The Migrant Trail Meets ESL Standards

 

The Migrant Trail is a fun, addicting, and educational ESL game. I played this game three times through with every character trying to get them all across the desert to their final destination. I was close once but I had to leave Diego behind with only seven miles to go. 

As previously mentioned, I found this game to be a lot of fun and pretty challenging. These are excellent qualities to have in a game. It grabs the students' attention and makes them want to try "just one more time" about twenty more times. The best part is that it IS educational. Having played it so many times I believe that it helps to satisfy ESL Standard I.5-8.1 which states, "[s]tudents will listen, speak, read, and write in English for information and understanding."

The Migrant Trail meets this standard because students will be able to learn vocabulary that they can use for their personal use. At the beginning of the game you choose a character to play with and then are taken to a shop where you buy supplies for the journey. Here, a student is able to learn words for items of clothing, food, and dollar amounts. These are all parts of English that a person would need in their day to day lives. As the game progresses, the immigrants are faced with various challenges from being bitten by a scorpion, to having a blister, to having heat stroke. While these may not be quite as common, this is still excellent terminology relating to health that could be useful for an ESL student to learn and understand.

After having students play this game I would have them get into groups and tell them that they are being sent to a deserted island and they have $150 to spend. I would then write an inventory on the whiteboard with a list of items and their prices and have them discuss together what they would purchase to take with them and why. After re-grouping as a class. Each group would have an opportunity to share with the class what they would purchase to take along with them and why.

Polleke's Blue Room and ESL Standards

     Playing games for ESL practice can be both fun and informative. After playing Polleke's Blue Room it is easy to understand how these sorts of educational games can aid students in the learning of English. The objective of this game was to search for clues to unlock the door to the blue room and escape. At first I thought, "Okay, how hard could this really be?" I played the game once and spent around 15 minutes trying to find clues but the game was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. I ended up having to follow the walk through in order to beat it. 

     With regards to how this game would help ESL students learn and meet standards, I think it would help students learn new vocabulary, give descriptions, and use the subjunctive at a very basic level. A standard that would fit this description would be performance indicator-ESL.I.5-8.4.1.3 which states, "students request and provide information and assistance, orally or in writing, for personal, social, and academic purposes." 

In order to incorporate this game into a classroom setting I think that it would be good to have
pictures posted on a whiteboard or a PowerPoint slide of each section of the room and then ask students to describe what they can see in the room before playing the game and then after playing the game to test whether or not they have have benefited from the game. I would then divide the classroom into groups of three and tell them to try to beat the game together. If they are not able to beat the game after 30 minutes I would then provide them with a walk through of the game as a class discussion

Gamification and Language Learning

 

  Gamification is the usage of games in non game-like settings or contexts in order to engage students (in this case) in learning. According to "Technology - 'Just' Playing Games? A Look at the Use of Digital Games for Language Learning" there are five main components that make up a successful game. These include: goals, interaction, feedback, context, and motivation. As mentioned in the article, goals are best described as "goal orientation" due to the dynamic, ongoing, and continually negotiated process of task completion. Interaction is a component that can take place in numerous ways. It depends on the type of game, how other game is being used, and the players. Feedback is important so that learners is always aware of his or her abilities. Context according to the article is created and authenticated by both the game narrative and context of play. Motivation is usually considered one of the biggest reasons that digital games are used in the classroom.

     Another way of explaining what makes a game successful is discussed in the article "Sculpting Flow and Fiero" written by Zac Hill. Hill believes that solid game design includes two main factors: flow and fiero. Flow is the concept of "being in the zone." This is when the player is having fun. Fiero on the other hand is described as the feeling one gets when they have conquered or overcome something like a quest or a difficult level.

I think that it is a great idea to use digital language games in the classroom. Not only does it help students to learn, they are able to do so in a fun and motivational way. There are also benefits to using digital games that one may not be able to receive with traditional classroom instruction. According to "Games and Learning"  Games can be highly motivational  and engaging for students. They also have the ability to how that learning can be measured by more than just grades. Using games in the classroom is also an excellent way to build collaborative skills.

In the future, I will definitely use games in my ESL classroom as a way to promote motivational and engaging learning in a fun environment.

#Twitter in the Classroom

     After participating in the #ELLchat on Twitter this past Monday evening, I started thinking about how I would use Twitter in an educational setting. I saw firsthand how it has the ability to help educators from all over the world connect with each other and share ideas, but I wasn't exactly sure how I could use Twitter in a classroom setting with my future students. 

     A Must Have Guide on Using Twitter in Your Classroom is an article that is presented as a list of ideas for Twitter usage in the class except that each idea listed is highlighted and is actually a link to a full article on each particular idea. While I had kicked around a few ideas in my head as to how I could use Twitter, this list goes far beyond what I had thought of. One of the first ideas I had (which was also on the list) was to use Twitter for general class announcements, homework assignments, and office hours. One of the points that were mentioned in the resource category that I plan on doing is to encourage students to follow a foreign language in their news feed. This will allow them to not only follow the news in other countries, it will also help students practice their reading comprehension in the foreign language and to help them learn new vocabulary words. 

In the article Teaching With Twitter written by Lori Stokes, she discusses six ways to use Twitter in the classroom with students. I really enjoyed the second topic she discussed and plan on doing this with students in the future. She talks about using Twitter in real time for questions and feedback during student presentations. I think this is an excellent way to keep students engaged. Often times during a student presentation the audience of students sit there quietly and may seem to be paying attention, but I think often times they are more being talked to rather than being taught or involved with the presentation. Allow students to use Twitter with a hash tag of the name of the presentation allows students to both participate and help the presenter to include additional information or the help questions throughout the presentation.

While there are two or three ways that I will focus on using Twitter in my future classroom, it almost seems like the possibilities are endless! 

My First Twitter Experience #ELLChat

  

   So I just finished my first live Twitter session. That was...interesting. I was completely lost for the first 5 minutes or so, but once I got the hang of it every seemed to flow well. Although it was a bit hard to follow all of the conversations going on at once. I am starting to think it is best to enter the chat with a general topic and then branch off into separate conversations with various people rather than trying to follow every conversation from the main feed. 

     I have never used Twitter a day in my life before and always thought it was stupid until about 45 minutes ago. I still have no intentions of using it in my personal life but in regards to educational experiences and networking I am all for it! It is a great way to hold discussions with people across your own field from so many different places without needing to meet face to face. I almost could not believe how quickly the conversations were flowing. I had expected maybe 5 - 10 people to be online chatting a little at a time. 

     While the conversations were interesting and I actually had a few things to say here and there (I felt a little intimidated at first) the layout was a bit confusing. It seemed to me like using a group discussion forum would be easier to follow. Then again thinking about it, it is sort of set up in a way that allows conversation to flow naturally among several people at once as if everyone were standing in a room having conversations with one another. 

     All in all, it was a little confusing to maneuver at first, but I found the Twitter chat to be fun and engaging! I would do it again and I would definitely find ways to use it with my students.