playing games, the learners ‟ attention is on the message, not on the
language. In a way, students acquire language unconsciously since their whole attention is engaged by the activity.
It can be viewed that games will be beneficial to the process of grammar teaching and learning as they are highly motivating and challenging. Moreover,
they encourage students to participate during the games and communicate with others so that their cooperation will be improved too. Students can learn grammar
when they are busy playing the games. Here, games facilitate them to employ meaningful language in a real context and in a non-stressful way.
2.2.3 General Concept of Chinese Whispers
This part elaborates the general concept of Chinese whispers as a game to be used for this research, including the definition of Chinese whispers, the procedure of
playing Chinese whispers, and the benefits of Chinese whispers.
2.2.3.1 Definition of Chinese Whispers “Chinese whispers or telephone in the United States is a game played around the
world, in which one person whispers a message to another, which is passed through a line of people until the last player announces the message to the entire
group ”
http:en.wikipedia.org wikiChinese_whispers .
“Also known as Broken Telephone, this game is a hit with all ages, because everyone loves to share
secrets Gear the message length to the age of the children playing ” Wilson and
Wylie, 2007:11.
By adjusting the length of the words or phrases that must be whispered with the age of the players such as students, this game could be played by
everyone in all ages. When playing this game, a student in a group who becomes a receiver has to pass on a message whispered
—not shouted by other students. This activity will happen continuously.
2.2.3.2 Procedure of Playing Chinese Whispers The detailed procedure of playing this game is as follows:
Each row of students is a group, meaning there are will most likely be 6 groups in your class. One of the teachers takes the last student
in each row into the hallway and has them memorize a word, phrase or sentence WPS. It should be based on the grammar point
currently being studied, or it could also be some type of review WPS. When the teacher shouts Go students race to whisper the
WPS to the next student in line. They can repeat it as many times as needed, keeping in mind the whisper part so that other teams
cant hear. When the WPS has reached the last student, you can have the student either write the WPS down on a scratch piece of
paper or have them come and whisper it into a teachers ear. If they are correct their team receives points. Points are awarded for speed:
5pts, 4pts 3pts, 2pts, while the last two groups receive 1pt ... Each telephone line rotates so there is a new last person and the game is
repeated Classroom Activities Junior High School, 2013:70.
From the explained procedure, it can be said that Chinese whispers is such a very energetic game that can be used to teach specific grammar point, especially
the simple past tense. The materials needed here were only a list of verbs and sentences that were used to practice the simple past tense repeatedly, papers, and
a scoreboard. Hopefully, this game could work up students‟ enthusiasm in learning the simple past tense and improve their mastery of it.
2.2.3.3 Benefits of Chinese Whispers Based on what had been read by the writer in Wikipedia on the internet, the writer
recapitulated some benefits of Chinese whispers game http:en.wikipedia.org
wikiChinese_whispers , those are:
1 Providing amusement or offering a fun experience because the game might
cause funny extreme surprise when the original whispered WPS might change gradually into final ridiculous WPS that the players might laugh at,
2 Providing educational value by showing the importance of sharing
information clearly and openly to avoid misconception and simulating the spread of gossip and its supposed harmful effects,
3 Facilitating teaching and learning processes by reviewing specific subject
lessons such as grammar lesson in a comfortable, fun, an informal situation, 4
Encouraging players‟ participation and promoting friendly competition since it is played by players in groups,
5 Moderating the volume of players‟ voice, and
6 Promoting players‟ awareness of their pronunciation.
From those explanations, the writer realized the potential of Chinese
whispers game as a useful means to be used to assist the teaching and learning process, create a fun learning environment, improve students‟ active participation,
and improve specific language skills such as listening, speaking, and writing since the players always tried hard to listen attentively, speak correctly, and write
accurately during the game.
2.2.4 General Concept of Cooperative Learning
