Overview
What is a game? Key concepts
A game is a system with rules, some sort of challenge, feedback of some sort, interaction, fun, and often an emotional response.
“Hard fun” challenges learners to think, such as in Scrabble or chess. It is still fun.
Start with the learning objectives, then use the game to achieve them.
Think about Bloom’s Taxonomy, and make sure classroom games are at different levels, from remembering to creativity
Team play lets games be collaborative and often more fun than individual competition – not everyone likes to complete, but everyone likes to win.
Learner-created games build autonomy, ownership, and motivation.
Why use games for English language teaching?
For teachers, games can be education disguised as entertainment (stealth education).
For students, they're fun and engaging.
For young people, educational games and gaming can resemble the tools and toys they enjoy - social interaction, gaming, make-believe worlds.
On this site, it's simulations, games, and pastimes of different kinds that can be used in language teaching.
We will explore
What is a game?
Games for learning
Icebreaker
Board games + crosswords
Online skill-building games – adventure, games for change
Task-based games
Create your own games
Offline and online, PPT based, create your own adventure
Customizable games
Role of the learner
Game elements from gamification
Team play (“community collaboration”) and competition (“player vs. player”).
Time constraints (“countdown”).
Feedback
Fun (including "hard fun")
Ownership
Points, badges, and levels
“Epic meaning”
The key is to tie the game to the language goal and the curriculum. Most games are best played with others so that there is interaction with others and language use as part of playing the game.
See below and on the next two pages for resources
2024 Games and Gamification resources handoug
2021 Games and Gamification resources handout
2020 Nicaragua workshop PPT in PDF format
Last updated 11 March 2024 by D. Healey.