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Top Ten For Halloween

By kylemawer  |  2012/10/05 03:24 Posted in All Posts, Game Plan, Top Tens  |  Comments (1)

It’s the run up to Halloween and one way to have fun, get your learners orientated towards the theme and get some reading practice in is to do some Digital Play activities with a scare factor.  Here is a selection of 10 Halloween lead in activities to try out with your learners.  All the links lead to lesson plans posted previously on Digital Play.

1 Dark Visions A Gothic Horror Story

 

This atmospheric and written text heavy thriller is great reading practice for a mature higher level language learner.  You arrive at a strange house with a mysterious doctor who introduces himself as James Thaxton Smith, an assistant to your uncle who is the doctor at this psychiatric hospital.  He sees you to the guest room where you are to stay but time passes and you soon get bored waiting.  Explore the house and discover dark secrets and strange goings on.  Can you solve the mystery before it’s too late?

 

2 An Interactive Story

Can you help a young girl travel through the woods before it gets too dark?  A walk through the trees, a chance encounter with a strange creature and an opportunity to practice the third conditional or maybe set up a writing activity using the game events to scaffold the storytelling.  Ideal for an upper intermediate class but has also worked successfully with a strong intermediate group.  I like this game as it is simple, easy to play and the story book feel to it adds a different dimension to the game – as you flip through the pages you can ask learners about the language or predict the story.

 

3 Pirates of The Undead Sea

 

This game is not as gory and bloody as it gets by a long stretch but it is just about as far as we go here at Digital Play.  The story is of a zombie pirate who is trying to solve the mystery of how he ended up being a zombie and how he can get back to being a pirate.  Nice thing about this game is that there is lots of in-game text that builds the characters and moves the plot/ game forward.  Use the walkthrough for extra gaming support and additional reading practice.

 

4 Halloween Dress Up Games

You can find ten different online games here to practice clothes, colours, parts of the body and lots more language.  All these games were chosen to tie in with the Halloween theme of trick or treat and dressing up in costumes.  Great for younger learners and activities include writing descriptions, telling a partner about a halloween picture and relay dictations.  If you have a printer you can even get your learners to print off some of their creations to decorate the classroom.

 

5 A Zombie Story

 

This hand drawn online choose your own adventure game has 8 different endings depending on what actions you decide to take in the game.  Getting learners to discover these different endings encourages them to engage on a deeper level with the text and storylines to such a degree that they really get into the different plot twists and the decisions they need to take in order to reach they ending they want.  Maybe your learners will be inspired enough to draw and write their own similar stories.

 

6 Nearly Departed

Sometimes an internet connection or connectivity is a problem while a class full of students on multiple computers are all trying to access the same game.  For this reason we’ve included this game which you can download and save on a computer.  An added bonus is that you can save your progress and return to the same computer at a later date.  This means this visually attractive and engaging game can be played over a few classes.  Using a walkthrough can be a help but be warned there are incidences of cartoon blood and gore i this so use appropriately.

 

7  Spookymatch

 

This online game of pelmanism is great for drilling beginner levels on halloween vocabulary.  It’s also great for introducing your learners to and drilling on a few ordinal numbers.  Play this game in a connected classroom as a warmer for a bit of halloween fun.  Vocabulary includes spider (as pictured on the left), green eye(ball), blue eye(ball), green worm, spider’s web/ cobweb, skull/ skeleton and (scary) ghost.

 

8 I Remain

As is often the case, there is a zombie outbreak and you have managed to survive and find yourself inside an abandoned house with the undead horde pressing in from all sides.  Can you read the story and figure out how to reenact it in the game?  This online game can be played while reading a story which is a great way to get your upper-intermediate learners reading.  Playing the game becomes a comprehension check to the story.

 

9 Spot The Difference

 

This is a speaking activity where your class is either in teams or just one big chaotic crowd.  Learners look at the two pictures and have to describe to you the teacher what they are and where they are.  You may find that pre-teaching some of the vocabulary may make for a better activity but that’s up to you.  I find it’s surprising how much learners learn in a game just from dealing with new language as it comes up.  If you do want to pre-teach then play the game or or take a look at the picture on the left here – you can spot the vocabulary for yourself.

 

10 Ten Halloween Treats

Finally here is a selection of ten different halloween themed games covering a range of ages, language levels and scare factors.  Some of the activities can be used in a connected classroom with a single computer and others can be used with learners on multiple computers in either the classroom or a computer room.

 

 

Top Ten Tips For Setting Up a Digital Play Activity

By kylemawer  |  2012/09/16 03:10 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (0)

Here’s a brief description of ten things to watch out for when you are using an online game with a class.  No doubt there are more things to watch out for that are concerned directly with the game but these are for when you present the game to the class.  We’ll be doing more things to watch out for at a later date.

1 You may be able to access the game at home or in the staffroom but can you access it multiple times in the connected classroom/ computer room as well?  You may find that you need to upload the latest version of flash or shockwave or even try using a different browser before you can access the game.

 

2 Be careful of the images and language content bordering the game.  Sometimes, when you are focused on the game itself it’s difficult to remember that you need to look at the webpage it’s on as well.  If there are inappropriate images or possibly live chat that contains inappropriate language then you may find yourself reconsidering using that game.  Remember though that the same game may be present on a different website that is more appropriate.

 

3. Check out links that are on the same page as the game.  This can include links bordering the game or even in the space where the game will appear.  Be sure you know where learners need to click to “Play Game” and at what moment. You don’t want learners to open new pages or follow a link that takes them away from the game.

 

4. Online games are very popular these days and more and more game sites have advertising before a game starts.  Be careful as you may have played the game once and there was what you judged to be an innocent advert but you need to check before you play with a class as these adverts change regularly and you don’t want to be caught unawares.  The other option is to set up a game before hand and run through the advert and get to the start of the game on each computer so it’s ready for learners to start playing.

 

5. Games take a moment to load and the space where you are due to play a game might contain a frozen advert for other games.  This advert may include words similar or the same as ‘Play game’.  You need to know what not to click on, if you need to wait for a certain amount of time before the right button to click appears and where that will be and what it looks like.

 

6. Some games take a certain amount of time to load and you have to take this into account.  In a connected classroom it may just mean making sure your learners are engaged in an activity while you get a game ready.  It may mean you setting up the game yourself before class on multiple computers. For this reason it’s a good idea to have played the game before and to remember the process involved in setting it up.

 

7. Some games or digital play sites require some time before actually playing in order to register with a name and an email.  It’s good practice if this is so to have learners ready and trained to write in a name that is not their own and reveals as little personal information about them as possible.  With very young learners you also have to be aware that they may not have an email of their own, remember how to access it or have to have their parent’s permission to use it.  If this is the case then be aware that in order to play a game you may have to follow a lengthy process (possibly spanning a few classes) before you can actually play it.

 

8. A game needs to be easy to find both for you and your learners. How are you going to guide a class to the game?  You could give them the site address, talk them through finding it on a search engine (say google) or have a document saved and accessible which has a direct hyperlink.  Another way is to save it as a favourite on the computer, have your own class wiki or blog set up with it on or, easiest of all, get it all ready and set up for them.

 

9.  If you need passwords and user names to access a site then make sure of two things. 1 – that you have this information written down and accessible both for you and by your learners and 2 – that the account can be accessed multiple times.  Some sites its just a matter of having a unique password and user name for each learner (say a virtual world) but others may mean multiple people are accessing a single account.  If the latter is the case then you have to be sure that a single account with a single password and username can be accessed on several computers at the same time and that different work can then be accessed and saved at the same time.

 

10. Have it clear in your mind what you are asking your learners to do.  Finding your way to digital play may be easy but there is and always should be a language aim.  If you are asking them to do other things while they play the game (take notes, have an online dictionary, walkthrough or a word document open in another window) then make sure your learners are aware of this before you play the game and while they play the game.  Don’t let them simply be playing a fun activity without clear language aims.  I always say to myself if my boss and a learners parent were here would they be happy with what their child and their teacher was doing.  The answer should be ‘yes’.

Merry Quizmas

By kylemawer  |  2011/12/10 22:56 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (10)

It’s the run up to Christmas and one way to have fun, learn a little about Christmas and get some reading practice in is to do a class Christmas Quiz.  Here is a selection of 10 Christmas Quiz ideas to try out with your learners.  Remember – if they think they can do better than the ones on offer then either make one yourself using these to inspire you or even get your learners to make their own.

1 Christmas facts

Test your learners knowledge of Christmas with these ten questions.  You can either get them to write down their answer and pass it to the next person to mark (before returning it) and then take a class poll on what they think the right answer is.  I always throw out a few bonus points as they come to me.  After the question on the left I asked them to write down the names of the other reindeers, then looked them up online and gave out bonus points for each – it kept the game a little more exciting.

2 Around the World

If you liked the last Christmas Quiz then give this one a go too.  I think the questions are a little harder but if you think your learners are up for it then why not give it a go.  You can always play this quiz straight on the end of the last one if you are looking for a quiz with more than just 10 questions.  Play these two and you’ve doubled the amount of questions to 20.

3 Q’wick Q’westion Q’west

I don’t know how your multiple computer access situation is but when my learners are on a computer in pairs I’m lucky enough to have a large screen connected to a computer at the front of the class.  Learners told me where to click (moving from the reindeer towards the candy cane) and when they saw the question I gave them until the first pair said “next” to find the answer on the internet.  I then took the direction the pair that said next told me to take in the game.  This continued until we had finished.  If you want to be extra sneaky (and give slower ones a little more of a chance) then get learners to write the answer down.  You can then (sneakily) get them to write out questions to the answers they have written down at the end of the game.

 

4 CBBC Christmas Quizzes

The CBBC website has a few fun christmas quizzes up.  The nice thing about this page is that there are a few quizzes there for learners to work through autonomously on computers.  You can monitor and help with language (or even set an online dictionary for them to use) while learners take each quiz in turn.  Encourage them to make a note of how many points they score in each so that you can declare a winner at the end of the activity.

5 IWB Christmas Quiz

 

A downloadable interactive PowerPoint Quiz for Christmas from the people at tes. No searching questions here – just 15 multiple choice questions based around Santa, The Nativity and Traditions. Click on the correct answer and you’ll get a ‘Well Done’, but click on the incorrect answer and you’ll get a ‘Try Again’ for the opportunity to go back and have another go.

6 DIY Quizzes

Well sometimes it’s best just to do your own quiz so you can grade the language, add your own images and effects or simply so that it can be saved on a network computer for other teachers to use.  If this is the case then check out this website for a large list of Christmas questions and answers.  The site invites you to cut and paste but I find it’s a good idea to check their spelling and grade some of the language there for your own purposes.

7 More Merry Christmas Resources

 

This site has a mix of all the above.  There are interactive quizzes, ideas for questions with answers and explanations as well as video quizzes with audio.  It’s a bit like going to Santa’s grotto and having a lucky dip grab – you might be lucky and find something you really like here.

 8  Christmas Carols

If you are feeling extra adventurous then one idea might be to have a Christmas quiz that goes with Christmas Carols.  This quiz focusses on just that.  What would be great now is if you can find all these carols online on a video sharing site and play them while the question is up there.  Hey Presto!  You have a listening and reading activity.  Would be a great one to do but sadly I have two more ideas to come up with for this post so I’ll leave this one for you.

 

9 Triviapark Christmas Quiz

If you are not feeling so inspired to make your own Christmas Quizzes and you are simply looking for more to use in the connected classroom then here’s a nice little website.  There’s a novice level quiz as well as a regular level quiz, which is a little trickier, and also a more challenging expert level.  It’s worth making a note of the website too as there are a load of quizzes on all sorts of topics here.

 

10 PowerPoint Quizzes

There is some demand for downloadable PowerPoint quizzes that have already been made for you.  Here are some more.  A word of warning though – these have not been made with English language learners in mind so a little tweeking here and there may be needed.  Good luck!

Top Ten Halloween Dress Up Games

By kylemawer  |  2011/10/21 03:00 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (4)

Here’s a brief description of ten Halloween themed dress up/ monster creator games and a few suggestions on how to use them.  All these games were chosen to tie in with the Halloween theme of trick or treat and dressing up in costumes.  You can access them by either following the links or clicking on the image.

1  Make Your Monster

In a computer room get young learners (7 – 9 yrs) to make their own monsters and write the description for their monster. e.g.

My monster has got green ears and green hands.  He’s got a square blue body.  He’s got red eyes, a big grey nose and sharp yellow teeth.

Collect their descriptions in and correct them.  If you can save their monsters (screen capture) too that’s great.  Then next class you can hand out the descriptions randomly to other students (making sure no-one gets the one they wrote) and students reproduce the monster from the description.  Compare with the original monster picture if possible.

2  Goose Bumps

Again in a computer room with young learners (7 – 9 yrs), another way to use the language from the previous activity is to make a monster yourself, write out the description for it and dictate it to your learners.  They have to listen and reproduce the monster you are describing. e.g.

He’s got an orange head. He’s wearing a grey suit with a red bow tie.  He’s got big strong green arms.  He’s got very short legs and they are yellow.  He’s very ugly.

Check to see if any of the student’s monsters are different and ask students if they can say what is wrong using the target language.  Praise them if they get it right.

3 Make a Monster

Drag the body parts on the left onto the create area and manipulate each part with the controls below.  The controls here are a little more complicated and the game a little more complex so I use this game with older learners (9 – 11 yrs).  You can use the game to stimulate a writing a description activity.  Language can be a little more complicated and have a greater range. e.g.

My monster likes eating small children.  He doesn’t like tidying his room and on Saturdays he likes to watch horror films.  He sleeps in the day and goes out at night to scare people.

If you can’t save the monster using screen capture then get your learners to copy the monster into their notebooks.  Give them 5-10 minutes to do this copying from the computer screen.  they can colour it in or add other details at home.

 

4 Halloween Monster

Play the game yourself and write/ type it out and print a single copy of the description out.  Then go to the computer room and ask students to sit in pairs.  direct them to the website and tell them they have to make this picture and show them the printed description.  Put the description on a wall (blu-tac) and tell one student in the pair they have to come up, read and go and tell their partner the description.  When they can’t remember any more they have to come back and read the next part and go back to their partner and repeat.  After 5 minutes the pair change roles.  Here’s an example of a description:

There is a brown path leading to a very tall scary house.  There are five lights on in the house.  The monster is on the right of the house. He’s standing to the right of the path in the middle.  He’s got a pumpkin’s head.  He’s got two grey arms that are reaching out towards the path.  He’s wearing some very old brown trousers and old brown shoes.

When they’ve finished they can look at other pairs’ monsters and spot any differences.

5 Zombie Creator

 

This is good for a bit of collaborative gaming and speaking in a connected classroom.  Display the game on a central screen and choose the create-a-scene option.  Then encourage learners to dictate to you what to put in the scene.  You input language as it’s needed and encourage learners to repeat the language.  There is some quite select language that comes up so it may help to make a note of the language you expect to elicit and for learners to use. e.g. (see image on the left)

The skulls are flashing.           There is a ghost on the left.          They are in a wood with a moon.           There is a birthday cake.

The zombie on the left is coming out of the ground

As a follow up put learners in teams and they have to write down the scene remembering as much of the language as possible.  Encourage them to ask you how to spell words.

6 Halloween Fright Site

If you want a template for a halloween card then use this site.  There are a few designs using various costumes associated with halloween (skeleton, ghost, and a witch) along with a selection of different backgrounds.  You can choose to have the design coloured in by default or left in black or white.  Once learners have a finished design they can print it off.

  • If it’s in black and white do a collaborative open class colouring in dictation.
  • If you print off coloured in designs then get your learners to write a halloween recipe, story or poem.
This is one for the pre-teen girls.  Sometimes some of the other monster halloween dress up games don’t really have great appeal to the girls.  That’s not to say they don’t like playing dress up games – it’s just that they are not playing one which engages them. This dress up game is an alternative to use if you are doing a dress up activity that is being played to stimulate a writing activity. Some of the language that occurs includes:
Short/ long           stripey          shoulder length hair          wings          necklace           wand
Question forms anyone?  Play the game yourself so all your ghosts are dressed up in a variety of clothing.  In the classroom teach the necessary vocabulary by telling the class you have a picture of three ghosts wearing different colour clothes.  I then dictate the following:
There’s a green ghost, a baby ghost and a purple ghost.  They are wearing a hat and a cape.  They have got different coloured eyes and one of them is carrying a broom stick. 
You could ask them to underline the subject and the auxiliary and point out that inverting the two makes the question form.  They then have to ask questions about the ghosts.  When they’ve got the hang of this take them to a computer room, put them on the website and get them to continue but when they have an answer they should reproduce the scene on the computers.

This computer room relay dictation activity has a lesson plan for it posted on this blog already.  Just click on the link or picture to read all about it.  The language covered includes:

has got / is wearing

colour / clothes/ parts of the body

10 Funny Halloween

 Learners open up two internet explorer pages.  On the first one they have 5 minutes to create their character.  When the time limit is up pair two computers together.  Computer A goes to their second internet explorer page which is set to the beginning of the game. Computer B describes their character for Computer A to listen to and reproduce.  When they have finished they should compare and discuss the differences and count them up.  They then repeat but swap roles.  At the end decide which of the pair had the least differences.  Then decide which team in the whole class had the least differences.  Ask them if this is the result of them being good listeners or the others being the best describers.

 

10 more days to Halloween!

 

 

Top Ten Presentations on Gaming and Education

By kylemawer  |  2011/10/07 03:41 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (6)

Here’s a brief description of ten PowerPoint slides on gaming in education.  All these slide shows were chosen to influence, inspire and interest you the reader.  You can watch them by either following the links or clicking on the image.

1 Gaming For Education

 

A presentation on the why, which and how games can be used in the language learning classroom.  Several games are looked at including materials adapted specifically for skills and language work to be used in conjunction with the game.  If a few of the slides look familiar it’s because Graham Stanley is one of the authors of this blog.

2 Digital Educational Game: pedagogical design and development

This slideshow looks at the educational design of games as well as their value as educational tools.  They also outline a seven stage rapid game development model for anyone out there interested in developing their own educational game.

 

3  Creating Contexts for Language Learning in Gavinburn Primary School  

A look at how this Primary Class is hoping to increase pupil interest in computing science through project work on video games.  This is an attempt to introduce cross curricular ICT projects that are more fun and engaging.

 

4 3D Virtual Worlds for Language Learning

Avatar Languages is a language academy based and teaching within the virtual world called Second Life, which has the look and feel of a video game but without the goals and rules governing a video game.  in fact, the rules, aims and objectives have been very much left to people who populate the world.

 

5 Epic Win – Why Gaming is the Future of Learning

Jane McGonigal presents her argument for how the phenomena and popularity of gaming is quite natural and should be seen as quite positive if we are to move forward and achieve life’s goals in the modern connected world.

 

6 Computer Game Based Learning in Secondary Schools

A look at a video game based learning project conducted in Scotland.  The presentation makes the message that the methods they use are more relevant to the pupil’s worlds than other strategies employed within the traditional state educational system.

 

7 Video Games, Virtual Environments & Higher Education

A presentation on the pros and cons of adapting video games and virtual environments into higher education.  As well as promoting the benefits the presentation seeks to provide a balance by also considering the negative aspects associated with video games before reaching a conclusion.


8 How Games Mesh with Formal Education.

 

This Danish perspective presents the argument that we should use video games in education purely because of their monumentous presence within modern culture and their influence on other mainstream media.

 

9 Gamify Learning: Learning & Teaching Through Having Fun 

An asian viewpoint this time from Hong Kong University.  This looks at how video games have such a great appeal to young learners, the challenges inherent within video games and a closer look at how specific games can be used within the school curriculum to enhance learning.

 

10 Games in School Teacher Survey

A presentation form the Games in Schools Conference held in 2009 for the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.  This slideshow looks at the results of a survey amongst 528 teachers who were either using video games already or had not used them at all.  Expectations, obstacles and educational impact were just some of the areas looked at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Gaming Genres To Adapt In Class

By kylemawer  |  2011/05/13 05:13 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (1)

Here’s a brief description of ten gaming genres and some tips on how they can be used in the classroom.  All these games were chosen because they are popular with young language learners, engaging and fun.  You can read lesson ideas and plans on this blog by following the links.

1  Point and click

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/3832410200/

These games rely on you moving the cursor around the screen and clicking the mouse.  By printing off a written walkthrough or by using a video walkthrough, a large variety of language activities can be generated.   Try a relay dictation using either a written or video walkthrough or simply use either of them yourself to dictate game play.  Alternatively check out these games – the anti-bullying Dixie the Nerd, a selection of ten point-and-click games and their walkthroughs or Windosill.

2 Escape the room

A sub genre of point and click games where typically you have to find and possibly combine objects in a room or house to get out through a locked door.  As previously mentioned above, with a written walkthrough or a video walkthrough a large variety of language activities can be generated.  You could also get learners to write out their own walkthroughs as they play.  Alternatively check out these games – MOTAS, Kitchen Escape or the scary reader for the the zombie game I Remain.

3 Arcade

Arcade games generally rely on reaction speeds rather than logic or puzzle solving skills. Passing to the next stage usually means completing a simple task within a specific time limit. The next stage and subsequent stages usually require the player to complete the same task but with an increasing complexity or in a faster time. Language generated tends to be quite simple and repetitive.  Some of these games are great for drilling the language of directions (pacman), colours (sveerz) and spelling (Alphaattack and Type ‘em up).

4. Puzzle Games

These games tend to be quite abstract and typically involve arranging geometric forms to achieve a goal (e.g. Tetris). Puzzles usually involve solving rather simple problems. Problem solving games generally test a players awareness of patterns and/ or short term memory.  Language generated tends to be isolated to individual language items such as object vocabulary, instructions and prepositions.  Puzzle games include spookymatch or Orbox.  They are great games to play as a reward for good work or behaviour as they are generally over very quickly or can be paused and returned to later.

5 Strategy Games

This is a game in which the gamer is presented with a number of possible choices in game play which will effect how they progress in the game. Try the games stop disasters, 3rd world farmer or Age of Empires.  The first two provide a context for some interesting discussions when used in a classroom while the last one takes place over a longer time frame and provides writing practice and an opportunity for learners to report on the game and progress in class time.

6 Adventure Games

Adventure games are a sub genre of point and click games but usually differ in that the game has got strong narrative elements.  There is usually a central character, a storyline, objectives to be achieved, an enemy and an outcome at the end.  Games covered in this genre on this blog include Morningstar (a sci-fi story), The Miller Estate (a spooky mystery), Hetherdale ( a jungle adventure) and Avalon (a fantasy text based adventure game) to name just four.

7 Casual Games

These games are aimed at a mass audience of people who tend to play games on a casual basis.  These games have been brought into the news recently with their rise in popularity on social network sites such as facebook.  Games such as farmville, mafia wars, scrabble like game, word games and puzzles can all be included in this genre.  Why not ask your learners if they play any and if they play any in common then get them to describe and compare their game playing.  Here’s a list of 10 casual games on facebook.

8 Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs)

Is a computer role playing genre in which a massive number of players interact with one another within a fictional virtual world.  The player assumes the role and takes control of the actions of a fictional character.  There are a lot of MMORPGs out there but one we have looked at already on this blog is Astro Empires.  The most famous MMORPG is probably World of Warcraft.

9 Alternate Reality Games

Sometimes abbreviated to an ARG.  These games consist of an interactive narrative that is based in the real world.  Typically they often use multiple media and game elements, to establish a narrative that the gamer can affect by either contributing ideas or taking actions.  Two ARGs we’ve already looked at on this blog were Smokescreen and Urgent Evoke.  We have also done a spotlight on ARG developer Jane McGonigal.

10 Virtual Worlds

This is a computer based simulated environment which has a strong online community element.  A virtual world such as second life has generated a lot of interest in education.   Here is a post we did on a Robin Hood learning Quest in Second Life.



10 Websites to source online games

By kylemawer  |  2011/04/29 02:05 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (0)

Here’s a brief description of ten online gaming sites that have a range of possible games to adapt for use in the EFL classroom.  All these games were chosen because they are free, easily accessible, engaging and easily adaptable.  With each link there is a brief description and some advice on how to adapt the game content to the language learning classroom context.

1 Escape The Room GamesScreen shot 2010-06-02 at 12.51.26 AM

A lot of the escape games here take place in rooms within a house and so target a lot of vocabulary sets associated with furniture and household objects.  You can find walkthroughs for a lot of the games here by typing in:

“the name of the game” +walkthrough

in an online search engine.

Choose a fairly simple game for your learners to play. They can also open a word document and write down the instructions on how to complete the game.

2. Casual Girl Gamer

This is a blog that describes, reviews and links to free online games.  There are also articles about game developers.  This is a great site for finding not only fun games but also a great source for reading material.  Get learners to design their own scan reading activity.  Here are just three questions as an example:

What do you have to gain control of in ‘My little army’? (Myth balls)

How much does the Nintendo 3DS cost?($249 / £220)

Which Platformer game mentions a dessert? (Robot wants ice cream)

3. Jay Is Games

A nice website offering lots of different online games to play online and download.  Again lots of language in each games review for learners to read and extract gaming vocabulary, adjectives or just language they find interesting.  Use the navigation bar at the top to find your way around – don’t forget to bookmark the games you really like.

4. Daily Dress Up

A website dedicated to all manner of dress up games.  It’s also a great springboard to other sites if you can get round to checking out some of the links running down the left hand side.  Play one yourself and write the description for your learners to read and reproduce in the game.  Alternatively learners make their own, write a physical description, daily routines or a short story.

5.  Social Impact Games

If you would like to use games that aim to educate as well as entertain then this site is as good as any as a place to start looking.  We’ve posted a few of the games you’ll find here on the Digital Play blog (such as Third World Farmer) and no doubt continue to do so.  Using games with a real world message behind them are great for extracting vocabulary and then using as a discussion platform.

6. ks3Bitesize

The BBC are aiming games at schools here and many of them cover subjects such as English, maths and science.  The nice thing about this ks3 Bitesize is that you can be sure that both the site and the game content is young learner friendly.  Check them out and you may be in for a pleasant surprise.

7.  Gamershood

One of the earliest gaming websites I started using to find games to use in the classroom.  There’s certainly a lot of choice here and the games have been conveniently organised into genres such as room escape, point and click, adventure and over a dozen more.  There’s even a star rating for each so you can see before hand which are the most popular and the most fun.

8. Free Online GamesI’ve just looked up ‘online games’ on a search engine and this came up as the first link.  On first appearances it looks like there are a lot of games just calling for quick reflexes and not a lot of language but if you look a little further you’ll find a lot more games using the tags running down the right hand side of the page.  Interestingly enough I had this page up on an IWB and got quite a lot of language production from learners talking about what they could see, predicting the game content, discussing what kind of games they liked and so on.

9. Minijuegos

Unless you speak spanish or Italian then I wouldn’t go here as this site doesn’t have an English language option.  Why is it here then?  Well, you have to remember that for all the online searching you do you are probably forgetting your most valuable online tool – your learners.  If they play any online games then find out what they like (speaking practice) and maybe write a description down of what they’d like to see in class (writing).  You can tell them yourself what games you prefer to use (listening) and maybe even write a description down for them to take away with (reading) and find.  Get them to adapt a walkthrough to a game they like and bring it in to use in a future class.

10. Whitestick

A no frills website specialising in online text adventures.  There might be very little in the way of graphics but what is lacking in visuals in the selection here is more than made up for.  In text adventures the gamer reads the story and interacts with the narrative by typing in text commands.  There’s even a text to speech converter you can download so that the written text gets converted into spoken text.  Reading or listening practice – it’s your choice!

‘Incentive to work’ games

By kylemawer  |  2011/02/18 03:32 Posted in All Posts, Game Plan, Top Tens  |  Comments (4)

Playing an online game with your learners can be used as an incentive to get learners to do language work.  At the beginning of each academic year parents generally go out and buy their child’s coursebook and workbook that comes recommended by the school.  It’s no surprise then that the parents want to see their money being put to use with the coursebooks getting well thumbed and those workbooks being filled.  Now personally I can see their point here but I also have to weigh using the books like this alongside concepts such as ‘fun’, ‘engaging’ and ‘motivation’.  There’s not a lot of that when you’re standing there saying “open your books on page 34, please.  Do exercise 2 A and B . . .(dramatic pause and then like it’ll make a difference) . . . in pairs.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/umjanedoan/497374910/lightbox/

I’m sure you’ve all done it/ do it.  Tired?  Need some time to think?  Is it maybe a nice ‘quiet down’ activity?  Do your learners need to focus on a little writing and controlled practice? Are they learning? Peer teaching maybe?  Problem is learners tend to find these activities a bit boring and sometimes lack the motivation to do them or do them well.  Offering a little digital bribery can work wonders.  How?  I’ll tell you.  Offering the first student to finish a chance to have a go at a digital game can be a great way to get them focused on producing language and completing ‘book’ like exercises.  In this way ‘dong the book’ becomes a game in itself.

I’ve posted below a selection of ten online ‘incentive’ games (in no particular order) and a brief description on how to use them.

Rocket Escape is a simple arcade game where you have to control the direction and power of a jet pack to move your jumping rocket traveller from platform to platform.  Have this game open on a computer in the classroom.   Tell learners that the first one to bring you the correct answers to exercise 2B, for example, gets to move the rocket man to the next platform.  As learners come up tick the sentences that are right and tell them to go and sit down and look at and correct the sentences you haven’t ticked.  When a learner gets all the sentences right ask them to read them out to the class before having their go on the game.

Orbox is a puzzle game where you have to move the flashing light around the squares to the red exit without falling off the screen.  This is a great incentive for young learners to write out directions (turn left/ right, go up/down). Ask learners to work in pairs to write out the directions/ instructions for the game on the screen.  The first pair to finish shouts stop and reads out the instructions. As they read them out you play the game.  If they get it right go to the next screen and repeat.  If they get it wrong the flashing light falls off the screen and starts from the beginning.

Skyscraper parcours In this game you run across roof tops jumping from one to the other.  The more roofs you clear the faster you run.  This is a great incentive game for getting learners to write short sentences or produce short but complex sentences orally.  The game itself gets very difficult very quickly so its best that any language exercise you ask learners to do is fairly short to mirror the pace and duration of this addictive and adrenaline fuelled incentive game.

Solipskier is an unusual game in that you have to draw the ski course under the skiers feet as he goes along (using the mouse).  I’ve used this game after activities from the book that took a while to finish.  No other criteria other than that.  ”Ok you’ve finished the exercise.  We’ve done the corrections.  Now I think X did very well so they can play the game.”  I then try and spread my choices (over several classes) between the high achievers and the high tryers.  In this way I can reward effort as much as achievement.

Bowman is one the boys like, especially when it’s played between two players or the computer.  Why is it popular?  It involves a little gore (as much as stick man can be gory – i.e. there’s blood).  You click on the mouse to place an arrow, drag back on the mouse to draw the bow and release the mouse button to fire.  Hit the other bowman and see the blood flow.  This is a great activity to encourage short bursts of writing in between goes on the game.  It takes a few goes in the game to get some accuracy so make sure you get the most out of your learners in the meantime.

Fylde sounds simple enough, use the keyboard to move left and right to avoid the black squares.  It’s when the coloured squares appear that you start to get teleported up then down that it gets difficult.  I use this at the beginning of the class and let the two learners who have done the best homework play against each other.  Don’t forget to keep a record of the score for the next time you play. If they start to get too good you know they are practicing outside the class room and it’s time to change the game.

Grammar Ninja is my incentive to get my learners quiet, things tidied away and ready to leave at the end of the class.  If they don’t listen, mess about or take too long they just don’t get to play this.  the great thing is that the game is about identifying language elements in a sentence but in a fun way.  That means they enjoy it enough to want to play it but not that into it that if I want to interrupt it and send them on their way there aren’t too many complaints.  Great!

I live and work in Spain so it was nice to find a game such as Extreme Pamplona for my learners to play.  Run from the bull and jump over the obstacles in the fastest time possible.  Keep a note of learners’ best times in a book.  There are actually other stages to this game but I just stick to the first one (set in Spain) and challenge learners to beat the record of the the fastest to date.  When to play this?  well just for fun if the class has been good and a change in focus is required.

Shopping Cart Hero is short, sweet and fun.  To encourage learners more in pair work speaking activities I set up the activity and tell them I’ll walk by listening and let the two who do the best play the game.  Learners are more motivated in their speaking activities and I sometimes choose the weaker learners basing my choice on effort rather than attainment.  It’s nice to let learners know that effort is just as rewardable and a part of ‘doing well’ as attainment.

Guess how long and what you have to do in 10 second escape.  You have 10 seconds to find objects, solve the puzzle and escape the room.  I use this with higher levels after typical workbook fill the gaps exercises.  Only one thing – the game gets played by the learner who finishes exercises correctly first but so that the class doesn’t see the game the screen is turned away from the class.  When a learner finishes a stage they have twenty seconds to describe the game to the class.  This is so that the next learner who plays has an advantage in the game.

What makes a good ‘incentive to work game?  Games that:

  1. are turn based.
  2. have got no time limit.
  3. require quick reaction times.
  4. have a quickly increasing skill level.
  5. need only the mouse to interact with.
  6. are challenging to play.
  7. are fun to play and simple to look at.
  8. have easy to understand instructions and rules.
  9. can be paused and returned to with ease.
  10. have content appropriate for your learners.

10 Online Games with Walkthroughs

By kylemawer  |  2010/12/14 03:06 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (1)

Here’s a brief description of ten online games that have walkthroughs.  What is a walkthrough?  Text written by a gamer to help another gamer complete the game successfully.  All these games and walthroughs were chosen because they have proved popular with language learners, use language that is not too complicated or dense and are not to difficult to play.  You can use walkthroughs to provide a live listening (play dictation), a reading activity (on screen or as a relay dictation) or can be adapted to provide skills practice or a focus on a particular language item.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 10.08.06 AM1 Il Destino

The game

The walkthrough

Explore the car show room and find objects which interact with each other and solve puzzles in order to get the sports car out.  The game can be played in tandem with the walkthrough as a reading activity (along with an online dictionary to hand) or as a relay dictation in a computer room.  A popular game with juniors.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 10.25.00 AM2 Chronon

The game

The walkthrough

A complex game in which you have to pay particular attention to what time you set the clock.  You are a pet to a strange creature that lives underground.  You have to escape before the the creature gets home.

Works very well as a computer room activity with juniors working in pairs at a computer where one plays the game and the other oversees their playing with a copy of the walkthrough.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 10.23.13 AM3 Nesquik Quest

The game

The walkthrough

The style of graphics here make this a very suitable game for primaries.  Language content here focuses on both the vocabulary items that appear in the game and imperatives and prepositions.  This works well as a live listening in the computer room with the teacher using a single copy of the walkthrough to dictate the game play to learners .

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 10.25.42 AM4 Evolver

The game

The walkthrough

Visually fun looking game in which you have to solve puzzles in order for your monkey to pass through various stages of evolution until he becomes a primitive man.  Though this can be a little complicated at times, with the use of a walkthrough its possible to play this game in a connected classroom with learners suggesting possible courses of action to take in the game.  By using the walkthrough its possible for the teacher to know what comes yet and ‘guide’ the class towards the correct solution using hints and clues.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 10.48.38 AM5 A bark in the dark

The game

The walkthrough

Point and click game where you collect items, solve the problems and feed the dog.  A short game for the computer room.  Either conducted as a gaming dictation with the teacher using a walkthrough, a reading with the learners using two internet explorer windows to play the game and read the walkthrough on or as a relay dictation with a single copy of a walkthrough stuck up on the wall.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 11.36.41 AM6  The Blue Room

The game

The walkthrough

A short escape the room game that can either be done as a connected classroom activity.  Very good for generating basic vocabulary of the objects that appear in the game and prepositions of place.  Due to the simplicity of the game it can be used to stimulate a ‘write the walkthrough’ activity in open class.  Alternatively use it as a fast finishers activity in the computer room.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 11.18.23 AM7 Bodilies

The game

The walkthrough

Bodilies is a graphic adventure that features an elaborate audio-visual production and an engaging story.  Present this as a visual reader rather than a point and click game because although there is some interaction and puzzle solving elements this game’s strength lies in its written text.  Use with higher level teens as a computer room quiet reading activity.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 11.17.19 AM8 The Covert Front

The game

The walkthrough

Covert Front is a point and click spy game, where you become an agent code-named Kara and investigate the disappearance of general Karl.  Great used as a reading activity in the computer room for juniors or a relay dictation.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 11.32.15 AM9 Detective Grimoire

The game

The walkthrough

You play as Private Detective Grimoire himself in the game and you have to figure out who killed Hugh Everton. There is lots of reading practice in this game but also extensive elements of a point and click game with solving clues, discovering evidence, talking to witnesses and eventually solving the mystery.  Use with higher levels in the computer room with the walkthrough as something to use if learners get stuck in the game.

Screen shot 2010-05-03 at 11.31.23 AM10 Hapland II

The game

The walkthrough

This is one of the sequels to the point and click game Hapland which appeared in a post in this blog some time ago.  This version has a walkthrough  which uses screenshots which can be used to generate language.  Use this game in a connected classroom to elicit conditional phrases about what happens in the game.

Halloween – 10 activities for the computer room, connected classroom and classroom

By kylemawer  |  2010/10/11 03:10 Posted in All Posts, Top Tens  |  Comments (7)

Here’s a brief description of ten Halloween activities for your English Language Learners.  They require very little preparation and I’ve included some tips on how to use them.  All these games were chosen because they are free, easily accessible, engaging and fun for English Language Learners.

1  Dark wood Dark wood

Level Low Level Primary learners in a connected classroom

Play Read the story in your best scary voice and encourage your learners to join in.  When it comes to the ‘spot the cat’ bits in the game  get your learners to describe where the cat is or build dialogues between you and the class:

“Is it under the tree?”              “No!”

“Is it behind the tree?”            “No!”

“Is it in the tree?”                   “YEAH!”

pumpkin carving2     Pumpkin carving

Level Low Level Primary learners in a connected classroom

Play Why not drill the language of giving directions (“up, down,  left,  right and stop”) in a fun way.  Carve an online pumpkin blind man’s bluff style.  Blind fold a learner who listens to their classmates instruct them on how to carve the pumpkin.  The class can rate their classmates pumpkins out of ten after each learner has taken their turn.   Declare the winner/s at the end of the activity.

3 HammerweenGhost Hunter

Level Any Level Primary or Juniors in a connected classroom.

Play Do you award points in class as a way of maintaining discipline?  Well what do points make? Prizes?  How about points make seconds  which they play a game?  In one really difficult class I  gave points for everything – the person who opens their books on the right page, whoever completed the exercise first and whoever got the answers right.  Points for just using basic classroom language.  I took points away just as quickly – last to open their book, not listening and not working on their exercises.  At the end of the class, count up individual’s points, convert into seconds and let the highest scorers play first.  The learners to score the highest in the game get to leave the class first.

Funny Halloween

4 Funny Halloween

Level Intermediate Juniors in a computer room

Play Done that unit from the book on clothes?  Then why not set a writing activity using a game.  As learners play this game they write down the description of what their character is wearing.  Each Learner then swaps descriptions with another learner and try to reproduce the character’s costume.  The learner who wrote the description can then judge the reproduction saying what differences there are between the reproduction and the original.

5 Garfield Scavenger HuntGarfield scavenger hunt

Level Intermediate and above Juniors in a computer room.

Preparation Print a copy of the walkthrough

Play Do a relay dictation using the game’s walkthrough and the game itself.  Blu-tac the walkthrough to the door in the computer room.  Learners can now take it in turns to go to the walkthrough, read and return to their ‘ game playing’ partner and relay the walkthrough information that they remember.    Learners  swap after 3 minutes.  Encourage them to ask you to define difficult vocabulary.

Halloween word search

6 Halloween wordsearch

Level Any Level Primary or Junior learners in a computer room.

Play This is a fun vocabulary activity.  Learners note down the vocabulary and when they return to the classroom they can make a Halloween poster using the new vocabulary items for inspiration.  Ask about what they are drawing as you monitor and take an interest in what they are doing. Finally, Learners label the objects they drew on the poster.

7 Trick or Treat BearTrick or Treat Bear

Level Upper Intermediate Juniors or seniors in a classroom

Preparation Print a copy of the ‘Too many clicks spoil the walkthrough‘ for each  learner.

Pre-Play Learners read the walkthrough and ask teacher about/ look up in a dictionary any of the difficult language.  Learners work in pairs to identify and cross out the repetitive language (verbs) and add a range of different verbs.   They should also expand on any of the text (e.g adding articles) when possible.

Play Learners play the game for homework using their expanded walkthrough.  They should make any changes they feel is appropriate or that makes the walkthrough better.  Next class discuss and compare the changes they made to their walkthroughs at home.

Halloween escape

8 Halloween Escape

Level Intermediate and above Seniors in a computer room

Preparation Play the game yourself using the walkthrough to assess whether the content of this game is appropriate for your learners.

Play Learners play the game in order to create and write down their own walkthrough.  As they play they should write down where and what they did in each location.  Monitor, input language and make sure that walkthrough is being written.  If learners are playing the game and not doing the activity then they have to start the game again.

9  Trick or Treat Adventure QuestTrick or Treat

Level Upper Intermediate Seniors in a computer room.

Preparation Print a copy of the walkthrough for yourself.

Play This is like a ‘picture dictation’ but more a ‘play dictation’.  Using the walkthrough dictate to your class how to do the game.  Monitor their screens to check on their progress and encourage them to ask questions to clarify any difficult language points.

Spelloween

10 Spelloween

Level Advanced Seniors in a computer room

Play Looking for a quick word building activity for your advanced learners? Then this is a nice little warmer.  Learners play individually or in pairs and when they have finished they compare their score with other the groups.  The highest scorer wins.  As a follow up activity in the classroom, how many can they remember and write down?  Check their spelling and can they describe the meaning of the words to the class?

Notes

Primaries are aged between 7 – 11 years old, Juniors 11 – 14 and Senior 14+.

Computer room = a room with enough computers stations (with an internet connection) for two learners to a computer.

Connected classroom = A classroom equipped with a computer station (with an internet connection and possibly a data projector  or electronic whiteboard).

Classroom = You, your learners, writing materials and printed worksheets and a Whiteboard/ blackboard.