Similar in concept to a Tamagotchi, but on the Web, it can be used in the young learner language classroom successfully, but the teacher has to be careful because not everything in the game lends itself to language learning or practice. When I started using the site I also found that Moshi Monsters quickly became the only thing my 9-10 year-olds would ask for, so I decided to limit our use to ten minutes and during a specific section of the class (just after the break).

Moshi Monsters works well in the Primary language class, especially if you have a connected classroom (i.e. a computer with Internet and a projector) and is best used if it forms a regular part of the class routine.

You can set up the account with the class, choose from one of four monsters and give the creature a name – all of this works very well when done with the class as it helps create a sense of ownership and it’s a great way to promote a spoken discussion.

Just like the Tamagotchi, your Moshi monster needs regular attention or the mood will turn sour (as in the picture above – now the class is over, nobody is looking after poor Panchito!) and so be warned. When I first started using the site, I only logged in during classtime and this meant our mosnter was always sad or grumpy, which affected the mood of the class, and meant that it was difficult to increase his level. I fixed this by giving the password to the learners, so they were able to look after the monster during the week. This went well for a while until most of the learners ended up creating their own Moshi monster.

The Moshi monsters world (left) is full of interesting places to visit, with shops where you can buy food, furniture and clothes. Most of the places you can visit with your learners, but there are a few areas that are only open to premium (i.e. paid) members. However, these can easily be avoided.

Apart from talking about the monster, making sure he/she is happy, buying food, eating, shopping, and visiting places, there are a number of activities that are worth doing and which include language practice.

The first of these involves making new friends. You can ask anyone you meet for friendship, visit their house and leave notes on their pinboard. This means you can involve the learners in writing as in the example (left).

If the learners in the class end up getting their own monsters, then you can make friends with them, visit their homes and send notes to them, which is what I ended up doing in my class.

It is worth mentioning that You may have to talk to the parents of the students to explain why you are doing this.

Moshi Monsters offers an interesting combination of games and education.  The best of the games is found at the Hall of Puzzles (below), where you can choose from a variety of puzzle games to play. Winning puzzles earns virtual rewards called Rox, which you can use in the shops. It’s also a way of increasing the good mood of the virtual monster.

Most of the puzzles of the day require knowledge of language to complete (such as the one on the left), and apart from the puzzle of the day, you can choose other ones to play too, which allow for more practice about colours, numbers, the alphabet, shapes, etc.

In summary, Moshi Monsters makes for a fun addition to any Primary classroom and offers a safe environment for your young learners to interact with each other (if you encourage them to open their own accounts), allowing for a fun and interesting extension of the classroom.

The look and feel of this community is cute and will appeal to young learners from about 4 or 5 years old up to 10 or 11. Pre-teens will probably find the look and feel too childish.

Location: Connected classroom

Skills focus: Speaking.

Game: Dot-to-dot

This is a nice little warmer that practices numbers and vocabulary.

Preparation

Choose one of the dot to dots pictures and have it up on the board before your learners come into the class.  It’s a good idea to remember what the picture title is but keep it secret from the class so if you make a note of it remember to keep it out of sight.

I usually play this after the register and at times after I’d checked the homework.  I then chose a student from the class and explained why I’d chosen them e.g.

They have done the homework very well.

They were paying attention when I took the register.

They were very quiet.

They got a difficult question right.

They are being very helpful.

It’s great if you can catch some of the less likely candidates being good and give them a chance to play first too.

Play

1. The play rules get more complicated each time we play dot to dot.  In fact a new rule gets introduced each class.  So, the first time we play rule 1 is in effect.  The next time rule 1 and 2 is in effect and the next day 1, 2 and 3 etc.
2. The volunteer calls out the numbers and you connect them up.
3. The first person to put their hand up and correctly identifies the dot to dot object calls out the number next time (make a note in your register).
4. The first person to put their hand up and say a word / item of vocabulary that is in the picture, takes over saying the numbers. e.g. in the ‘Jerry’ dot to dot someone might say ‘eye’ and then ‘nose’ and ‘animal’.
5. The person who guesses the name of the dot to dot picture can choose the next dot to dot picture (make a note in your register). e.g. ‘jerry’

Post Play

There are a few options here:

• Copy the picture and colour it in.
• Hand out a screen shot of the uncoloured dot to dot picture (take a screenshot after you’ve clicked on all the numbers except the last number).  Learners colour it in.
• Hand out a copy of the finished dot to dot picture and learners write down words associated with the picture.
• If learners can bring in their own dot to dot pictures they can play the dot to dot game (using the rules above) in groups of 4.

Location: Computer room

Language Focus: Receptive - There is/ are, prepositions of place.  Productive – Short answers (Yes, I can/have etc)

Game: Escape the Plush room

Situation

My class was pretty proficient with most of language structures I used within the live listening dictation I scripted for this activity (including prepositions of place, furniture vocabulary and answering questions).  They were however having problems producing short answers using the auxiliary verb which I wanted to work on.  Ok, a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is usually sufficient to convey what is intended but not only was the course book we were using hammering the point home with some repetitive drilling activities, it’s also a nice foundation stone for later language development especially in an area primary English language learners sometimes have difficulties in – auxiliary verbs.  A class of sixteen learners works out nicely as two to a computer (our computer room has eight computer stations).

Target

This escape the room game posed a nice opportunity for a more fun and seemingly natural context to practice short answers while being embedded in other language elements and in a functional interaction.  Functional being dictating to the learners how to escape from a room in an online video game.  I wanted my learners to be able to listen, understand and successfully use what I was dictating to navigate their way through the game.  They would also be required to respond to any of my questions by forming short answers (yes/ no + subject (I) + auxiliary verb (n’t).  I hoped that any problems arising within the game and subsequent interactions would be driven by learner goals within the game.  that is to play it successfully to the end.

Action

The following text below is the script for the interaction that took place between myself and my learners.  I graded the language to the level of my students and allowed myself to repeat an instruction or question if it was not heard or understood clearly.  Checking learner comprehension was easy as all the computer screens were clearly visible to me (they lined the three walls of the room).  Some ad libbing was necessary but generally minimal.  Sometimes, especially to elicit the short answer forms, I repeated and added tonal emphasis on the auxiliary verb which echoed some of the classwork activities we’d done.  Very occasionally I elicited L1 vocabulary to confirm comprehension but as the game is annotated and learners are able to see the objects the biggest problem I had with some of the vocabulary was low frequency of use in native interactions (last time I used the word screwdriver was probably to order a cocktail) or pronunciation.  I also tried as hard as possible to avoid using the word ‘click’ firstly, because it seems too much of a shortcut and secondly, the resolution not to use it generally generates a larger range of grammatical structures.  Reviewing the text I felt surprised at how much text they had to listen to and how much they had to understand to play the game successfully.  Needless to say they found the game very engaging and though they produced seemingly little language (their language production is marked in the script below in parenthesis, much like this sentence is) it was functional and, to be honest, more frequent than you are led to believe below.  A lot of language produced by learners in this activity I failed to record below.  There was the occasional “repeat, please”, the odd “can I go to the toilet, please?” and the outright strange “The door to the chicken?” (They meant kitchen which wasn’t right either).  They also pelted me with questions, calls for assistance and such which were filtered out in the script in the attempt to weave a more seamless garment.  Without further ado, here it is:

On the table there is a red book. Can you see it? (Yes, I can)
Open the red book.
On the fourth page in the book there is a fuse. Have you got it? (Yes, I have)
On the left of the room there are three cupboards.
Go and look at them.
Open the cupboard in the middle. Is it open? (Yes, it is)
Pick up the fuse inside. Have you got it? (Yes, I have)
Go back. Can you see all of the room? (Yes, I can)
On the left there is a table with a flower on. Go to it.
Move the lamp and pick up the fuse that is under it.
What’s in the vase under the flower? (a key). Pick up the key under the flower that is in the vase. (what is vase? How do you say vase in ___? )
The flower is in the vase. The vase is black.
Go back. Can you see all of the room? (Yes, I can)
Go to the television. Under the television there are three drawers.
Open the drawer in the middle. Take the fuse and the red screwdriver. “How do you say screwdriver in (L1)?”. Ok.
Go back. Can you see all of the room? (Yes, I can)
On the table in front of you there are some oranges. Look at the oranges. What is next to the oranges? (a knife) Pick the knife up and go back.
What is on the wall on the left next to the television? (a junction box)
Go to the junction box and use the red screwdriver to open the junction box. (What is screwdriver?).
You’ve got it. It’s red. It was in the drawer under the television. Have you got it? (Yes, I have?)
Is the junction box open? (Yes, it is)
Put the four fuses in the junction box. Have you done it? (Yes, I have)
Go back to the television. Open the drawer on the left. What is in there? (a CD).
Open the DVD player and put the CD in. What can you see on the television? (a number). Copy the number, please.
Now, look in the drawer on the right. What is in the drawer on the right. Under the television. (cutting plier)
Have you got it? (Yes, I have)
Go back. Can you see all of the room? (Yes, I can)
Can you see the three pictures on the wall? (Yes, I can).
Look behind the picture in the middle. What do you use to open the door behind the picture? (red screwdriver). Ok. Open it.
What’s inside? (A key). Can you take it? (No). CAN you take it? (No, I can’t)
Go back to the four fuses.
Use the cutting plier on the red, blue and yellow wires above the four fuses. Can you do that? (Yes, I can).
Now, go back to the key behind the picture. Can you take it now? (Yes, I can).
What was the number on the television? (number)
Can you see the safe between the television and the fuses? (what is safe?) It’s a secret compartment you put money and things in.
Can you see it? On the right of the fuses and up a little. Can you see it? (Yes, I can).
Put the number on the television there and open it.
Did you open it? (Yes, I did). What’s inside? (A brief case).
Can you open it? (No, I can’t). Click on the brief case. Can you open it? (Yes, I can).
Can you see a key? (No) CAN you see a key? (No, I can’t)
Use the knife to cut the briefcase. Can you see a key now? (Yes, I can).
Open the door with the key. (What door?) The door to the room.

Results

I was pleased but a little tired at the end of the activity.  It had been quite intensive and I had been on my toes reading the dictation, paraphrasing to their level, assisting on technical problems (“Teacher, my mouse doesn’t work!”, “That’s because you’re using the mouse track ball to throw at a classmate.”), class control and behaviour issues and keeping an eye on their game progress on the 8 computer screens.  Numerous other teacher multitasking skills were in play but I had felt it had been a very productive  class.  or do I meant receptive?

Language: Narrative devices

Skills Focus: Reading or Listening

Location: Computer room or Connected classroom

Game: Adam & Eve

This is a simple point and click game with a simple story and basic repetitive language elements.

Preparation

Either:

Download a copy of Adam & Eve

or use and

Online electronic version of the Adam & Eve story

Be Warned – there are 5 pages.

A lot of simple point and click games have a nice little narrative story running through them. In this case our hero, Adam,  leaves the safety of his cave and heads out on a journey to go and see his girlfriend, Eve. On the way he meets various creatures, faces numerous obstacles and has to solve a few tricky puzzles and all in a day’s work.  I decided to play the game and instead of writing a walkthrough I wrote the story of Adam’s journey to Eve.

I don’t consider myself a great story writer but I thought if I could identify a few rules for writing based on my own experience of what kids generally enjoy reading I could write something that would be enjoyable, understandable, challenging and doable.  What I came up with was this list.  Feel free to suggest any other points in ‘comments’.  I can’t say i’ve identified all the one’s I’ve used nor ones which I’m sure would have made the story better if I’d included them.  Anyway,

• Graded language – that learners understand (colours, prepositions, animals, clothes etc where possible).
• Recycled language – see above (but also prepositions, directions etc)
• Language elements that are higher than the readers language level – to challenge them.
• Repetitive language elements (Particularly at the beginning and end of each stage) – to provide a little structure.
• Some examples of direct speech – for opportunities to put on those theatrical voices.

Once I’d written the story of ‘Adam & Eve’ sI thought about using it in a number of ways:

Writing - That is, a group of learners who I judged would understand the majority of the written text.  Learners read the story and identified nouns.  They then made their own dictionary for the words they identified.  They then took the story and their dictionaries to the computer room where they played the game.  Because there was quite a bit of intensive reading and writing here I divided the complete text into different sections – enough for groups of two learners to work on (writer and researcher) – and also did it with a more mature level of low level language learners learners (mid teens).

Listening – Play the game at the front of the class and read the story and get learners to raise their hand when they identify the part of the story that tells them what to do in the game (how to play it). That learner can then come up and do that action. Repeat part of the story if they get it wrong and continue the story if they get it right. Continue until interest wanes (yours or your learners).

Reading – In the computer room learners play the game using three internet explorer windows.  They have the ‘Adam & Eve’ story open on the first one, an online dictionary/ translator on the second and the game itself is played on the third.  You could think about using an online image search engine (say Google images) but be careful when doing this and make sure you use ‘advance search’ options and set it to ‘strict filter’.  I could regale you with stories of teachers who didn’t and have yet to live it down but I won’t.  Hopefully you won’t be adding to those anecdotes.

Location: Computer room

Language Focus: Physical description: clothes/ body.

Skills Practice: Reading

Game: Happy Family Dress up

Preparation

1.  Play a game yourself and write out a description of the family like this:

The boy has got black hair and dark skin. He’s wearing an orange striped top with short sleeves and a long-sleeved white top underneath. He is wearing green combat trousers and white trainers. He is also wearing a black baseball cap.

The man has got blonde hair and pale skin. He’s wearing a blue checked shirt, black jeans and brown shoes. He isn’t wearing many accessories but he is wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.

The woman has got long straight brown hair and dark skin. She’s wearing a light brown top, a white skirt and knee high brown boots. She is also wearing a white necklace with red rubies which matches her glasses.

The girl has got long blonde hair and a pigtail. She’s got light skin. She’s wearing a pink hat, a pink flowery dress and boots like her mum but they are light brown. She’s also wearing sunglasses a simple necklace and some coloured bracelets.

They are all on holiday at the beach.

Play

1. Learners read the description and reproduce the family.
2. Learners stand up and look at other learner’s results and spot any differences from the written description.
3. Learners compare their result with the screenshot and write down any differences.

Post Play

• Learners create their own families and write a description down using the original as a model.
• Learners expand on the written description to either include other elements (hats, gloves etc) or expand on the complexity of the language (an expensive long-sleeved checked shirt etc).
• Learners reproduce a family from the written description of another learner.

Location: Classroom

Skills focus: Relay picture dictation

Language focus: There is / are . . . , colours, bedroom furniture, prepositions of place.

Game: Tucoga’s room

Preparation

1. Download and print a copy of the Game Picture Dictation.
2. Put it on the wall in a fairly central position or make four copies and put each copy on the four walls of the classroom.
3. Hand out a blank piece of paper to each pair of learners.

Reading Activity

1. Tell the class it’s a dictation but they don’t copy the words.  They should draw the picture.
2. Learners work in pairs and take it in turns to go and read the text.
3. They then go back to their partner, relay the text information.
4. Their partner listens and draws the picture.
5. They then swap roles and repeat from step 1.

Post Activity

A – Connected classroom

Put the game on the board for learners to compare their pictures with the game.  Talk about the differences e.g. in the game the carpet is big, in my picture it is small etc.  Give points to pairs if they can spot a difference and tell you and two points if they can spot a similarity.  Don’t allow repetitions on the sentences.

B – Computer room

Learners play the game by listening to you describe how to play the game using the walkthrough.  i.e. a live listening.

OR

Learners use two internet explorer pages.  One to play the game, the other to read the walkthrough.

NOTE

There is a mistake in the Game Picture Dictation.  It should read ‘wardrobe’ and NOT ‘cupboard’

Location: Computer room

Language Focus: Has got/ is wearing/ colours/ clothes/ parts of the body

Game: Halloween dressing up game

Preparation

1.  Go to the site yourself and create a character.  Take a screenshot of your character and print off a copy.

2.  Write the character description out .  e.g.

He is a green zombie.  He has got red hair and red eyes.  He is wearing a vampire costume with a pirate’s hat.  He is wearing black boots and round red-rimmed glasses.

3.  Print a copy of the description for each table of learners in your class.

Relay dictation

1. Put the descriptions up on the wall near each table.
2. Learners take it in turns to get up and relay dictate the text to the rest of their table.

Reading

1. Learners take their dictation text to the computer room.
2. Using the text they reproduce the character from the description.
3. Compare the original (screenshot) with the learner produced characters.

Writing

1. Learners make their own character and use the dictation text as a model to write their own description.
2. Print off the descriptions and pictures (from screenshots) and put the pictures on the wall.  Read out the descriptions and learners point to the right character.  Put the description up on the wall with each character.

Location: Connected classroom

Skills Focus: Speaking

Target Language: Ordinals

Game: Spookymatch

Preparation

1. Present the language for “First”, “Second”, “Third” and “fourth” as well as “up” and “down”. This will help learners identify a row.
2. Present the language for either “along” or “from the left/ right”.  This will help learners identify a column.
3. Present the game and point to random squares and elicit language from above.  Say “where is this?”  e.g. “first down (and) first along” or “fourth up (and) first from the left” both identify the first spider shown in the screenshot above.

Play

1. Ask learners “Where (shall I go)?”.  Elicit the location of a square on the game and click on it with the mouse.  One picture is revealed.
2. Repeat the first step so two pictures are revealed.  If they are the same they stay on show.  If they are different they disappear.
3. Repeat the steps above until all the pictures in the game are on show.

Post activity

Learners make their own flashcards and play the game on their table.

Play a larger version of the game with flashcards and expand on ordinal language (fifth, sixth etc).

Location: Connected Classroom

Topic: Halloween

Skills Focus: Speaking

Game: The Halloween game

Preparation

• Learners write the numbers 1 – 10 in their notebooks.
• Present the image above to the class.  It works better if you just present one but the activity still works if you go directly to the site and have both.
• Brainstorm vocabulary orally by asking “What’s this?” and pointing.  When you have elicited three or four put the learners in pairs and they write the vocabulary they can see next to the numbers.
• Input language as learners ask “How do you say . . . in English?”, or point and ask “What’s this?”

Play

• Ask learners if the pictures are the same or different.  (They are different.  It’s a spot the difference game).
• Elicit the differences orally.  Clicking on the lower image differences changes the picture.
• Encourage learners to use the vocabulary they wrote down and praise the use of more complex language structures.

Post activity

From memory learners write down/ take notes on the differences.  When they’ve finished they swap books.  Refresh the website page and learners correct/ mark the sentences in the book.

Answers

The sentences below can be used as a guideline as to the level of language needed to identify the the differences and help you the teacher see where the differences are.  Use your own discretion as to the level of language learners need to produce in order for you to click the differences on the lower picture.  For the more difficult ones (and towards the end) I accepted “Here!” as the learner pointed.

1. The yellow dog on the left isn’t happy/ smiling.
2. The blue dog’s collar is red (not yellow).
3. A square/ tile on the wall is yellow (not orange)
4. The candle has got lines.
5. The pumpkin is sad / scary (not happy/ friendly).
6. (part of) the curtain is green (not orange).
7. The table hasn’t got a leg.
8. The cat’s tail is yellow (not black),
9. The sofa hasn’t got a line (a line/ crease on the bottom right arm is missing).

Language: Have got . . . / is wearing . . .     Clothes and colours

Skills Focus: Writing

Location: Computer room

Summer is coming and Digital play is taking a break for the summer.  We’ll be back in September with a lot of new activities, articles and lessons.  Our last bog post here today is a dressing up game.  One for the girls.

Girls: Summer holiday

Preparation

• Preteach vocabulary for parts of the body, clothes and colours.  Prepare a basic worksheet for learners to complete. e.g.

• Take your learners to the computer room and get them to play the game and write the description.
• Learners can print off their character.

Post Play

1. Put the characters spread out over the four walls.
2. Read out the learner’s descriptions to their character.
3. The class listens, identifies which picture is being described and go and stand next to it.
4. Put the description by the picture.
5. When all the descriptions are next to a picture get your learners to sit down.  Take down the pictures and ask whose it is.  Hand it back and check if the description by it is also theirs.

HAVE A GOOD SUMMER HOLIDAY!

See you in September

While you’re waiting for us to return, why not post some of your ideas, games played and classroom anecdotes here.