a paper with Thomas on it. So during the game he uses Thomas as his name instead of Budi. (Caution: no student may know the fake name of other students).

After all students have received their fake names, the game can now proceed to the next step. In this step, the teacher gives a piece of paper to all students. One student must receive one piece of paper. The paper contains an instruction to find someone. It contains a clue, namely a preposition, to find that someone. The instruction may read like this: “Please find Thomas. He sits in front of the teacher.” When all students have received their instruction, the teacher begins to explain the rule of the game: "You have to do what the instruction you have says.” Because no student knows where someone is, the teacher must organize the instruction in such an order that one instruction provides a clue to another instruction. As for students, they have to pay great attention to each instruction which is worked out and solved by all their classmates because the instruction they have can only be worked out and solved correctly if they get clues from previous instructions.

After all students have received their instruction and understand the rule, the teacher begins the game. He must follow the order of students’ turn he has made before. When the game is going, it may go like the following:

Teacher : Budi, read your instruction and do as it says
Budi : “Please find Thomas. He sits in front of the teacher.”

(Budi then stands up and walks to Thomas by following the instruction. When Budi goes to the right person, the teacher says “Correct!” If the person is wrong, he says “Incorrect, try again!” and Budi continues looking for the person written in his paper until the teacher says “Correct!”)

After Budi solves his instruction, the teacher asks another students whose instruction contains a clue namely Thomas.

Teacher : Faza, read your instruction and do as it says.
Faza : "Please find George. He sits behind Thomas."

(Faza then walks to the person he is instructed to find until he find the right person).

This session goes on and on until all the students work out the instruction they have in hand. Each time, the instruction involves more and more preposition. In the end of the game, it is expected that the students understand the meaning and usage of preposition used in the game.

Well, that is the game I think effective to teach prepositions. If you have different ideas to teach English preposition, please don’t hesitate to share your ideas here. As a final remark, have a fun English Teaching and Learning Class.