III. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Games in the Lower Grades’ English Teaching

With the application of English curriculum reform and modern education technology, great changes have taken place to the models of teaching in the lower grades in primary school English teaching; especially games have been put into use widely in English teaching and gradually form the English game teaching model. With regard to English game teaching model, the author believes that games in English classes hold both advantages and disadvantages as a means of teaching in lower grades in primary school.
3.1 The Advantages of Games in the Lower Grades’ English Teaching
English learning is a long-term and more boring learning process. The physiological and psychological characteristics of the learners in the lower grades, who are short of self-control and whose nature is curious, active, larky, playful, determines that the maintenance of their attention can only persist in about 10 to15 minutes according to certain surveys, then will get fatigued. So mechanical learning is often excluded by pupils in lower grades or even triggers antipathy toward it. Then as a qualified primary school English teacher, it would be necessary to create a relaxed, lively, and free English learning environment or atmosphere for pupils to help them to eliminate all the negative psychological barriers. Games, as a kind of entertainment that can promote the healthy development of body and mind, physical and mental pleasure, and maintain psychological balance, combined with the specific teaching content can be applied to the English classes as an important method or teaching model. The role of games is being paid more and more attention and games are gradually getting more and more popular in primary school English teaching at home and abroad, and the main advantages are presented as the following:
3.1.1 Motivating Learners’ Enthusiasm
    Learn through play is to make the best of the educational games in teaching , to make learners study in a pleasant and relaxed environment , to cultivate the creativity and subjectivity, and to realize the education of humanism (Gao 63). However, English is rarely used in daily life for our students, and English is only learnt by repeating of reading, writing, listening, reciting and by explaining the English sentences and the meaning of a word, which appears to be more unfamiliar and boring compared to the mother tongue, thus leading to the lack of attention to English learning and even the emergence of conflicting emotions. The reason why this phenomenon appears is that English teachers only use a single lecture style teaching method that can not effectively stimulate the students' learning interest and curiosity. Language learning itself is very dull. So if students have conflicted emotions to English at the beginning, it will deeply affect their future English learning and the personality development.
Therefore, it is of great significance that primary school English teachers should regard stimulating and maintaining students’ interest of English studying as the primary teaching aim to achieve. As a saying goes, “Interest is the best teacher”. Since English game teaching can effectively stimulate students' interest in learning English, so games will surely be applied to primary school English teaching as an important means or teaching method.
3.1.2 Cultivating Learners’ Sense of Achievability and Confidence
Game itself, whose characteristics is active and interesting, can effectively activate the classroom atmosphere and can transform the boring English class to another one that is more relaxed and full of fun. When pupils are at a relatively relaxed and lively study atmosphere, they can easily overcome the tension and anxiety in language learning. Games teaching can effectively promote students to participate in the teaching process in a relaxed atmosphere and present themselves, from which pupils can constantly get self- recognition. Thereby, the self-confidence is gradually getting cultivated, the sense of accomplishment is gradually getting experienced, healthy personality is gradually taking shape. games teaching not only enable students to acquire the knowledge and skills, but also to stimulate students’ interest in learning effectively, to promote the experience and sublimation of emotional attitudes and values, and to gain a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence in self-expression, which will in turn promote students to get interested in learning English and to maintain and consolidate the motivation due to the establishment of the sense of achievement and confidence, thus forming the benign circulation of study. 游戏在小学低年级英语教学中的应用(3):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_18546.html