The workshop, facilitated by Paul Braddock and Graham Stanley is one of a number of similar workshops that have been organised for the annual TESOL Electronic Village Online (EVO).

Over the next 5 weeks, participants will be working together and sharing ideas about using games in language teaching. The workshop, run on Moodle, and which will be archived on the TLLG wiki, also features a series of live sessions with special guest speakers talking about different aspects of games and gamification in language teaching and learning:

• Joe Pereira
• Ozge Karaoglü
• Kyle Mawer
• Rob Lewis

In addition, participants will:-

• be given two special booklets with ideas, tips and lesson plans on how to use online games in class
• have the opportunity to take part in a special Teacher Development online game

This is the second free online games workshop that Digital Play has been involved in. The first, run in December 2011 for SEETA (South East Europe Teachers Association) is still available for visits and tasks (see below).

The course is an introduction to using online games in the ELT classroom and is free for anyone who wants to attend. The idea is for us to explore the use of digital games in the classroom from 5th-15th December. There will be games to try out, questions to ask your students, discusssions about the value and classroom practice using digital games, and there will be an opportunity to create your own ‘Pick-a-Path’ game using the photo management software, Flickr, at the end of the course.

There will be six topics during the course, which are:

• Introduction to online games
• Games to encourage speaking
• Games to practise listening
• Games for reading & writing
• Games and grammar & vocabulary
• Games projects with classes

Hope to see you there!

If your answer to any of these questions was ‘Yes’ then why not play it again?  Maybe you can’t.  Either you or your parents sold on your console or simply at some point it broke and never got replaced, became obsolete or you just moved on.  Nowadays, though, you don’t need to dust off an old piece of electronics from the attic or scour ebay to relive those digital days gone by.  Use an online emulator.  Here is a list of a few online emulators that allow you to play those games from years ago:

1 ZX Spectrum

If you owned a spectrum in the 80s or 90s then this is the site for you. This site has a listing of spectrum games through the golden years from 1982 to the mid 90s. What’s great about this site? Well if the errrr-eek sound of a loading spectrum game cassette holds a lot of nostalgia for you I’m afraid this site has got rid of that. However, if you get misty eyed at the mention of Manic miner or Elite then both these games and more can be played online and for free. Get playing now!

2 Atari

Remember those clunky cartridges you had to shove in the machine at the top? Well, whether it was the Atari arcade games or one of the home cartridge games that you used to play then one of these sites is for you. Do you remember staring at awe at the amazing graphics? Well goggle no more if you’ve played any game from this decade.

3 Commodore 64

I only knew one kid with a commodore 64 at school which may say something about the PC system or not. Nevertheless, I got the impression that Commodore owners were very much a minority. No doubt this debate is continued by our young learners with the xbox versus playstation debate. What’s the commodore equivalent then? If you had this system or would just like to see what all this fuss is about then play one of their games and get misty eyed with ‘paperboy’ or ‘ghosts and goblins’.

4 Apple

Apple design has certainly got sexier over the years. Anyone remember this little number? Possibly not but for those of you that do then why not play a few of their old timey games on the virtual apple site.  Can anyone spot the similarities between this (picture on the right) and the new ipods and ipads? I don’t!

5 80s 90s arcade games

Maybe you spent a lot of your misspent childhood playing or hanging around game arcades. I know john Connor in Terminator II did. Maybe you played Missile Command or After Burner like he did in the film. If you didn’t and another title was the joystick/roller ball of your choice then check out this 80s arcade game site – it lets you play your favourite 80s arcade game.

6 Gameboy

Over 20 years old now and superceeded by a whole generation of different handheld gaming platforms. Still, at one time you may have been that kid on the bus/train/ waiting room/ playground (delete as appropriate) and may want to see some of those Gameboy games again. You may have to configure the keys before you ‘Load ROM’ (the game you want) but I’m sure it’ll be worth that little inconvenience.

Now you have to ask yourself:

• What would your learners think of you playing these games?
• What would they think of the games themselves?
• How do they differ to games nowadays?
• What do they think of the look of the hardware itself?
• Can they name 6 differences between the consoles and games of then and now?
• How have the specifications changed?
• How has gaming changed for them over the years?

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.

Along with co-founders Allan Stitt and Frank Handy, he runs the online game company Zap dramatic.  The games at Zap Dramatics site consist of interactive simulated adventure games that focus on the art and science of negotiation.  They tend to be text heavy and aim to educate as well as entertain.   The Canadian New Media Award for Excellence in Learning (Professionalism and Ethics simulation) was awarded to Zap dramatic in 2005.  In the same year it received the Vortex prize at the McLuhan International Festival of the Future for the adventure game ‘Move or Die‘.  Four years later the company became an official honoree at the 2009 Webby Awards for the game ‘Sir Basel Pike Public School’ which deals with the issue of bullying.  You can see the promotional video for this game here:

Recently Zap dramatic has released the engaging real life drama game ‘Inside the Haiti Disaster’, which places the gamer at the scene of the Haitian earthquake.  At the beginning of this simulation you choose a character and play as either an aid worker, a journalist or local victim of the disaster.  The game is particularly hard hitting in it’s use of film, photos and audio recordings of the actual event and people concerned.  You can read an interview with one of the team members that worked on this game here.

I think the games we’ve mentioned here are best for high level language learners and they are particularly attractive not only because of their high language content but also because they aim to educate the gamer in real life skills as well as raising awareness in some important issues.  They are definitely worth a look into even if it’s to have fun and educate yourself.

Level: Pre-intermediate +

Location: Connected classroom

Language focus:  Wh- (QASI) forms

Game: Peter Answers

Preparation

Ask learners to write down three questions.  there are three rules:

1. The answers have to be the names of people in the room.
2. They should try and use about 45 characters (punctuation or spaces or letters = 1 character)
3. They should be questions that have got answers only people in the room know.
4. Learners write their questions while you monitor.

Play

Explain that you are going to ask the questions to an online virtual Tarot reader.

Point out that you first have to type in Peter, please answer the following:

Point out that you then type in a learner’s question and then press return and you will then get the answer.

NOTE

The secret is that in the petition box you first put a full stop before writing the answer to the question you are going to type in.

This is a trick program that simply means that if you start the petition with a full stop you can then write the answer to the question you type in next without anyone realising.  While you write, for example, “.Who is wearing a red t-shirt . . . ” on the screen you see “Peter, please answer the fol (lowing:).

Your learners will be amazed.

Post activity

Learners say a question they want to ask ‘Peter answers’.  If the question is not grammatically correct simply say “I’m sorry.  Peter only accepts grammatically correct questions.”  This encourages either the individual or the class to review and correct the question.  If the answer isn’t immediately apparent then make excuses.  e.g.

Learner “What’s the name of my mother?”

Teacher “If the screen can’t see the answer, I’m afraid Peter can’t answer that.”

Be careful choosing to tell your learners the secret because you may want to use the game in another class.  If you do use it in class again it may be the case at least one of your learners went home and found out the secret to Peter answers.  You can generally find this out by keeping an eye and ear out next time you bring the game up again.  If there is a learner who knows the secret then they can come up and type in the questions.

Location: Computer room

Topic: Revision & test of course book vocabulary.

Language focus: Reading

Game:  Blockbusters

How to play

Your learner plays the single red team against the computer (the two blue guys).  The aim of the game is to make a white line across the board from top to bottom (or the other way round) by answering questions to which the answers start with the letter in the hexagon.

This game is actually designed to challenge native English speakers so may prove particularly hard to English language learners.  However, playing the game gives them a very quick way to learn how to play the game.  You could get them to play in pairs and predict the instructions.  They then read the instructions (button on the bottom right) to see if the were right.

Now they have a better understanding of what the game blockbusters is they can now have a go at writing their own powerpoint version.

Blockbusters Template

You could ask learners to only use their coursebooks to find vocabulary items.  This makes the activity a fun revision activity while the actual playing of the game becomes a fun test.   Make sure they read the instructions on slide 3 carefully.  I find that it usually takes a little bit of trial and error to figure out what to do but once someone in the class has figured it out they can always explain it to others.

NOTE

There’s no reason why you can’t use the Blockbuster Template with much lower levels.  Unfortunately the online game is too difficult for lower levels.  It would also be good if the game paused for bigger intervals and there wasn’t a time limit between being given the question and having to give the answer.  If there was that would be a great opportunity for a dictionary race.  They could read the question, identify the answer in their own language, look it up in a translation dictionary and give the answer in English.  Oh well!

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.

Level: Advanced

Location: Computer room

Skills Focus: Reading

Game: Choice of the Dragon

Preparation

Decide how you are going to use the reader in class.  There are a few ways to approach this.

A nice way to orientate your learners to the language focus and task is to first dictate a few of the words for your learners to record.  I use the following grid system with my learners that’s easy to dictate:

or show the opening sequence of the game and elicit difficult language items from the text in open class for learners to record.

Play

In the computer room learners play the game in pairs and discuss the decisions they need to make.

Post Play

1. Back in the classroom in new pairs learners compare stories and discuss the differences, choices and the resulting storyline.
2. For homework learners play the game again but choose different choices.  They:

• record difficult words in their grids and next class see if anyone can teach them the meaning of the words.
• Play and note down three differences in storyline between this reading and the class reading.
• Play  and read just for fun.

Level: Intermediate

Location: Classroom

Skills Focus: Speaking / writing about a robbery

Language Focus: Past simple, sequencers

Game: Heist

This online game involves passing through four rooms solving puzzles so you can finally steal secret plans.  In this classroom activity you can download the floor plan of the game with the puzzles and obstacles fully described for your learners to discuss in a speaking activity.

Preparation

Download a copy of the Heist Layout for each pair.

Pre-task

1. Divide the class into pairs and tell them to draw two columns Present & Past
2. Dictate the present tense forms of the verbs below and learners write the past tense.
3. 
4. Feedback to make sure the past tenses are correct.
5. Write a list of sequencers on the board e.g. first of all, then, after that, as soon as, when, finally, etc

Speaking activity

1. Explain that there was a robbery last night in the school and one of the students stole the answers to a test.
2. Hand out the the Heist Layout picture.
3. Ask learners where in the picture the test answers are (answer: on the table in the fourth room).
4. Ask learners how they think the student got into the school (answer: they hid in the box in room 1)
5. Pick or ask for a volunteer to read the information about the four rooms aloud.  Check understanding.
6. Tell learners to take it in turns to tell their partner how they think the student the tests answers.  Use the information about the rooms, the verbs above in the past tense and as many sequencers as they like.

Post activity

Learners write down a report on how they think the heist was done.

Homework

Tell Learners the game tutorial shows them exactly what happened.  For homework they play the game at home and correct their Heist Report to make what happened like how the game plays.

NOTE – They can find the game by googling – “free world group” heist