Sunday, October 14, 2012

How to Use the Game Il Destino for Your English Class


 

 Gamification is incorporating game elements and mechanics into non-gaming websites and software such as educational course work. Especially, it can be used to enhance learners’ language use in more exciting environments. (refer to '7 things You Should Know about Gamification")

  Il Desino is a point-and-click game in which you explore the car show room and find objects which interact with each other and solve puzzles in order to get the sports car out. I have played this game three times because I love cars and games and found it very interesting. The topic of this game could appeal to boys especially for the same reason. To play this game you will have to use the decent amount of reading skills to read the walkthrough. Basically, the game can be played as a reading activity with the walk through. However, you can use it more various format including this activity:

 

Reading Race 

Objectives
1. Students will be able to read the walk-through text and follow the directions when they listen to the text.
2. Students will be able to speak and write imperative sentences using the verb: get, find, zoom in, get, walk, turn off, open, pick up etc.  

Preparation
1. Divide students into groups of three or four.
2. Provide the group worksheet
3. Put the full text of the Intro page of the game on tables in the back of the room.

 

Activity
1. In a group the students answer the questions on the group worksheet using the text in the back by scanning strategy but one member of each group can go back at a time. The member is not allowed to bring the group walk sheet.
2. One by one, they answer the the question by going to the back and be prepared to play the game.
3. As soon as they complete the worksheet, they can start to apply it for the game. It’s a “listen-and-do” format basically. When they do this, one member is sitting in front of the computer while another member is sitting the other end of table facing the gamer. Teacher gives a sheet of the walkthrough only to this member. The other members can help them communicate well.
4. This is team competition based on the problem-solving task on the game Il Destino.

 Teacher’s role
Other than the controller, facilitator, and group organizer, the teacher in this lesson has the following roles:
1. The teacher develops the group worksheet by making several comprehension questions about the Intro page of this game.
- If the students are not familiar with the scanning strategy, the teacher explains and show how to use the strategy.

2. The groups can ask the teacher up to three questions regarding the walkthrough.
3. When they struggle with technical problem, the teacher is expected to help.

3 comments:

  1. This sounds like a good game plan, but the only way to be it works or to refine it, is to try it out in the classroom. I hope you will have the opportunity to do that and will share your results on one of the teacher networking sites.

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  2. Yes, I did not realize there are so many games that we can use to practice English. I will try this as a vacation assignment first.

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  3. That sounds like a good place to start to see how it goes. However, don't forget that assessment would be of great value in determining if the game assignments were valuable.

    ReplyDelete