Topic: The role plays in teaching speaking Contents Introduction Chapter I. The importance of education and modern methods in teaching speech

home language or home talk is the language spoken most of the time by family members for everyday activities and interactions at home
many children speak more than one language without difficulty
Aboriginal English is not a speech delay or difficulty. Aboriginal English is the way Aboriginal people use English. It is a part of their identity and home talk. It should be encouraged and built on. More information can be found in the Speech Pathology Australia’s fact sheet Speech Pathology and Indigenous Children.External link
some children will have speech, language and communication needs in their home language.
speech pathologists may use interpreters when looking at a child’s speech, language and communication skills in their home language. This information is used to make decisions about the child’s communication skills in their home language and English.
learning English as an additional language is not a reason to ignore concerns about the child’s speech, language and communication needs
learning English as an additional language is not a reason to be more concerned about the child’s speech, language and communication needs.
It can be difficult for families and other professionals to know if a child has speech, language and communication needs, always see a speech pathologist if you are concerned.
It is always important for parents to use the language they are most comfortable with at home when talking to their child. Strong skills in a child’s home language help a child learn a second language.
This video from South Eastern Sydney Local Health DistrictExternal link explains why it is very important to speak to a child in their home language.
What you might see when a child is learning English as an additional language
It is common for children who are learning English as an additional language to show some or all of the following. It may be difficult to separate these behaviours from those seen when a child has speech, language and communication needs:
● Silent period: Children are often very quiet, speaking little as they focus on understanding the new language.
● Interference and transfer: A child may make an English error due to the direct influence of their home language. When learning to talk the child may mix grammar rules or their sentence may contain words from each language.
● Code switching: A child or adult may suddenly change the language they are speaking to use words or sentences from the other language.
● Language loss: As the child learns English, they may lose skills and fluency in their home language.
Most children can learn two or more languages at the same time without difficulty. If you are worried, look at Speech, language and communication stages, Spotting the signs: Should I be concerned? and compare the child's skills in their home language to what is written. If you are still concerned talk to other people supporting the child and see Where to get advice and discuss concerns.
If a child does have speech, language and communication needs and uses more than one language, it is important for the family, speech pathologist and child’s teacher to talk about the best ways to support the child.

2.2. Use role-playing games in speech lessons

Role-play games are very popular among kids up to 12 year old. The faster you offer the games adults play the better.
If a child has come to you with a request to “play”, brought his/her favorite teddy bears or horses, even the look of which makes you sick and tired, do not get frustrated, use one of these ideas to quickly come up with a role-playing game.
Therapeutic Game
Take an issue which your child has recently faced with as a basis for your game. For example, your child is afraid of spiders or insects. As an example, the most terrifying spider gets into trouble and is helpless and in danger, and your child with his teddy bear saves him. Well, how can you be afraid of someone you saved?
Mom’s Helper
Maybe there is something that you want to teach your baby. For example, wash your hands before meal or dressing up by him/herself. So just pretend play it.
Life Game
We just take life-based situations as a basis for the game. Maybe, you recently went to the exhibition, went for a visit, or went to see an aquarium? What about if you walked in the woods, had a picnic? Maybe your kid went on a swing this afternoon? So play it! Invite friends to visit your child’s teddy bears, take the teddy bear to see fish that you put in a small box pretending it to be aquarium. Use your imagination! Pretend and keep up the conversation between the toys!
Preparation Game
This game will help you prepare your baby for the upcoming event. Whatever it is, a plane flight or a visit to the doctor, starting daycare or beginning school life, you can role-play it awakening the child’s interest and getting him ready for the event.
Fairy-tale or Rhyme-based Game
Very simple to implement and loved by the children idea. Just take your baby’s favorite rhyme, story or cartoon as a basis. An unbeatable success and a long-lasting game!
Occupation Games
It’s a good idea to help your child get familiar with different professions through a role-play. As an example, your child’s teddy bear might be a veterinarian, and a favorite doll has a flower garden! Perhaps the dragon puts out fires, and the pig builds houses? Of course, do not forget to include a game about the doctor and a sport pro shop.
Journey Game
This game can be endless! You can select it on the map where to go, learn to read geographical names, plan routes, try national dishes … And all this without leaving the nursery.
School Game
Planning to teach your kid to read or count as this game can be a real success! Make your child be a teacher while you and your child try to teach the stuffed animals to read and count the results will be unexpected!
Studies have shown significant benefits in allaying depression. As Wayne Blackmon colorfully
stated in a 1994 case study on the effects of allowing a suicidally depressed 19 year old to use D&D as
an outlet and emotional development tool, “The use of this game as an adjunct to therapy can allow patients an opportunity to explore their mental dungeons and slay their psychic dragons”
One of the key tenants of the Therapeutic Recreation profession is finding the balance between too much challenge and boredom, to achieve, maintain, and maximize the state of awareness known as “flow” (Austin and Crawford 99-100). Many a gamer can attest to being taunted by non-gaming peers, or scolded by parents, for those times when a great game session had them so caught up, that one moment it was 6:00 pm, and the next time they looked at the clock it was 2:00 am. This was humorously well illustrated in the docu-comedy RPG video movie The Gamers II: Dorkness Rising
Though this loss of time is generally a positive thing, as with any other activity, it is possible for anyone in any enjoyable activity to become obsessive and let things get out of balance. It is important not to let responsibilities such as work, school, or relationships begin to experience a negative impact from getting carried away for a prolonged period. Fortunately, since communication is the primary implement of role-playing gaming, having healthy communication is usually very productive in helping keep “real life” and gaming balanced. For parents with gamers, it can help reduce their concern considerably if they make the effort to understand, communicate, and learn about their child's recreational activities.
There has generally been the assumption, even among gamers, that since RPGing is escape oriented, the last person you want to participate regularly would be someone suffering from various dissociative disorders such as schizophrenia. Though the jury is still out on this, there have been
Role-playing Games Used as Educational and Therapeutic Tools for Youth and Adults
several studies done with this population, and surprisingly only one study, involving long term inpatient adolescents and taking an “unstructured” approach, had to be terminated because it was reinforcing negative pathologies (Ascherman 335). However, the other related studies actually contradicted the popular media and public assumptions (DeRenard and Kline), showing that, when structured and properly managed, the participants benefited significantly by actually improving their ability to differentiate between reality and dissociative events, as well as develop their ability to relate to others and self more effectively (Hughes;Blackmon).
There is currently estimated to have been at least 20 million players of the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons since 1974, the game that started the entire genre. The creators thought it might sell 50,000 copies. There have been many millions more playing other RPGs besides D&D over the decades. As the generations that grew up with this activity become doctors and scientists, it is not surprising that there is an increasing momentum for ongoing research on the the benefits of role- playing games for enhancing education and as a potential therapy tool. In the thirty five years since the inception of role-playing games, the studies have just reached the tip of the iceberg, the potential benefits indicated so far, seem to hint at something that could be very beneficial to many populations in the next thirty years of research
If you’re anything like the teachers on the Teach Starter team, you love knowing the ins and outs of why something works in your classroom. There’s been a lot of research into learning through play and how to build the best classroom games for students, so this is just the tip of the iceberg! Still, here’s some pretty solid proof of the value of games in education!
More Motivation
Studies show that playing games in the classroom can increase overall motivation. Students become more motivated to learn, pay attention, and participate in-class activities. They can also be a great classroom management tool, helping to motivate a class. One important thing for you to keep in mind: A 2011 study completed by researchers in the United Kingdom found games in the classroom provided more motivation if the learning was the playful part and not just a side note to the activity.
Student Attentiveness
Did you know that playing games help improve student attentiveness? That’s right! As games can move quickly, a student needs to be alert and attentive for extended periods, and a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison found games actually benefit students by helping them shape their attentiveness and training the brain in how to learn.
Using different instructional approaches in the classroom, such as playing games, enables students to encounter the content in various ways, making it easier for them to pay attention after the activity has ended.
Problem Solving
When Taiwanese researchers looked at digital game-based learning for kids in a study published in the journal Computers & Education in 2012, they found that kids who designed their own cities using simulation games showed stronger problem-solving skills than peers who learned about cities in more traditional ways. The study isn’t the only one to find that gameplay in education can enhance kids’ problem-solving skills. Another study completed at the University of Manchester in 2016 had similar results — the small study concluded that “playing interactive educational games may have a positive impact on children’s problem-solving skills and engage them in advanced mathematical thinking.”
Language Development
Kids develop language when they encounter it — it’s why reading is such a powerful vocabulary-builder — and that includes playing games in the classroom. In fact, a study by University of Connecticut researchers found a game doesn’t even have to be language-focused for it to enhance language for kids in K-12.
Self-Esteem Boosting
There’s often a fair amount of negativity around digital gaming — loner in his mom’s basement stereotypes are rampant. But harnessing kids’ love of video games for use in the classroom with games like Minecraft that can be incorporated directly into a lesson can have a powerful effect on kids’ self-esteem. In one Australian study, for example, researchers found that playing video games in the classroom was tied to students’ sense of pride and emotional connectedness to their peers — although this seemed more prevalent in boys than in girls.
Increased Class Cooperation
Studies show kids as young as 3 enjoy working in teams vs individual activities, but you don’t need us to tell you that getting kids to work together smoothly is not always easy. Gameplay can go a long way toward building their cooperation skills as researchers at the Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom found. Games in the classroom allow students to learn how to work together as a team, take turns, build respect, listen to others, and play fairly.
Memory Workout
We often think of playing brain games as a means for older folks to keep their memories in shape, but that benefit extends to kids too. Several studies have shown that video games, in particular, actually help kids build up their memories — and the benefits last well into adulthood!
Reaching Them on Their Level
Today’s kids live in a digital world — it’s why they’re often called digital natives. They’re used to a gamified experience at every turn, and research has shown games in the classroom help relate to digital natives in a language they understand.
Kids Want to Learn
Yes, this is a simplistic way to put it, but the research is solid. Studies from as far back as 1992 show that simply re-working a lesson as a game makes kids more receptive to learning a concept.
Learning From Mistakes
As much as games in the classroom are about learning a concept, they’re also about learning from what goes wrong, which gives students both the problem-solving development we already mentioned and the social-emotional benefits too. As Stanford researchers point out, kids learn to abandon the game, even when they’ve lost.