“Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.” Isn’t this a nice quote? Ask a child if he wishes to be free or happy, he would, without a second thought, say that he wishes to be free - free to run, jump and play. Education should not therefore be gifted to him as a pair of ‘golden handcuffs’. The key to is happiness remains with us, in the form of joyful methods of teaching.
The child’s command over the language that is spoken at home ends with oral communication. Whether he is taught a well-known or hardly-known language, mastery over reading can be easily gained through regular sessions of flashing cards, a fact that we have extensively discussed.
But when it comes to writing, children need to be guided the right way, without instilling fear . They need to understand that writing is a skill that can be mastered with concentration and practice. Here is a game that has proven successful that facilitates learning the letters of any language.
‘Treasure Hunt’
If you are handling only one child, then you become a participant, too. And you both form two separate groups. If there are more than one participant, divide them in to two or more groups. We form groups so as to keep up the spirit of competition, thrill and fun.
Things needed:
- Alphabet chart
- One or two long rulers, depending upon the pattern of the chosen language.
- Blackboard + chalk piece / white board + marker pen ( if played inside the classroom)
- Score board or if available, a glass jar and colorful plastic coins
- A stop watch, if available.
How to play?
- A member of Group A writes a word on the board, selects ONE LETTER and draws a box around it. The stop clock is set.
- The member (or members if played with more participants) of Group B first identifies the letter, by pronouncing it the right way. 10 points are awarded.
- Next, the same team calls out the letter that comes before the letter in the box. If it is correct, 10 points are given.
- The third step is to write the letter that comes before ( He/They had just called it out). Another 10 points are awarded.
- Fourth step is to call out the letter that comes after the letter in the box: 10 points.
- And the fifth is to write what was just called out. Award 10 points for the right answer.
- The next steps involve recalling the usage of the letter in the box in the beginning of a word (10 points), middle of a word (10 points), end of a word (10 points). If the letter cannot be used in a particular place, like ‘end of the word’, you may still award 10 points if the group member states this fact without taking too long a time.
- At the nineth stage, you may employ the other possible variations with the letter in the box. For example, ‘ and ^ are used with the letter “e” in French. If the team member calls out with right pronunciation, award 10 points in total, dividing judiciously between each symbol or accent that the group identifies orally.
- So far 90 points have been awarded. If the group has successfully got through above 50 points till this stage, then a bonus of another 10 points are awarded. So the total makes up to 100. A completely fulfilling one!
The game isn’t over yet, please hold on! As a process of verification, the opposing team goes to the Alphabet Chart. With the help of the two rulers (as required in languages with large number of letters), the group member locates the alphabet in a perpendicular manner. Thus the participants get to have a recap of the two lines of letters that belong to similar phonetic pattern as the letter in the box.
‘What comes before’ and ‘What comes after’ are checked next: The participants involuntarily revise the Chart. And with what enthusiasm and happiness!
The game is continued for about 3 or 4 turns for each group and is stopped before the children want it to be stopped. This way, the thrill of the game is maintained and the children eagerly look forward to “playing again”, as they would view it.
“Learning again” as we would call it.