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.

Questions

Do you recognise any of these games? Are you playing any of them? How do you play them? How well are you doing? Are any of your friends playing them? How well are they doing? What tips have you got for playing? What’s good about these games? What’s bad about these games?

Now some questions for those playing the games:

1 CAFE WORLD

What level are you at? How much do things cost? What gifts would you like? What do you get medals for? What happens when you expand your cafe? Who are your neighbours? What does your cafe look like? What’s the best cafe you’ve seen? How often do you play? What is your buzz rating? What tips have you got for playing cafe world?

2 FISHVILLE

What different types of fish have you got? Which fish are the best to have? How have you decorated your fish tank? How have you changed the environment? How much money have you got? What do you plan to do next? Who do you send gifts to? What does the music sound like? What can you buy in the store? How could you make the game better?

3 FARMVILLE

What level are you at? How have you organised your farm? Have you got any limited edition items? What animals have you got? What crops do you plant the most? Who are your neighbours? How often do you plough (plow) your crops? What happens when your farm gets overcrowded? What can you buy in the market? How would you change your farm if we had time?

4 FARM TOWN

How much money have you got? What does your avatar look like? What have you got on your farm? Have any of your neighbours got cool farms? What jobs do you do on the farm? What gifts are there? How much fuel have you got? Have you ever visited the Farm Town forum? What does the bank do? How often do you play?

5 HAPPY AQUARIUM

How do you play this game? What have you got in your fish tank? What does the music sound like? What different types of fish have you got? Which fish are the best to have? How have you decorated your fish tank? How have you changed the environment? How much money have you got? What do you plan to do next? Why did you start playing this game?

6 HAPPY PETS

What pets have you got? What does it look like? What furniture is there? What have you bought from the store? What would you like to buy from the store? How do you control ‘hunger’ and ‘cleanliness’ in the game? How many of your friends play too? How much money have you got? What are you saving up to buy? How would you like to change your pet?

7 MAFIA WARS

What jobs have you had? What different businesses are there? What can you buy at the store? What do the crates do? What badges of merit have you earnt? What can you find in the treasure chests? What’s a racket? What characters have you met in the game? What equipment have you got? What weapons can you use?

8 PETVILLE

What food can you feed your pet? What level are you at? What can you see on the game screen? What does your house look like? What does your pet look like? What is your pet wearing? Who are your friends in the game Why do you like petville? What do you buy with your money? Why do you like petville?

9 YOVILLE

What does your apartment/ house look like? What does your avatar look like? Who are your neighbours? What different places are there in Yoville? What do you do there? What jobs have you done? What can you do at the speedway? What do you spend your money on? What else can you spend your money on? What would you add to the game?

10 RESTAURANT CITY

Who are your employees?  How many have you got?  How popular is your restaurant?  What awards have you won?  What interesting ingredients are there?  What recipes have you used?  How do you earn gourmet points?  What level are you at?  What level do you want to reach and when?

These are all questions that your learners may enjoy asking each other if they are playing any of these facebook apps.  Of course, there is no reason why they shouldn’t then write and ask their own questions.  Remember – if you play any of these games yourself tell your learners about it.  Theye may be very curious about your opinions on it.

1 The Sims teach German

The sims is one of the most commercially successful PC games, notable because of its popularity with female gamers.  This video referrences German language learning but is recorded in English and so is great for TEFL teachers to get some good ideas.

2 How to learn languages online by playing video games

Tutorial by gamer on how he sees languages can be learnt by playing video games.

3 A productive approach to video games, learning and school

Lecture by James Paul Gee on the educational implications of video games as a productive activity for schools.

4 Grand Theft Childhood

Most of us assume violent video games can negatively affect children and their behavior. After a multi-year, multi-million dollar study, Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D. Co-Director for The Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry speaks about the findings.

5 Manny Calavera teaches Spanish!

Overview of how adventure video games can be modified to be used in foreign language education. Demonstrates an example mixing the Spanish version of the game “Grim Fandango.

6 Pay attention

Since most of today’s students can appropriately be labeled as “Digital Learners”, why do so many teachers refuse to enter the digital age with their teaching practices. This presentation uses images and facts to convince us to enter the digital age.

7 36 Principles of learning

James Paul Gee identifyied thirty-six learning principles that are evident in the design of good video games. He also argues for the application of these principles in the classroom and here is a video from the classroom in support of this.

8 Rezzworld

A 3D video game based on task based learning that is principally aimed at native American languages.

9 Practice foreign languages in Second Life

A look at the virtual world of Second Life and how it can be used to practice foreign languages.  Second life allows you to message other avatars by text or talk to them via a microphone and headphones.

10 Video games and learning

Already covered on this blog (link above) but well worth a second look.   This video looks at the development of video games.

1 “free online games”

Learn a bit about boolean search techniques.  An example of one of these is to put your search words in quotation marks so that your search specifically looks for a set phrase.  e.g. the title of this tip is “free online games” – games that are ‘free’, can be played ‘online’ and that are, er, ‘games’.  In fact, tip titles 1-5 here all use Boolean search methods.

2 “point and click games”

Using inverted commas for a set phrase and then adding +word means you get searches on the set phrase plus (+) the target word which helps to refine searches.   If you use the tip title here you may like to add:

+online

By the way, Point and click games require the use of your mouse to interact with the game on the screen and this rather prolific genre has some great uses in the classroom and this blog has its fair share of them.

3 “escape the room game”

A sub genre of point-and-click games the escape the room game has a rather self explanatory title.  Look for ones that use a context which contains vocabulary that is either of interest to your learners, can be easily graded to their level or simply that they are exposed to day in day out.

4 “online game walkthrough” + youtube

Use google video to find walkthroughs.  It’s interesting to see the different search parameters on the left (above).  Search for video games in video share sites, such as  youtube, and you not only get to see a game without playing it (to check the images for appropriacy, language potential, to see the game in its entirety etc) but you also get a video walkthrough you can use.  If that wasn’t enough, down the right hand side youtube will kindly list a whole list of other game walkthroughs on its site to check out.

5 “online game walkthrough” -youtube

The current trend for using screencapture to video a game being completed is so great that it is sometimes difficult to find walkthroughs that are just text.  If you want to find a piece of written text that instructs a gamer (or language learner) on how to complete a game step by step then add the:

-youtube

to take the content from this page out of the equation.

6 Delicious

If you don’t bookmark or mark as favourite any of those interesting game sites you find you should do.  Opening an account at delicious means you can not only see and tag those sites more easily but check out the sites of people who have used the same tags.  A great way to find others who may already be doing the site searching for you.

7 Tweetdeck

Open a Twitter account and then download Tweetdeck on your imac or PC to more easily see and organise your tweets.  It’s full of people microblogging about the things you set as being of interest to you.  Here’s a few columns I’ve set up to help me hear about online games:

8 Share and share alike

Create a website or a blog to collect all the games you would like to use in class in one place.  In this way you can get sites checked and approved by yourself close together and direct your learners or fellow teachers to with ease.  It also means the game, walkthrough, video walkthrough, reviews, fan reviews, screenshots and material are all easily accessible from a single site.

9 Google alerts

Once you’ve refined your searches a little and you have identified key search words you can get google alerts to scan the net for them and send you an alert each time they crop up.  Try getting google alerts on certain game types, terminology, people and events.  Scan read the summary email you receive and trash it if nothing really grabs your eye.

10 Ask The Experts

Ultimately the people who are experts in knowing what games will interest your learners are your learners.  Find out what video games they play (careful as they may differentiate between what is a ‘computer game’, ‘console game’, ‘online game’ etc), when they play them, what kind of games there are and what they have to do in each game.  Even just having ‘chats’ like this can generate a lot of English and help bridge a knowledge gap between you and your learners.

1  Decorate

Do your learners know their furniture vocab?  Have your pre-intermedaite learners practice their listening and reading skills as they furnish Roger’s flat.  Great for 1:1 learner/ computer ratio classes or set as a fun homework activity.  Learners read the speech bubbles and listen to Roger tell them how he wants his flat furnished.  Vocabulary sets include furniture, colours and patterns.

2    Sveerz

This is a musical arcade game which is a cross between Tetris and simon says.  It’s great for drilling colours with a primary class in open class.  Simply play the game at the front of the class and have your learners sitting in front of the game shouting out the colours.  You play the game by clicking the colours they shout.  When they know how to play get a volunteer up to take your place at the keyboard.

3    Arcane season

Use the great video sequences, nice special sound effects and what the in-game characters say to stimulate a creative writing activity with an upper intermediate and beyond class.  The good thing about this?  Just click here for a more comprehensive lesson plan.

4    Hot shot business

Disney scored a bit of a hit with this game.  Listen to the two presenters and in game newsflashes as you open your own skateboard retailers, comic shop or pet shop.  Learners can read the speech bubbles as they listen for extra support.  Some nice arcade style games breaks give learners a short break from language and they keep the adrenalin level up.

5    Case of the crabs

This is a point and click game which is great to use with a walkthrough class activity.  Admittably the sound effects are more there to add atmosphere rather than provide some skills practice but it’s still a nice little game.  The opening sequence allows learners to read and listen to the storyline.  Click here for the walkthrough.  Read out the walkthrough, relay dictation from the teacher’s computer screen or tell learners where to access it.

6    Mingoville

Fun English learning games, grammar and songs all with flamingos that speak English.  A popular one with Primary English learners though the activities are very much based on drilling language items.  If this is the thing for you and your learners then set this up at the front of the class.

7    Stage 07

A very engaging point and click adventure game you can use with a walkthrough.  Choose how you interact with the in game characters to solve a mystery.  Both Listening and reading skills practice.  Great for pair work in the computer room for intermediate English learners and above.  Click here for the walkthrough.

8    voki

This website allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on blogs, profiles, and in email messages.  Get students to record themselves talking about their voki avatars – likes/ dilikes, habits and daily routines are all good areas to cover.

9    Cuboy

Lots of audio for your learners to listen to and they can also read the text with the in game characters’ speech bubbles.  Nice little game with lots of puzzles to solve.  Use the walkthrough to help your learners.  Click here for the walkthrough.

10    Hewitt

Help Hewitt to find a girl for the school dance. This game takes a minute or so to load so be warned.  Use YOUR MOUSE to play the game and make sure you read the instructions to the tutorial at the beginning of game.  Click here if you want the walkthrough.