Author Archives: grahamstanley

I am a teacher, social media consultant based in Barcelona, Spain.

Gamify your classroom with Chore Wars

Gamification One definition of gamification is the use of features usually found in games in areas of life which are usually game free. Only time will tell if this buzzword becomes the next big thing as some people are predicting, but meanwhile, sites such as Chore Wars can help you make a game of some [...]

Hewitt

http://www.funny-games.biz/hewitt.html Help the nerd, Hewitt, get a date The goal in this adventure game is to help Hewitt find a girl for the dance. The game is large, so it takes a while to load – it’s also a long game and takes a long time to finish. There are detailed instructions at the beginning [...]

Game Talk : Angry Birds

Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s a simple conversation activity/warmer that might be of interest to you when you go back to teaching after the winter break. Talking about games with learners can be a very useful activity, especially if you choose a game that everyone has heard of or played. So, which one to choose? [...]

Seasons Greetings from Digital Play

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Cabal, Cataclysm and Engaging Students

When I walked into my upper-intermediate class of teenagers yesterday, there were two students already there. One of them (A) spoke up about something that was on his mind and that he wanted to tell me (G) and then the other (D) soon joined in. The exchange more or less went like this: A: I [...]

7 ways video games reward the brain

Thanks to @cheimi10 for drawing our attention to this inspiring new TED video by Tom Chatfield, a longtime gamer, the arts and books editor at the UK current-affairs magazine Prospect, and the author of the book Fun Inc. “We’re bringing gameplay into more aspects of our lives, spending countless hours — and real money — [...]

Jane McGonigal TED Talk

Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.

Windosill – Connected Classroom Speaking Activity

Windosill (http://windosill.com/) is a beautifully made, attractive and original puzzle game that works well in the connected classroom as a way of stimulating speaking. LESSON PLAN The following lesson plan shows how the game can be played in a connected classroom (i.e. a classroom with a computer connected to the Internet), which is perhaps, where [...]

Pixels – warmer for classroom discussion of videogames

Here’s a great warmer to help start off any classroom discussion of videogames

Guest Post #1 : Video Games and Wikis

It is my great pleasure to introduce our first special guest on Digital Play – Shelly Terrell is an English teacher, educator, blogger and all-round inspiration when it comes to educational technology.  In this post, she puts the case for using a wiki to support digital play with learners.