When we use activities which drill patterns, such as practicing affirmative and negative answers, it’s important that the activity can throw up almost as many affirmative as negative situations. This is not just to ensure that all patterns are practiced, but to try and make the game more fun.
If we play Battleships and only draw one small boat, we could play for 5 minutes and not score any direct hits. Whilst the students might be using English, they might not think the that the game is fun (or fair). When there are points involved, we should balance the game in favour of correct guesses. Higher success rates and greater point scoring lead to a more positive environment.
Teachers want the students to play games so that they can practice English*, but of course the students want to play games to have fun.
*Of course we also want the students to enjoy themselves as this can lead to greater motivation, self-study etc
