Abstract: The positive influence of playing games with students has often been the subject of scientific papers, which is confirmed by articles by Z. K. Moldakhmedova, A. A. Kadieva, A. A. Shatilova and other researchers. However, the genesis of the game, which allows us to find the phenomenon's origins in the era of syncretism (A. N. Veselovsky), despite the work of L. S. Vygotsky, is still not fully understood. Meanwhile, understanding the essence of the game allows one to introduce it as a component of learning in the process of mastering a foreign language, including overcoming the border "friend-foe" (Y. M. Lotman) and to be able to feel freedom (J. Huizinga) to obtain and consolidate knowledge. Thus, the purpose of this work is to study the genesis of the game as a phenomenon rooted in the syncretic era (where it existed as part of a ritual) in identifying the possibilities of the game situation for the realization of creative (mimetic) activity of students, to overcome language barriers. In light of this approach, the game becomes not an element that can relieve the tension of "serious work" but a special optics that allows one to perceive cognitive activity differently. The main work method is the genetic method proposed by O. M. Freudenberg. The theoretical basis of the research is the works of Y. M. Lotman, A. N. Veselovsky, M. M. Bakhtin, O. M. Freudenberg, L. S. Vygotsky, and other scientists.

Abstract: The positive influence of playing games with students has often been the subject of scientific papers, which is confirmed by articles by Z. K. Moldakhmedova, A. A. Kadieva, A. A. Shatilova and other researchers. However, the genesis of the game, which allows us to find the phenomenon's origins in the era of syncretism (A. N. Veselovsky), despite the work of L. S. Vygotsky, is still not fully understood. Meanwhile, understanding the essence of the game allows one to introduce it as a component of learning in the process of mastering a foreign language, including overcoming the border "friend-foe" (Y. M. Lotman) and to be able to feel freedom (J. Huizinga) to obtain and consolidate knowledge. Thus, the purpose of this work is to study the genesis of the game as a phenomenon rooted in the syncretic era (where it existed as part of a ritual) in identifying the possibilities of the game situation for the realization of creative (mimetic) activity of students, to overcome language barriers. In light of this approach, the game becomes not an element that can relieve the tension of "serious work" but a special optics that allows one to perceive cognitive activity differently. The main work method is the genetic method proposed by O. M. Freudenberg. The theoretical basis of the research is the works of Y. M. Lotman, A. N. Veselovsky, M. M. Bakhtin, O. M. Freudenberg, L. S. Vygotsky, and other scientists.