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Encouraging Teenagers to Improve Speaking Skills through Games in a Colombian Public School
Motivación de adolescentes para mejorar su expresión oral mediante el juego en un colegio público colombiano
Keywords:
Oral communication, games, motivation, adolescents, teenagers (en)Comunicación oral, juegos, motivación, adolescentes (es)
Our project was implemented with tenth grade students of a public school located in the Usme Zone in Bogotá. We decided to develop this action research project because we were concerned about our students' difficulties when attempting to speak English. They felt inhibited with activities that involved oral interaction mainly because they were afraid of criticism and jokes about what they said. To develop our project we used video recordings, the teacher's journal and questionnaires answered by the students. The results showed that students felt better, free and confident when they participated in oral tasks, particularly during games. We saw collaboration, solidarity and interaction among them. In addition, they were relaxed and happy at the time they had to perform in small groups.
El mejoramiento de las habilidades lingüísticas a través del juego se adelantó con estudiantes de grado décimo de un colegio público en Bogotá. Se decidió desarrollar este proyecto de investigación-acción porque las dificultades de los estudiantes para hablar en inglés eran preocupantes. Estos se sentían inhibidos en las actividades que involucraran interacción oral, principalmente porque sentían temor ante las críticas y las bromas acerca de lo que dijeran. Para el desarrollo del proyecto se utilizaron videograbaciones, el diario de profesor y cuestionarios que respondieron los estudiantes. Los resultados mostraron que los estudiantes se sintieron mejor, libres y seguros cuando participaron en actividades orales, particularmente en juegos. Así, se observó colaboración, solidaridad e interacción entre ellos. Además, estuvieron motivados y contentos a la hora de actuar en grupos pequeños.
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