Skills Focus: Reading

Location: Computer room (multiple computers)

Game: Rizzoli and Isles

If I ever ask teachers if there’s a game that they would want to use in class that’s based on a specific theme the most common answer is crime or a detective based game – so here’s one right here.  There’s even a nice little tutorial at the beginning which your learners can read.  It tells you how to play the game.  Here’s the first one:

 It’s basically a point and click game – you point your mouse on various parts of the screen and click to see if you get some information in your role as a detective.

Note it is a homicide you are investigating so be aware there are some scenes that are inappropriate for a younger audience.  For instance, you have to view the scene of the crime and so you not only get to see the murder victim but you have to collect evidence from the body.  However, if you’d like to judge this game for yourself and see the content of the game you can always take a look at the video walkthrough that is at the bottom of this post.

The screen shots here are all taken from the tutorial at the beginning of the game.  This will not only give you an idea of the level of language in the game but will also give you an idea of what to expect in the game.  Of course, these will all be read by your learners too.

To orientate learners towards the game I took some of the language items from the tutorial and got them to do a little bit of dictionary detective work and find out their meanings.  Basically, it was way to preteaching some of the game’s vocabulary, orientate learners towards the language task (we switched to an online dictionary) and introduce the game itself via the tutorial.

Here’s the vocabulary we did before the game:

There’s a bit of jumping about in this game.  As you solve clues and progress, different locations become available to you.  You start at the crime scene where you collect evidence and talk to the police officers on the crime scene and the building supervisor who’s office is next door.  I say talk but what you in fact do is read what they say, choose from a short list what you say and see where that takes you in the conversation.  A little simple but, hey!  It is reading practice.

While you do move around a few different locations you do have to keep going back to your office.  Your office is not only the place where you collect all your evidence, arrange it and make connections but there’s also the forensic department which you have to go and talk to.

Your notice board (pictured above) is a click away from your desk and you drag and drop the evidence you collect onto it and, as the game progresses, continue to move them around so that they begin to join up.  This in turn gives you more ideas on where to look and impresses your boss so that they can direct you to more locations and more clues.

I have to admit having played the game myself with a class this moving clues around the notice board can prove a little tiresome and it’s a good idea to have the video walkthrough on hand to give learners a little bit of extra help.  Either go and have a look yourself and call out what they need to do next and invite them to go up and have a look at it.  I generally don’t let them have too easy an access to the walkthrough (like on their computer in a different window) as they tend to overuse it.

I think I’ve already mentioned the desk, haven’t I? I also mentioned the bulletin board but reading back on this blog post I’ve called it a notice board.  I made this mistake in class and it did create a little bit of confusion but strangely enough generated some quite spontaneous and natural English.  Basically I got told off by my students, got involved in a semantical arguement which even if I didn’t really win I felt that by getting so much language out of them was a victory in itself.

Notice how ‘bulletin board’ is on my preteach vocabulary list (above).  Yep!  I learnt my lesson and by the time I got round to using the game with another class I was calling it ‘the bulletin board’.  However, I did feel that by skipping over calling it a ‘notice board’ we were missing out so subsequently I threw it back in and, you’ll be glad to hear, feel much better.  I have, rather unfortunately, never had that same level of “discussion” as I had the first time.  I feel rather nostalgic about it now.

Anyway, I’m waffling.  Either play the game yourself or watch the video walkthrough.  Here’s the link to watch it:

Rizzoli and Isles

Location: Computer room

Skills Focus: Reading

Game: Tanooky Tracks

A Tanooky is a playful but mischievous spirit that likes to possess objects that most resemble its unique personality the most.  In this game you have to find and collect the objects associated with each of the 12 Tanookies in order to find them.  Why?  Because they are getting up to too much mischief.  If you can find them you are helping the occupants of the house, who are being terrorised by the Tanooky presence in their home, get rid of them (see left).

Luckily in the game there is a nice little hint book (see below) that tells you about each Tanooky and points you in the right direction as well as clues as to what objects to look for.   You can see where to click to read the hint book at the bottom of the house on the left.  You can click on this at any point while you are playing the game.  The clues and hints on each Tanooky consists of a riddle and some visual puzzles to mix it up a little.  If you look at the back of this book there are even more hints in case you are really stuck.

The nice thing about this game is that not only is it a visually attractive game with written text to support it but you can also choose to start with which ever Tanooky you like (of course, your learners don’t get to choose the order – you do!). That is, you can deal with them in any particular order.  I like this because sometimes when you have lots of learners playing the same game they can cheat by asking for / giving help using their own native language.  Because this game allows the teacher to dictate the order in which they take down each Tanooky.  Groups of learners will generally be playing the game at a different point.

The teacher can use a walkthrough as they monitor to ask learners guiding questions and help them solve the trickier riddles in the hint book.  Digital Play provides you here with links to the game, the walkthrough and a worksheet.  The latter is for the  learners which gives both extra help (if they need it) on solving the riddles and sets the order for each group to play the game.

Here’s the lesson plan:

Preparation

Print off a copy of the walkthrough and worksheet.  Cut the worksheet cards out (there’s a double copy in case groups overlap and need to look for the same Tanooky).

Pre-Play

1. Hangman ‘Tanooky’.  Ask them what this means.  They won’t know so read them the explanation from the first line of this blog.  Tell them a bit about the game too if you like.
2. Divide the class into 3, 4, 6 0r 12 groups depending on how you will organise them on the computers.  Deal the cut up worksheet equally amongst the groups.  Tell the groups to read the pieces of paper and make notes in their notebooks.  Their notes should include the name of the the spirit and any answers they might like to guess at.
3. Collect back all the cut up worksheet cards.
4. Go to the computer room.  Learners take their notes with them.

Play

1. Learners find the game online and play the tutorial.
2. They then take one of the worksheet cards and find that Tanooky spirit in the game.
3. When they have solved that worksheet card they can get a different worksheet card.
4. When one group has found all the tanooky spirits stop the game.

Post Play

1. If learners didn’t finish the game they can complete it at home.  The game, walkthrough and worksheet can all be found here.
2. They can look at the house in the game and invent their own tanooky spirit.  They describe it and explain what objects it’s connected to, how to find it and write a riddle.

If you can think of any other spin off activities you could do with this game then please feel free to tell us all about it in comments.

1  Point and click

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.

Topic:  Jungle adventure

Language skill: Reading and online dictionary work

Game: Hetherdale the game Hetherdale the walkthrough

There is a mystery to solve and its your job as intrepid explorer Dr. Montrose to solve it.  Play the game as you read the story and find out the mystery surrounding the secret jungle city of Hetherdale.

Preparation

1. If you can show the video introduction in class and brainstorm a few ideas on what they think the story is about and what they think they will need to do in the game.
2. Tell them they are going to go online and use three internet explorer windows to 1) play a game using 2) a walkthrough and 3) an online dictionary when necessary.
3. What English words do they predict will be in the walkthrough.  What words do they predict that they don’t know the word in English for.  Get them to explain them to you to translate and write up on a board.

Preplay

In the computer room get them to open three internet explorer windows and direct them to this site.

They can use the links above the picture here to 1) play the game 2) find a walkthrough and for 3) they should find an online dictionary to use.  Ask them if they know any good ones.

Play

They can then play the game using the three internet explorer windows.  Your role is to monitor, help with language and make sure that each learner gets a turn to use the mouse to play the game.

Post Play

If they don’t complete the game in class then set it for homework.  It’s a bit risky to hope to continue the game next class.  Some learners may well go home and complete the game without you telling them to or not.  Next class you can ask learners to explain the story to you.  You can ask about:

Who was in it?

What part did they play in the game?

What locations were there?

What happened at each location?

What were the most difficult parts?

Was it a good story?  etc

Location: Computer room

Skills Focus: Live listening

Language Focus: It’s something you use to + verb / for + gerund

Game: Mystery of Time and Space (MOTAS)

This game was probably one of the first point-and-click games I used with a class and many consider it a classic ‘escape the room game’.  It has got over a hundred rooms in which you have to find objects, work out puzzles and escape from the room.  What’s nice about this game is that if you hover your mouse over the objects in a room it is annotated (see below).  This is worth pointing out to your learners at a very early stage.

The pre-gaming activity below orientates learners to the annotation function within MOTAS.   You need to do this in a connected classroom before moving to a computer room.

Preparation

Print off a copy of the MOTAS walkthrough (rooms 1-8) or use an electronic copy of the MOTAS walkthrough (rooms 1-21) or the MOTAS video walkthrough (rooms 1- 5) to ‘dictate’ the game play to your learners.

Pre-Play

1. Present the game to the class and show them the first room.
2. Tell them they have 2 minutes to write down the name of as many objects as possible that they can see on the screen (whether they may use dictionaries is up to you).
3. When they have finished ask them to swap lists with another group.
4. Tell them that they get 2 points if the name of the object appears on the screen and 1 point if you accept it.
5. Move your cursor over each object on the screen.  Learners give 2 points if the object name appears.
6. Add up the marks and hand the list back to the original group.
7. Groups can now argue over the 1 point score words on their list e.g. ‘Locker’ is annotated but you can give 1 point if they say ‘cupboard’

Play

1. In a computer room tell learners they have to listen to you tell them how to escape.  The first one out the room and says stop gets 1 point.
2. They have to either find the annotation to find an object or ask you to describe the object to them e.g. Learner: “What’s a pillow?” Teacher: “You use it to put your head on when you go to sleep.”
3. Use a copy of the walkthrough or the video walkthrough to dictate to your learners how they should complete the game.

Post Play

As learners to write down some of the objects they remember from the game and to write a definition for the objects using the grammar:

It’s an object you use to + bare infinitive

It’s an object you use for + gerund

Alternative activity

Instead of doing a live listening activity or gaming dictation you could give learners a reading in which they have to sequence jumbled walkthrough sentences by playing the game in the computer room.

If you would like to try this why not download a copy of the MOTAS Sequencing Activity and make enough copies for each group in your computer room.

Topic: Christmas

Focus: Christmas vocabulary

Time: 30 – 45 minutes

Game: Junior’s Christmas

Junior wants to get a present from Father Christmas but there are a few things getting in his way.

screenshot of Juniors Christmas

 Key Language: Carpet, cookie jar, key, hug, cupboard, knock, feather, wing, box, tail, elf, tickle, window,  bird house, hammer, ribbon, scissors, shelf, plate, bird seed, lever, nest,

Preparation: Connected classroom or computer room. One printed copy of Junior’s Christmas activity worksheet for each learner. One photocopy of Teacher’s notes with  walkthrough.

Pre-gaming

Hand out a copy of Junior’s Christmas activity worksheet to each learner.  Tell them to read exercise 1 and ask them if they understand all the words.  Show the game to the class and ask them to watch the opening sequence of the game and answer the questions in exercise 1.  The opening sequence is like a short video and shouldn’t be skipped.  As long as ‘skip’ at the bottom isn’t pressed you will see the kids stand in line and get seen by Father Christmas.  The sequence will stop when Junior reaches the front.  The game then Feedback and then do exercise 2.  Alternatively, before doing exercise 2 you could brainstorm vocabulary which can be seen in the game.

Playing

In the computer room, learners work in pairs playing the game.  Tell them they can start the game without watching the first part by clicking on the word ‘skip’ at the bottom of the game.  Learners use the sentences in exercise 3 to complete the game.  As they play they match the sentences on the left with the sentences on the right.

Post-gaming

In the classroom feedback on the answers and discuss the answers to exercise 4 in open class.

Topic: Vocabulary within the game Hapland

Listening Focus: Instructions & directions

Time: 20 – 30 minutes

Game: Hapland

Screenshot of the game Hapland (what you see is what you get)

Hapland is a point and click game which takes place over the space of one screen.  Basically, in the screenshot above you can see the whole game.  The object of the game is to get the stick man, who you can see in the cave by the light, out of the cave and through the door which is on the other side of the door in the cave.  Of course you have to do a lot of complicated things in between to get him there but that means there is a lot of explaining to do and therefore a lot of language.

Preparation

Print off a copy of the walkthrough and familiarise yourself with the game by playing it a few times.  There are a few screenshots of each stage of the game to help you.

Playing

In the computer room use the walkthrough to guide your learners through the game.  Most of the language production will be done by you so essentially this is a listening.  However, because this is live it does allow the opportunity for learners to interect with the teacher and vice versa.  For an idea of how to conduct this activity, have a look at this Hapland tapescript of the Hapland live listening activity between myself and an English learner.  I try to be as natural as possible and ask occasional questions to check comprehension, recycle vocabulary and get the learner to describe a little about what’s happening in the game.

Post-Playing

Back in class you can ask the learners:

1) what new vocabulary they learnt and ask them to write them on the board, correct spelling and then copy into a gaming dictionary.

2) Show learners or give out a Hapland screenshot and ask learners in pairs to take it in turns to explain how they completed the game.

3) Ask your learners to write out the walkthrough using the the new vocabulary.

Language: descriptions of people, relative clauses and the difference between first and second conditionals. This game is also a very rich source of vocabulary that you can either pre-teach the learners or deal with as you go along.

Preparing to Play

1) Ask the learners if they like travelling by public transport – what disadvantages are there?

2) Write this on the board:

What would you do if you found yourself crammed into a particularly busy tube train carriage?

Next, show the learners the following image (the easiest way is to start the game)

Ask them to describe the people and identify the potential problems they might cause

Game Plan:

The carriage is too busy – it would be better if someone left. But who would you like to get rid of first? And why? The options are:

• The man blowing the party blower who is carrying the ghetto blaster
• The bald-headed man who has the sweaty armpits
• The backpacker who’s carrying the heavy rucksack
• The small child who is holding the fizzy drink
• The tall man in the suit with the red nose who’s got a cold
• The plump ginger-haired man who’s carrying lots of food
• The goth with the red sun-glasses who has a pigeon on his head

Once the learners have given their ideas, ask them to guess the answer to the following questions

• What would happen if I hit the balloon? (correct answer: it would bounce off the wall)
• What would happen if I nudge the backpacker?

After their ideas for each action, carry it out and then check with them what they saw. Now, once they know what happens, ask the students to confirm what they have seen? (So, what happened when I nudged the backpacker?)

• What’s in the backpacker’s trouser pocket? (bubble gum)
  
• What would happen if I gave some to the little boy?
• What would happen if I gave more to the boy?
  

Now, which person is bothering me the most? (The man eating the crisps)

And what happened when the boy left? (a little dog came in)

• What would happen if I gave the dog one of the man’s crisps? (it would want more)
• What would happen if I continue feeding the dog? (It would try to eat them all and the man with the crisps would have to leave)

Now who’s the problem? (the bald man with the sweaty armpits)

And what happened when the door opened? (a spider came in)

• What should I do now? Why? (Push the spider. Because the bald man is afraid of spiders)
• What would happen if I hit the balloon now?

What happened when the bald man left screaming from the carriage? Who came in? ( A nun, a strange man wearing a hat and a bat) What is sticking out of the man’s hat and jacket? (twigs)

• What would happen if the pigeon took the twigs? (it would start to build a nest)
• What’s going to happen when the bird finishes building a nest?

What happened when the pigeon finished building a nest? What’s left of the pigeon? (a feather)

Who’s the most irritating person in the carriage now? Why?

• What would happen if I tickled the man’s nose with a feather?

Now, what’s different?

• What has the man in the hat got in his pocket? (a cricket bat)
• What would happen if the goth had a music cassette?
• What would happen if I hit the bat while the goth was singing?
• What would happen if I hit the ghetto blaster out of the carriage at the next station?

Now who’s the most annoying person?

• What would happen if the two men really saw each other? (tug on the trouser pocket of the man with the cold to find out)

Now, who’s the last person I have to deal with? (a health fanatic)

What’s that on the floor of the carriage? (a lunchbox)

• What would happen if the health fanatic were given some sandwiches?

THE END

Follow-up

After the game has finished, restart it and ask the learners to remember and write as many of the questions you asked them earlier, but to write them using the first conditional (e.g. What happens if I hit the balloon? etc.) – you can tell them that you have to use the first conditional now because they know the answers and this is what happens every time you do this (= now there’s no hypothesis).

Once they have finished, you can get them to ask their partner and see how many of them they can answer. Finally, check the answers by going through the game again.

Extension / Homework

Ask them to write what happened in the game as a narrative: Last Thursday I was on my way home and decided to take the Tube…

Topic: Doing a crossword/ Using a dictionary.

Focus: Vocabulary in an online game walkthrough.

Time: 1 hour/ 1.5 hours

Preparation: Download a copy of the walkthrough for yourself and a copy of the crossword and crossword clues for each pair of learners.

Game: Blue Beanie A young ghost has his blue beanie hat stolen by a big bird and has to set off on an adventure to get it back.

Opening screenshot from Blue Beanie

This activity is designed for dictionary work and focuses on vocabulary items found within the Blue Beanie game walkthrough.  Decide if you wish your learners to use printed dictionaries in the classroom to complete the crosswords or use online dictionaries in the computer room to complete the crossword.  Either choice means that a valuable language learner skill is being practiced.  If you choose to use online dictionaries it may be a good idea to chat with your learners and find out what they know about online dictionaries.  You may learn something yourself and also acquire a list of possible online dictionary web addresses that you can use and your learners are already familiar with.

Pre gaming activity

Explain to the class that they are going to play a game.  If you have a screenshot of the game show them what the game looks like and ask them what they think  the game is about and what they will have to do.  Tell them that there are a lot of difficult words in the game so before they play they are going to do some dictionary work to complete a crossword.  Show them a copy of a crossword and ask the class how to do a crossword.  Hand out a copy of the  crossword and crossword clues to each pair of learners.  One learner is responsible for reading the clues and writing the answers and the other learner is responsible for looking the word up in a dictionary (online in a computer room or in a printed copy in the classroom).  The learners complete the crossword.

Gaming activity

Direct your learners to the game and tell them they are going to play the game and check their answers to the crossword.  They will have to listen to you to complete the game.  You can then use a walkthrough in two different ways.

1  Using the copy of the walkthrough you printed off for yourself, dictate to your learners how to complete the game.  They listen and play the game.   If a learner has any language difficulties that were covered by the crossword then refer them to that.

2 Using an online walkthrough your learners can open two internet explorer windows.  One to play the game on and the other to read the walkthrough from.   Learners play the game and use the crossword and clues as a referrence to any of the vocabulary they have difficulty with.

Learners need to understand the vocabulary items in the crossword in order to play the game.  This is because in the game you have to click on the right vocabulary items in order to successfully complete the game.  Playing the game not only tests their understanding of the vocabulary items but seeing the objects also helps them to remember the vocabulary.

Homework

You could ask your learners to find a short point and click game and write their own crossword using an online crossword generator.  Rather than encourage endless hours of game playing which learners can tell their parents “my English teacher told me to do it!”, why not have a list of short games from which your learners can choose?  A list of games providing links to the games and their walkthroughs can be found here.

The Game

You are a robot and you find yourself in a scrap yard and you need to get back to the city.  First of all you need to put your body back together and then solve various puzzles en route back to robot city.  The Puzzles can be difficult to solve and a walkthrough makes things a lot easier . . .

Preparation

Print a copy of the walkthrough gap fill activity (either a copy for each learner or a copy for each pair) as well as the walkthrough.  The walkthrough tells you how to complete the game.  For instance the first thing you have to do in the game is:

Make the bathtub disappear and then get the torso to jump down (just click it!)

Spot the phrasal verb?  Gap it out and you have the start of a gap fill activity that focuses on phrasal verbs:

Make the bathtub disappear and then get the torso to __________ (just click it!)

Pre gaming

Hand out walkthrough gap fill in class and ask them to read the phrasal verbs at the top.  Do they understand them all?  Remember that most of them involve verbs of action and a preposition so you may find miming them a little easier than explaining.

Tell them they have 10 minutes to read the walkthrough gap fill and to guess which phrasal verbs may go in the space.  Point out that the asterisk means that the phrasal verb can be separated.  That is, the object goes between the verb and the particle.  Without seeing the phrasal verbs in context this is quite a hard activity.  This activity is more to orientate your learners and to get a general understanding rather than to complete the gaps.  Encourage them to discuss what might go in the spaces.  If they want to write then they should use a pencil.

Gaming

Learners take their walkthrough gap fill to the computer room and use it to play the game and complete the puzzles.  By playing the game they can more clearly see the context in which the phrasal verbs are used.

Post gaming

When you are back in class feedback on the answers.  At times you may find that learners’ answers differ from the master copy walkthrough. Discuss any differences and decide if they are ok or not.  You may wish to do a follow up activity on the phrasal verbs, looking at the different types (see activity sheet II)

Homework

Ask your learners to find a short walkthrough to a game and add some of the phrasal verbs they saw in the class today.

About the game Machinarium

This walkthrough is not for the complete game but it does cover the three levels you can play for free on the internet.  When you have played the game using the walkthrough this is the end of the demo and if you want to play more you have to pay for the full version.  The full version of Machinarium costs 12.99 €. You may be able to convince your school to purchase the full version.  You can then adapt a full version walkthrough for use in the class.  Check our website for more ideas on how to use a walkthrough.