Tag Archives: ELT

EVOKE – Edugaming Online

EVOKE is an online Alternate Reality Game (ARG) run by the World Bank Institute and directed by Jane McGonigal.  It begins on March 3 2010 and requires gamers to complete ten game challenges over a ten week period.  If you want to reserve a place then do so now. An EVOKE is defined as an [...]

Discussion Topic #2 – Border Country

Level: Advanced Topic: Border Country Speaking  Focus: Expressing opinions Time: 30 – 45 minutes Game: Against all odds Preparation You also need to go through a few steps after entering the site before you can get to play the game.  The steps are: 1) Click on Open in full screen. 2) Click on Play against [...]

Discussion Topics #1 – War and Conflict

Level: Advanced Topic: War & Conflict Speaking  Focus: Expressing opinions Time: 30 – 45 minutes Game: Against all odds Against All Odds is an online video game developed by UNHCR designed to teach players about the plight of refugees.  This first episode entitled ‘War and conflict’ looks at the problems faced by dissidents within a [...]

Storytelling – How important is it in a videogame?

Here’s a video about whether it is important for games to have a good story Suggestions on how to use it Ask your learners to think about games they know and their stories – Are the stories important? Could they be better? Get the learners to tell each other a story from a game to [...]

A split screen communication activity

One learner watches a video of the game being completed and relays the information to their partner who plays the game. Level: Intermediate+ Topic: Kitchen vocabulary Speaking Focus: Describing things in a kitchen Time: 30 minutes Game: The Great Kitchen Escape The Great kitchen escape game is a great ‘ecape the room’ game which comes [...]

Spot the difference relay writing race

Level: Intermediate+ Topic: Describing pictures Language Focus: Prepositions of place Time: 20 – 30 minutes Game: Cold window Opening screenshot to Cold Window Preparation Cut up some pieces of recycled paper into strips.  These will be used by your learners to write sentences on. Playing In a connected classroom, learners play in pairs or in [...]

A game practising ‘should’ – Tomb of the Mummy I

The Tomb of the Mummy I is a very difficult puzzle game. Because of its difficulty, it’s ideal to use it with an upper intermediate – advanced  class in a connected classroom (i.e. one with a computer & a data projector or IWB) and to use it to generate language used for hypothesis (should, conditionals, [...]

An annotated game for reading and playing

Level: Pre-intermediate Time: 30 minutes Preparation: Just before the class goes into the computer room open up two internet explorer windows.  On one window get the game ‘Hamster rescue’ ready so it’s ready to start.  In the other window open up a copy of the annotated walkthrough. Be prepared to show the class the opening [...]

Which Adjective are you?

Here’s a brief description of ten fun personality tests 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. Learners answer the test tasks to find out [...]

Add a little colour to class with Grafitti Creator

Click here for the website. Here’s a brief description of ten uses of an online grafitti creator 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) Project [...]