The Game Terakoya (teaching language and literacy using games and the pedagogy of multiliteracies)

Transform yourself and society.
How should you start? Play a game.

“Game Terakoya” students receive a cutting-edge language and literacy education. They read and write through English, Japanese, media and social actions. They think carefully about social problems. They communicate and collaborate with others. They participate in personal, academic, public and professional ways. They grow more curious, become happier, and find new freedoms. They enrich their own life, and the life of others.

   A: That sounds great, but … why do you use games? Aren’t games a waste of time or even harmful?

   B: It depends what you play. We match games to our goals. We play games about politics, history, psychology, mathematics, business, and philosophy. Most games we choose require advanced language use.

   A: I see!

   B: And, it depends how you play. Games are just the start. We test strategies, collect and analyze game play data, and deeply discuss the games’ systems, language and social connections. Games make us think more about ourselves and the world. Games introduce ideas that we develop and use in amazing projects in society, like organizing events, making educational games, and creating charities.

   A: I got it!

“Play is the highest form of research” (attributed to Albert Einstein). What The Game Terakoya does after playing games is the highest form of being human.
Come and play and learn with us.

あなた自身と社会を変えよう。
何から始めようか。それなら、ゲームをしよう。

Game Terakoyaで学生は最新鋭の言語とリテラシーを学び、日英2言語を用いてメディアや社会活動を踏まえた読み書きを行っています。仲間と話し合い、助け合いながら、各々の思う社会問題へ思案を巡らせ、育まれたアイデアをもって、専門性の伴う自身の方法で社会へ参画するのです。幸せへと突き進む好奇心で自由な価値観を得れば、自身のみでなく他者の人生も豊かになっていくでしょう。

   
A「ゲームが本当にいい教材になるんですか?」

   B「何をするか、だね。各分野に関連する数多くのゲームを、各自の目的に沿わせて使うんだ。」

   A「そうなんですね。」

   B「どう繋げていくかも重要だ。ゲームはスタート地点に過ぎない。集めた情報を分析し、ゲームの体系や言葉、また社会との繋がりを掘り下げる。ゲームが自身や世界を見つめ直させ、気付きの種を与えてくれるんだ。それを育て上げることで、イベントの開催、教育的ゲームの提案、またチャリティーの創設のようなプロジェクトとして実を結ぶんだよ。」

   A「なるほど!」


アインシュタインは”遊びは、研究の最も高度な在り様である”と言いました。

私たちのゲーム後の行いも、人の最も高度な在り様です。

共に遊び、学びましょう。

What is the Game Terakoya?

- teaching and learning spaces (seminar, classes, workshops, slack communication)

- for exploring identities and roles

- related to language, education, games and society

How does it work?

- we purposefully play, discuss, analyze and apply games

- we ask and answer questions

- we remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create

- we plan and reflect on work

- we learn from others

Why do we do it?

- to build strengths

- to pursue happiness

- to participate in personal, public, academic and professional areas of society

- to transform ourselves and society

Does it work?

Yes:

Papers and presentations (below)

Zines page
    1-page teacher tiny guide (and additional information and resources)
    1-page student tiny workbook (and additional information and resources)

Classes and Thesis links (for students) -
    Thesis seminars - 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018
    Classes and workshops - 

Free google document worksheets and resources that you can use (or copy and remix, though please cite): compendium

Examples of Student Work

On this slide -->
work is organized by role, product, with short textual descriptions and links to processes, products and media coverage.

Students' graduation theses (reflections of what and how they learned in the Game Terakoya) can be found here.

More detailed categorized information can be found here:  Sheet 1: Information, Sheet 2: Project Suggestions, Sheet 3: Archive of Completed Work and Projects (by GT stage)

Transforming lives: The Game Terakoya project at the University of Shizuoka

The dialogic space the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies created in my game-based teaching

Pitfalls and Solutions in Video Game based Language Teaching and Learning

Prof. Jonathan deHaan introducing his  games and language literacy teaching.

Sequence of Work