Games and gamified activities

Games or game-like activities

Hangman with this month’s vocabulary practice. This is a game, but playing it in pairs adds more game elements.

Countdown; behavioral momentum; community collaboration

A writing contest where the winning team’s entry is published. Publication is key to making this more meaningful and more of a Quest than an assignment.

Achievement; epic meaning; ownership; quest

A spelling bee where participants work in teams. Teamwork is an interesting game element to add.

Achievement; community collaboration; points

Finding information in a reading to use in solving a puzzle. The puzzle makes this more of a game.

Discovery; challenge; achievement (if the puzzle is solved)

Decoding aparagraphwheretherearenospacesbetweenthewords

Challenge; achievement; could be community collaboration if learners work together

Gamified activities

An online crossword puzzle about clothing

Add game elements – countdown (time limit), community collaboration (work in pairs), points, achievement

Responding to questions about a 10-minute video clip

Add points, teamwork (community collaboration), student-generated questions (ownership)

Student-created video (epic meaning, ownership, challenge, achievement)

Memorizing vocabulary for a weekly quiz

Turn it into a game – teamwork (community collaboration), challenge, points with flashcards; record progress over time with a chart to make it visual (progression)

Highlighting the transition words in a reading

Turn it into a game – teamwork (community collaboration), challenge, points, achievement (if all correct)

Doing a workbook exercise about the past tense

Turn it into a game – teamwork (community collaboration), challenge, points, achievement (if all correct)

Ownership if they make their own exercise questions to ask each other

Doing a presentation about a favorite vacation

Using their own pictures (ownership), epic meaning if shared publicly; points with a rubric; possibly a team effort

Progression if learners see that their presentations are getting longer over time or the task is broken into steps

Writing a compare/contrast paragraph

Ownership; epic meaning if shared; achievement if the best paragraphs are posted on the wall; points with a rubric;

Progression if learners see that their writing is getting longer over time (record on a chart to make it visible) or the task is broken into steps