Keep learning outside of the classroom? Serious Games can make it!

According to Wikipedia, a serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. Serious games are simulations of real-world events or processes designed for the purpose of solving a problem. As a teacher, I can use them to educate students.

I have chosen Budget Hero and played twice. At first glance, the game has a lot of information so that students can learn various things after playing the game. The target learner should be adults and the level should be advanced since vocabularies are very difficult and general knowledge about economy, society and national security is needed.

First of all, in the classroom, we are going to learn new vocabularies and discuss general concept about a national budget. Also, I can use walkthrough as a demonstration to make sure that every student understands what they are going to do. The objective of the lesson is that students will be able to speak and write not only target words such as investment, defense, and deficit but also relevant expressions. Then, they need to make a budget considering pros and cons of the policies. After the lesson, students are able to speak and write their plans in English. In the lesson,  their plans can be presented in a group and students can choose the best one. Also students write an essay about the federal budget. During the presentation or writing an essay, I can assess whether the learning objectives had been met.

Although the lesson can be a little demanding, students can learn a lot of things from it. Most important thing is that they are given  much chance to think about the topic and speak or write what they have learned, which gives them autonomy!

Today's homework? Play games as much as you can!

What is gamification? Gamification is the application of game elements in non-gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior. In academe, gamification typically employs elements such as points, badges, or progress bars to engage or motivate students in the learning process, according to 7 Things You Should Know About Gamification. Also, there is another term, Digital Game-Based Learning(DGBL), which is coined by Marc Prensky. DGBL means the use of computer games in delivering educational content. (Quote from : A Comparison of Computer Game and Language-Learning Task Design Using Flow Theory )

Using games in L2 classroom has several benefits to students. First of all, it is fun. Although there can be a variety of activities in the classroom, playing games is definitely the best. It will allow students to engage in learning. Second, it gives students greater autonomy in their own learning process because it is voluntary work in a some sense. More specifically, it is said that there is almost always a problem to resolve in playing games, which requires engagement and effort. (Quote from: Sculpting Flow and Fiero) Students can get payoff from the games and the payoff will give students movivation to keep learning. I am excited to know this novel process. Gamification is absolutely worth trying in my classroom. 

I have chosen Family Restaurant Game at OgiGame. I payed it for about thirty minutes a day for three days. I imagined that how I can apply this game to the lesson. The objective is to  make students learn words about ingredients and recipes for cooking. Students can speak and write the words about ingredients and how to make the food. At first, students listen to the story about the restaurant. The story is introduced at the beginning of the game. I might  not be using walkthrough because it is quite easy to follow. Also, new vocabularies are taught. Before playing the game, students have  opportunity to do brainstorming so that they are enough aware of what they are going to do. Afterthat, students can play games at home. Since the goal is to make a five-star restaurant, students need to make delicious food and serve it on time. While they are playing the game, they are to review vocabularies and learn the process of making different kinds of food. Since instruction is given every step, it will be easy for students to follow, but the steps are going to be more challenging. As a teacher, I can help students as a mediator when they have trouble doing it, but there will be not too much intervention from me. Next class, we will review what we have learned. Using some images from the game, we can not only remind the story but also check the vocabularies students have learned. Also the activity which is to write dwon the receipes can be done, or students make a group and have a cooking competition.(Speaking) During the review session, I can assess whether the learning objectives had been met.

The lesson is competed! Students played the game and learned English. Since the game is about cooking which students are usually interested in, it would be a little easy to make them participate in the game. I believe that this lesson will be a success because both the explicit goal and immediate feedback are to given. In addition to that, the more students play game, the more they can learn. By doing so, students will be able to experience "Flow" state. Playing games to learn English? I cannot wait to try it!

Twitter is a MUST for teachers.

I was not very tech-savvy before, so I did not use Twitter. However, I totally changed my thought. I have to use Twitter not only for my own professional development but also for teaching.Why? To make a long story short, it has too many advantages to be ignored. Then, how can I use Twitter?

For my professional development, the most beneficial thing is to exchange and share different ideas from different teachers in real time. As mentioned in Using Twitter for Teachers' Professional Development, Hashtags are a great way for engaging in professional conversaions. For example, I can sometimes face unexpected circumstances in the classroom. In these cases, I can get a lot of valuable advice from more experienced teachers. Of course, I can help other teachers, too. Also, I can grip teaching trends by communicationg with others, which allows me to get rid of old methods or materials or to try new activities in the classroom. I am convinced that the interaction will absolutely make me a better teacher!

As a teacher, I can use Twitter in many different ways. I could find some in A Must Have Guide on Using Twitter in your Classroom. I can use it as a bulletin board so that students know latest news and announcement. Also I can give or take instant feedback in the classroom as well as communicate with parents. Using Twitter helps teaching and learning more convenient in comparison to the condition of classroom in the past.


Using Twitter in the classroom will be another opportunity for me to interact with students. I cannot wait to use it. I believe that it will be useful to both me and students. 

Tweet? Tweet!

Today, I followed #Edtechchat from 8:00 to 9:00 PM. It was NEW WORLD because I was really connected to the Twitterchat  and talking with other people from different areas as if I am with them. Reading what they mentioned was very helpful. Since it was the first time for me, I sometimes forgot to add #edtechchat when I tweeted. Time was flying. Even though I made some mistake, it was really fun and I really enjoyed it. It was a great opportunity for me to share experience with more experienced teachers. There were several questions about education in teaching and everyone answered. For example, one of the questions was ," How should a school district support professional learning to promote the conversion to a digital classroom?" Many people think different way from me and their creative ideas made me excited. Also some introduced useful websites. Attending a Twitterchat is absolutely useful to teachers because exchanging ideas helps teachers broaden their perspectives, which allows them to be a better teacher. By taking part in Twiitterchat, I can not only stay current but also be an expert!