Tag Archives: video

Digital Playtime – Skyping Brazil

Last week, I had the pleasure of talking to a group of teachers that Shelly Terrell was training in Brazil. I answered questions about using computer games in the classroom and introduced them to the Digital Play blog and book. Hope you enjoy the video!

Escape From Christmas

Level: Pre-Intermediate Location: Computer room Skills Focus: Speaking Language focus: Prepositions of place, vocabulary in a house, imperatives (look, go, pick up etc) Game: Escape Pear Room The premise is that you get a little bit too drunk each Christmas and the family have decided they’ve had enough and locked you in the house.  It’s up to you to [...]

7 ways video games reward the brain

Thanks to @cheimi10 for drawing our attention to this inspiring new TED video by Tom Chatfield, a longtime gamer, the arts and books editor at the UK current-affairs magazine Prospect, and the author of the book Fun Inc. “We’re bringing gameplay into more aspects of our lives, spending countless hours — and real money — [...]

Jane McGonigal TED Talk

Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.

Bow Street Runner – A murder mystery.

Level: Upper intermediate/ Advanced Topic:  Murder Mystery Language skill: Reading & listening Game: Bow Street Runner “This game is set in London’s Covent Gardens in the 1750s, and depicts a time when crime and vice in the city had hit such levels that the local magistrates began to introduce the first instances of physical policing [...]

Total Eclipse – Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Level: Intermediate+ Location: Connected classroom Skills Focus: Reading/ Watching/ Speaking Video: 8-Bit Twilight Eclipse Interactive If you teach teen girls and you haven’t heard of Twilight, no scratch that, if you have been living on planet Earth and you haven’t heard of Twilight then get with it.  This teen phenomenon that has swept the world [...]

World Cup Rescue

Level: Intermediate+ Location: Computer room Language focus: Gaming dictation Skills Focus: Speaking/ listening Game: World Cup Rescue The World Cup has been stolen and you (Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo) have been chosen to go and get it back. Preparation Depending on how your computer room is set up you need to get at least [...]

Alan Wake – A Video worksheet

At the beginning of this review there is a warning about the video having a violence content so it is recommended you watch to assess whether this activity is appropriate for your learners.  There is a lot of shooting, scary voices and a dark foreboding atmosphere throughout. Level: Upper intermediate /advanced Location: Connected classroom Skills [...]

English Attack – a new fun way of learning English

English Attack is a new way of learning English through videos, games and other online entertainment platforms. Aimed at the 15-35 year-olds and claimed by the founders to be “the world’s first 100% entertainment-focused online resource for improving English language skills”, it is now open for beta testing (you can request an account here) and [...]

The Uncanny Valley

An interesting video to use with Advanced class interested in video games