~ Phebe Yun
English Teacher, International Department
~ Phebe Yun
English Teacher, International Department
Embedded Files
English Teacher, International Department
Have you ever considered that you could learn something new while playing a board game? People have enjoyed playing them for thousands of years. But for many people, the thought of combining learning something new while playing one is still unheard of. To make this a reality, we challenged Grade 4 students to become designers and to create a board game that is both fun and educational for the Fun Hub activities in English Village.
Students at Kang Chiao are encouraged to spend time playing board games with their friends at English Village Fun Hub during recess. Yet, this activity is not very popular with grade 4 students. Therefore, we gave our young game designers the added challenge of making a board game that would attract more grade 4 students to visit!
Constructing Board Game Ideas into a Plan
We all know that a dream without effort is merely a dream. After learning about their goal, students started planning the design of their board game by realizing their imagination one step at a time.
First, they brainstormed themes that could captivate the interests of the fourth graders. Some of the most popular ideas were sports, math, and animals. Next came research into existing board games in order to learn how they are designed. Finally, they combined their imaginative themes with the game design principles they researched and created the first draft of their board game. It was time to work on filling in the details!
Developing the Instructions
While researching and developing game ideas was fun and informative for our students, Achieve Writing projects include well-structured writings. In this project, that writing was the instructions to the games students designed.
In order to have a smooth gameplay experience, it is important for a game to have clear and thorough instructions. From analyzing various real-world board game instructions, students were able to identify the three most important elements: how to play, equipment needed, and special elements. They examined each element to help design their own game instructions.
Through research and collaboration, our fourth graders learned that the best way to write clear instructions is to use imperative sentences with different text features such as bold keywords and numbered lists. Without realizing it, the students immediately understood why those text features are common in all kinds of procedural texts. This was an excellent way for students to use the grammar concepts they have been studying in CET and FET classes in order to make something creative, original, and fun.
In the end, groups produced bright and intricate games based on dozens of themes. Fun Hub visitors can now enjoy games in which they race to the finish while answering sports trivia, or they can put their math skills to the test in games featuring tricky math puzzles.
Dream Big. Accomplish Your Goal One Step at a Time
We started this Achieve Writing assignment by asking students if they thought learning and playing could be combined in a board game. They proved that it is possible. At the same time, we adults recognize that the students learned how to collaborate and use important grammar concepts while they were having fun with their classmates. They also learned an important life lesson: anything is possible. They went on the journey of discovering, developing, and designing their dream game. We hope this experience will stick with the students and make them see possibilities in the things they create in the future.
How to Play
How to Play
Mathgic Fight
★ Alger Wang 王宥喆 401
Introduction
In 2025, there is a magic math fight. Everyone calls it “Mathgic Fight”. You play the role of a magician. You need money, so you join Mathgic Fight. After you finish this game, you will have learned a lot of math information.
Equipment
• 1 board • 40 question cards • 20 magic cards • 20 gear cards
• 4 pawns • 2 dice
How to Play the game:
Roll the dice out and see who gets the highest roll. That person can go first.
The first person can roll the dice to see how many steps on the board they walk.
How to Use Cards
Question cards: When you want to use magic card to attack enemies, you need to take one question card and answer it, if you answer correct, you can use magic.
Magic cards: If you walk on an “M” square, you can use a magic card to attack. Before you attack, don’t forget to take question card.
Tips
Try to get more frozen magic cards because frozen magic is stronger than others.
Around the World with Sanrio
★ Karlie Chen 陳是言 403
Introduction
Welcome aboard! You are flying to Japan, Korea, Hawaii, or France. The Sanrio characters Cinnamoroll, Kuromi, Pompompurim, and Melody will be your tour guides. They will tell you about these countries’ cultures our game, “Around the World with Sanrio”. After playing, you will know the countries’ cultures. Enjoy your trip!
Equipment
• Game board • Country stickers
• Cards: Flag cards, question cards, exclamation cards
Rules
Pick a character and country flag.
Play rock-paper-scissors to decide who goes first.
Pick a question or exclamation card to see how many steps you can move.
Follow the instruction on the card (For example: say “Good morning” in Japanese). If you can’t do it, you have to move 1 step back.
If you answer correctly, you can get 1 sticker.
After 10 minutes, the game ends. Whoever has the most stickers wins.
Special Designs
You can play in two types of game:
• Easy Level→Answer questions in 25 seconds for lower grades.
• Hard Level→Answer questions in 10 seconds for higher grades.
Animal World
★ Asher Chou 周昱勳 402
Introduction
Welcome to Animal World. You can learn about special animals and their habitats. We chose this topic because we like animals, but sometimes when reading books, we still have some information we don’t know. While building this board game, I learned a lot. Now let’s explore special animal facts!
Equipment
• 1 special dice • 1 game board
• 59 lucky cards • Answer cards
How to Play the game:
Roll the dice and see how many steps you can go.
See which spot you land on. Each spot has a picture of one animal.
Answer (1) What is the animal? (2) Where does this animal live?
Check the answer on the answer card. If correct, move forward 1 step. If wrong, go back 1 step.
★ There are also special squares:
God Black squares blow one player 3 blocks back
Dangerous blocks stop you for one turn
There are also Snake Slides. If you land on a snake’s head, you must move to the snake’s tail. If you land on a snake’s tail, you must move up to its head.
One side of the dice is a Dangerous Block. If you roll it, you must stop moving for one turn.
The Minecraft World
★ Daniel Chan 詹軒亦 402
Introduction
This board game will make you want to play Minecraft right away! There are many things to buy inside the game, and you can be a billionaire! But watch out for stepping on other players squares, and don’t go to jail! So let’s hop inside the game and enjoy!
Equipment
• game board • Three dice: Normal dice, Money dice, Jail dice
• Play money (Each player starts with $9)
• Property cards • Pawns (one per player)
How to Play
Everyone starts on the “Go” block.
Player one answers a question.
If the player answered correctly, they can roll the normal and money dice. If they answer incorrectly, they can’t roll anything.
• If you land on empty property, you can choose if you want to buy or not.
• If you land on a property someone owns, you need to pay the owner that property’s value.
• If you land on “Go to Jail” you need to go to jail and roll the jail dice.
Start the next player’s turn.
Special Designs
There are many questions about Minecraft in this game. You can also choose easy or hard mode! There are 19 questions in hard mode, and 20 questions in easy mode. People who play Minecraft can choose hard mode, and people who don’t can choose easy mode.
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