Content knowledge is perhaps the most obvious need in this implementation. In order to choose the pedagogical goal and vehicle the teacher must reference the current goals of the class. It is important to note that the game does not have to fit exactly within the curriculum at hand, but can extend to material that has already been covered. Because one of the key factors in games is student motivation, they can be used to "adjust" a classroom atmosphere that has stagnated. Often this approach is criticized for just being "fun and games" or a time killer, but if the pedagogical content is carefully considered, and it achieves its goal of invigorating the students, it can hardly be called lost time. Also, the teacher and any others supervising the game must be able to judge the accuracy of the student responses. This may seem obvious for the teacher, but it is especially important when the students have to police themselves (or each other). Ideally, each team should have a teacher or teacher's aide monitoring their progress, but if this is not possible, then sometimes the teacher can rely on the students to monitor the situation. However, the content must be at a somewhat lower level than what the class is currently addressing: any monitoring must occur in addition to helping their own team advance, thus creating a dual processing load.
Beyond the basic overview of the content, a teacher has to have a good concept of the how the content should develop in learners. In addition to being able to assess when to move on to a new topic, they need to be able to choose what that topic will be. Language teachers often take a spiraling approach to this goal, knowing that students may not completely master any one topic just by spending a set amount of time on it. This issue is necessarily inherent in classroom language learning, because its goal is to move out to real interactions with native speakers of the target language. In this sense, games are an ideal addition to traditional, more academic activities, because they can create an opportunity for practice with a somewhat different motivation.
Perhaps the most important skill a teacher has is the ability to look at a situation in a classroom and make a split-second decision based on multiple sources of information. This is a skill that most teachers take for granted, but it is often overlooked by those who do not have experience on the delivery side of the podium. The long term curricular goals and short term lesson goals of a class meeting are often very clear, but there are a multitude of related choices that can be made without jeopardizing them. In addition the constraints imposed by the goals, there are constraints that come from the individuals involved in the class, as well as other sources. However, all factors come together in the very linear constraint of the time boundaries of the class meeting. There is a beginning and an end and time progresses without fail, thus putting pressure on the teacher to make the most of the time available. If an activity is not producing the expected result, an experienced teacher identifies the reason and makes a judgment about whether to take measures to correct it. Sometimes the "problem" leads to an unexpected realization, and the teacher may choose to let the situation play out, but often she adjusts the conditions so that there is more likelihood that the activity will achieve its goal. This entails all of the above knowledge and judgment skills being brought to bear on one split-second in an effort to achieve lesson and curricular goals. We would argue that this skill is an important key for teachers in training or professional development programs, but if presented in terms of games, it is relatively easy to grasp.