GAME-BASED GRAMMAR WARM-UPS WITH AI FOR ADULT

Зулуфова Милена Болебековна

студентка Таразского университета имени М.Х. Дулати

факультета «Филологии и гуманитарных наук», г.Тараз

Most adult students arrive at their English or German lesson tired after a long day at work, and the last thing they want is to open a textbook and check grammar rules they already know. If a lesson starts in a boring way, it is hard to bring the energy back later. That is why many teachers today look for a quick and light way to wake up the brain before the real work begins, and one of the simplest solutions is a short grammar game based on the topic from the previous lesson.

Over the past half-decade, gamified approaches in English Language Teaching (ELT) have gained considerable research attention, particularly regarding their influence on learner motivation, active engagement, and long-term skill retention [1].

It’s quite a simple concept. The instructor asks for an AI tool to generate a quick interactive pre-class test, maybe a “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” game or a little language detective tale. Once the teacher has given the topic, for example past tenses or modal verbs, the AI can produce funny or realistic response options in seconds.

Some answers are close enough to be challenging and require serious thought, others are clearly wrong and even a little ridiculous to make students chuckle. This makes the activity fun and beneficial at the same time.

This small activity normally takes only 5-10 minutes, but its effect is strong. First, it removes the stress that many adults carry from a busy day, because a game feels much lighter than a formal check. Second, it refreshes grammar naturally, without long explanations, since students meet the same structures again in a new form. Third, it gives the teacher an easy tool to check what the group remembers before moving forward, so weak points can be caught early instead of appearing later in the lesson.

Flexibility is another strong point. This warm-up format can be adapted for children, teenagers or adults, and for any level from beginner to advanced. The quiz is built in a minute, so no need to prepare materials the night before, that’s actual time saved in a teacher’s busy week.

And finally, the method changes students’ feelings about grammar. Instead of seeing rules as something heavy and dull, they begin to see them as a small puzzle to solve together. This builds a routine of active thinking at the beginning of each class and students arrive already curious about which game is awaiting them. This little trick turns a boring routine into a time they actually enjoy, especially for busy adults who don’t have much spare energy after work.

REFERENCES:

1. Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does gamification work? A literature review  of empirical studies. Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 3025-3034