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!