How to Teach Using Game

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How to Teach Using Game-Based Learning

Traditional "edutainment" is based on limited pedagogical models, and does not take advantage

of the games' potential to simulate phenomena, engage the player through story, express ideas

creatively, or collaborate with other players.MIT Games To Teach Project(more info)(web site, as of 25 August, 2006)

What Makes a Good Game?|Playing Fair|Grades and Games

Define Objectives

What do you want the students to learn?It's very important to keep this idea central to

planning your lesson and choosing or designing a game, or you may end up using a game inwhich the material to be learned is bypassed by the players.

Decide what sort of game and storyline (if appropriate)You may want to use a game that you already know is fun, like a trivia game, your favorite board

game, or a relay race, and use that as a base for the rules.

Will this be a race, a quiz bowl, a simulation, or some other kind of game?

Should the students play individually or in teams? If they have teams, make sure that theycome up with cool names.

Will they compete against each other or just for a score?

If players are not competing against each other, you will definitely want some kind of storyline

for your game.

Are the students playing prospectors, paleontologists, or explorers?

Are the students trying to save a simulated town from a geologic hazard?

Are players reconstructing changes that have taken place through geologic time?

Break Objectives down into Challenges

It is also possible and often desirable, to have multiple levels of challenge.

For a trivia game, the challenges are individual questions.

For other types of games, they might be identifications, measurements, or other tasks.

Once a certain number of challenges have been accomplished, it's time to move on to harder

tasks or a different kind of task.

Design Rewards
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Appropriate prizes for completing or winning a game include:

Certificates

Snacks

Small prizes like interesting rocks (for geologists)

Grades- handle with care!

However, for a long-running project, early success could be rewarded with immediate admission

to the next level.

Build Game

Work out the rules and print or assemble physical apparatus like cards, boards, etc. or write Javaapplets.

Although this can take a fair bit of time, and even some money, good-quality pieces are reusable,

and exciting for students.

Test Game

This is a very important step! Have your playtesters assess issues like:

Fun (engagement)

Ease of play

How long the game takes

Most importantly, the integration of learning objectives into gameplay

If possible administer a pre- and post-test on the material to be learned before and after the game.

Run Game

If the students will be playing on teams, don't let them sort themselves into teams. Either assign

them randomly or make sure that they are balanced in terms of experience with the subject.

Students should, however, name their own teams. If they balk, threaten to think of names

for them. Some potential team names to motivate students to come up with their own: the

Terrific Trilobites, the Fighting Feldspars, the Mighty Magmas....

While running a game, the major concerns will be to prevent cheating and, sometimes, especially

with a physical game, to enforce safety issues.

Competitive or often even cooperative games are likely to make for a very noisy classroom.

What Makes a Good Game?
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For Further Reading

Reuss and Gardulski, 2001describe in detail the use of a board game to teach fossil

identification and other material.

Teaching Interviewing Skills Through Story Games

by Doug Lipman

Table of Contents

Why Games to Teach Interviewing?Closed-ended and Open-ended Questions

The Games:What Fairy Tale Character Am I?The Hidden Mystery

Before & After

The Awful InterviewerNext Steps

TOP OF PAGE

Why Games to Teach Interviewing?

Years ago, I worked in a program which paired children and elders. The children were to meet

with the elders and elicit some of their life-stories. My job was to prepare the children for their

role as interviewers.

How would I do this? I had no idea!

I remembered, however, my experiences being interviewed by students for their class

newspapers. Time and again, the students would appear with a carefully compiled list ofquestions to ask me. They might begin with a question like, "How did you become a storyteller?"

I might answer, "Well, I began by telling stories to my younger brother...."

Then they'd continue with the second question on their list. "Did you ever tell stories as a child?"I'd be furious! Hadn't they listened to my first answer?

Based on these experiences, I knew I wanted the students to learn to ask questions, not from a

list, but from what they had just heard. How could I help them learn that skill and get practice at

it? It seemed that a game might be the best way.

So I created a first game and tried it out. Then I brought in some elders for the children to

interview. Oops! A new difficulty presented itself. So I created another game to deal with this
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second issue. By the time I had worked with a few groups in this way, I had a half-dozen games

that seemed to prepare the students well enough.

In the process of trying to articulate what the children needed to learn, I realized that

interviewing skills are similar to story-crafting skills.

In both story-crafting and interviewing, you complete the story in your mind through your own

activity. In crafting a story, you decidewhat more to imagine; in interviewing, you ask questions

to fill in what you need to make a complete imagined picture.

I have used these games with students in grades 4 through 8 (ages 9 through 13). All but one useme as the subject. This lets me:

make the game more lively

educate the students through my responses.

TOP OF PAGE

Closed-ended and Open-ended Questions

A good interviewer uses two different kinds of questions, each with an appropriate purpose.

Closed-ended questions require specific answers, such as "Yes," "No," or "I was ten years old."

Open-ended questions call for non-specific answers; they often invite the teller to tell morestories.

Here are some examples of closed-ended questions:

"Did you like school?"

"What was your sister's name?""How old were you when you got your first job?"

These, on the other hand, are open-ended questions:

"What were some things you liked about school?"

"What sorts of games did you and your sister play together?""What was it like for you to stop school and go to work?"

Closed-ended questions are useful for extracting particular information. If the interviewer is

confused about when something happened, a closed-ended question gets the answer quickly.

Close-ended questions can help a shy interviewee get started. Some experienced interviewers

always begin an interview by asking a few closed-ended questions whose answers will be "yes."This can put the interviewee at ease enough to answer a more open-ended question.

Closed-ended questions are also useful for stopping a story that goes on too long. A series ofclosed-ended questions requiring only a yes or no answer will almost certainly cause anyone to

stop offering information freely.
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Open-ended questions, conversely, start the flow of narrative. As a result, they are more useful to

the interviewer who wants to elicit stories. Young interviewers, especially, tend to need

instruction in the art of the open-ended question.

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What Fairy Tale Character Am I?

This story-game has two goals: to sensitize interviewers to the flow-stopping effect of closed-ended questions; and to encourage interviewers to ask questions based on what they have just

heard.

I begin the game with the following explanation:

This is a guessing game. I will pretend to be a character from a fairy tale. Your job will be to

guess who I am.

You can ask me questions about my life, and I'll answer them. But there are two special kinds of

questions in this game.

One special kind of question is the "yes/no" question. These questions can be answered with just

one word, "yes," or "no." Everytime you ask me one of these questions, I get a point on theblackboard. If I get five points, I win the game.

Another kind of question is the "follow-up" question. A follow-up question asks about something

I just said. Everytime someone asks a follow-up question, you get a point on the board.Everytime you get three points, you can make one guess about who I am.

The game proceeds with me answering questions as though I am, say, Rapunzel. My job is notonly to answer the questions, but to judge the correct amount of information to give.

With younger children, I might be quite forth-coming. With older or more experienced

interviewers, on the other hand, I might give evasive answers that conceal as much informationas possible.

In either case, my primary goal is not to fool the players, but to point out effective questionswhen they ask them.

TOP OF PAGE

The Hidden Mystery

As an interviewer, I have often found myself sure that I had stumbled on a significant story, but

could not quite elicit it from the interviewee. For example, I once interviewed a 10-year-old

student in front of her class, as an demonstration for them of how to interview.
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The student was telling how she had left her home in the Caribbean some years before. The

scene of her departure for the United States seemed important to me, but her description of it

lacked any feeling or sense of story-line. Finally, I began to imagine the scene in detail. I askedher exactly where she was when she said goodbye to her family. I asked her what time of day it

was.

Finally, I asked who was present. When she answered, I noticed she omitted her sister. When I

asked, "Where was your sister," she told us: her sister had gone to school already, and she never

got to say goodbye to her.

This was the significant part of the story, but I could only elicit it by carefully imagining every

aspect of the entire scene. To help students develop this skill, I tell them:

I'm going to tell you a story that has a hidden mystery in it. Everything about the story is

ordinary, except one thing.

You have to ask me questions until you get me to tell you the one unusual

Try to imagine the entire scene. It may help if you think about questions that start with words like"who, when, or where."

Then, I respond to their questions, gradually telling a story about a day when I had a tea party forsome of my friends - and one of my friends was a pink rhinoceros. When they force me to

describe the pink rhino, they have won the game. As usual, I comment on perceptive and helpfulquestions as they ask them.

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Before & AfterA good interviewer not only elicits stories, but also extends the stories by exploring themes.

For example, if the interviewee has just told a story about a childhood quarrel with a brother, theinterviewer might pursue the theme by asking, "Were there other times you two quarreled? Tell

me about them." If that question leads to a series of stories about rousing good arguments, the

interviewer might eventually ask, "Do you two still fight?"

In this way, the interviewer responds to a story by extending one of its themes back to its

beginnings and up to its end, or at least to its status in the present.

To help students develop this more advanced interviewing skill, I might tell them a true story

from my life, for example about the time I accidentally threw a stone through a car windshield,and then was so frightened I lied about having done it. The story I tell should seem complete in

itself, but also have several possible themes in it.

Then, I encourage the students to ask me "before" questions or "after" questions that develop a

theme in my story. Examples might include, "Tell us about the first time you ever lied," or "Was
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there a time after that when you got that scared again? Tell us about it." For each appropriate

theme-building question, I give them a point for "before" or for "after". When they have reached,

say, 5 points in each column, I declare them the winners!

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The Awful Interviewer

To highlight over-all interview decorum once the students have played all of the other games, Iwill role-play being the worst interviewer I can be.

With a student volunteer as interviewee, I will ask a series of closed-ended questions withouttaking into account - or even waiting for - the answers. I will start to talk about my own

experiences at length. I will give advice or speak judgmentally about what the interviewee says. I

may even insult the interviewee or get distracted by something in the environment.

After the brief demonstration, I ask the students to describe some of awful things I did.

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Next Steps

After learning these games, a group will probably be ready to practice interviewing a volunteeraccomplice, such as a teacher or the principal. During the interview, if necessary, I can offer

reminders about a principle or two that they may have forgotten in their excitement. Later, I can

offer the group appreciations about their interviewing.

After a successful interview or two with me present, the students can be sent in groups or

individually to interview community members or family members.

Having played the above games and then applied the lessons in a supervised interview, there is

an excellent chance that they will be able to treat their interviewees with respect, elicit theirstories, and follow-up on what they hear with perceptive questions.

My thanks to Esther Kaplan and the folks at Arts in Progress, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts,USA, for the opportunity and support to create these games.
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Teaching Tips, Games & Ideas

Find a comprehensive guide to teaching English to Young Learners from this page. There are

articles, games and ideas which are used across the world in teaching young learners.

Articles: Read from Experts in the Teaching Field

Articles by: Shelley Vernon (Author of several kids materials at

www.teachingenglishgames.com)

The reason we suggest you read Shelley's articles are simple. Shelley Vernon is a fantastic kids writer,

author and teacher whose ideas, teaching tips and games will help transform you into a very successful

teacher of kids.

Why Children Learn Faster with English Language Games

There is nothing that engages children more than teaching English through play. Indeed a bored

class will take in less than half of what a teacher says and retain none of it. Whereas an

attentive, interested and involved class, learning through fun English Language games, will take

in 100% of the lesson and retain up to 80% of it. Using language games in class has got to be one

of the most exciting ways to teach children English.

How English Games Help Children Learn

There are many ways to teach ESL/TEFL to children but one of the most exciting and rewarding

ways to do it is by using games. Games not only engage the children, but also teach through play

and most of the time the children dont even know they are learning until the time comes to

show their knowledge! It truly is possible (and almost necessary) to create a classroom where

the students not only learn but also truly enjoy their time there.

How to Teach a Child English One to One

How to make one to one teaching fun, whether you are a teacher with private pupils or a parent

wanting to teach English to your child in a fun way.

Teaching English Tips to Stay in Control of a Large ClassTeaching English with games is becoming standard through out ESL classrooms of the world.

This is good news, because children love to learn through games, and become much more

motivated students as a result. However games often make children excited, and if you have a

large class you need a few things up your sleeve to bring the class into line immediately if things

get a little over-heated. Here are some tips and ideas to help you.

Motivating Young Children to Learn English: Keeping Their Attention without Giving Them

Gifts
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Young children are often eager, almost too eager. The problem arises when they are eager to do

things other than what youre trying to teach them. Here are six top tips to keep them

interested in class and motivated to do what you want them to do.

Motivating the ESL Class: It's Not Just a Sea of Faces

Large ESL classes can be intimidating and sometimes daunting, but with a few tweaks to how

you plan for your English classes, you can make the large class seem smaller for both you and

the students.

Teaching Grammar with Fun Learning Games

Why teach children English grammar with games? Research is showing that this is an excellent

way to do it. What kind of games work best? This article answers those questions and is written

for those teaching English as a second language to children.

How to Effectively use Games in the Preschool and Elementary ESL Classroom

Things to consider and watch out for when teaching children ESL with games. Make sure the

children are stimulated and learning without the chaos games can sometimes cause.

Making ESL Learning Fun in the Pre-K or Preschool Classroom

Preschoolers are cute, funny and often eager to learn, but they are also energetic, active and

difficult to keep on any particular task for more than a few minutes. Two of the best Pre-K

teaching tools are ESL stories and games. Using games, stories and songs for young children will

make your classroom fun and exciting and your pupils will absorb and learn English quicker and

more efficiently than if you use traditional teaching methods.

Using Stories in the Preschool ESL Classroom

Do you want to start using stories in the preschool ESL classroom but don't know where to

start? There are many great pre-k activities for ESL classrooms, including games, but it's also

very important to not discount the power of stories. Whether you're reading a classic book,

making up a story as you go along or designing one specifically for a particular lesson, you'll

want to be sure to include a story in the preschool ESL class each day.

ESL Learning Styles, How to Implement Them and Have Fun

Understanding learning styles helps a teacher reach his or her students more effectively as well

as making lessons much more fun and varied. This article describes different ESL learning styles

and gives concrete examples of how to use them in class so teachers always have something up

their sleeves at the right time!

Classroom Games for Different ESL Learning Styles

It can be a challenge making grammar and vocabulary fun. However understanding ESL learning

styles opens up a new world of possibilities to the ESL teacher, helping him or her connect withthe students better, teach them more effectively and liven up the lessons significantly!

Discover How To Appeal To Your ESL Students' Learning Styles

Enrich your ESL lessons with an understanding of learning styles and how to implement activities

that appeal to all styles. Traditional teaching methods tend to neglect kinesthetic and tactile

learning styles and are often dry. Find out what you can do as a teacher to reach out to all your

students and be a more effective teacher, while massively enlivening your classes.
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Transform Your Teaching By Tapping Into Different ESL Learning Styles

An exciting article on the benefits of tapping into different ESL learning styles and how this

makes teaching more fun and effective. Teachers create a closer bond with students and

students are able to learn and retain language better.

Post- Story Activities and ESL Games for Preschool

1. Tasting game

If you are fortunate enough to have the real fruits easily available then bring them in and play a

blindfold tasting game. Be careful to wash the fruits and your hands carefully beforehand and

cut the fruits into small pieces. You can give the children the black and white pictures to be

colouring in while you are doing that, or you can have the fruits pre-prepared

which wouldactually be a lot better. Blindfold one child and feed them a piece of fruit on a spoon. The child

must guess what fruit it is. This is only suitable for small groups of course otherwise you would

need an assistant to help you getthrough the children faster.

2. Make a fruit salad

Again if you are fortunate to have the facilities to do this making up a real fruit salad is always apopular activity with the children. Make sure there is plenty of naming of the fruits as you put

them in the bowl and eat them afterwards.

You could play a game once the fruit salad is made where each time a child has a go they areallowed a spoon from the salad bowl. You will have to serve them yourself in a separate dish asthese days everybody is paranoid about germs, and you can't be too careful with other people's

children.

3. Hot Potato

Seat the children in a circle and hand out the different fruits at intervals around the circle. Play

music while the children pass the fruits around the circle. When you suddenly stop the music the

children holding fruits stand up, shout out the name of the fruit they are holding and give it to

another child in

the circle. You start up the music again and repeat until you feel you have had enough

4. Chanting game

First have the children chant or sing these simple words: Bananas oranges apples and pears

four times in a row. The trick is to say these four lines in a sing-song type way, with theintonation going up at the end of the first and third lines and down at the end of the second and in
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particular the fourth line. It is better if you can make up a simple tune, or use a tune that you

already know and put these words to it.

So you seat the children in a circle with eyes closed. One child stands outside the circle holding

one of the fruits. The whole group sing or chant the four lines while the child with the fruit

walks round the outside of the circle and at some point secretly puts the fruit behind anotherchild's back. When the song or chant is over all the children feel behind their back, and the one

with the fruit must jump up and run round the circle and try and catch the other child. The other

child will never be caught and will run round the circle and sit down in the place of the child nowholding the fruit. Repeat until as many children have had a go as is possible.

If you have a big group you can cut the chant down to two lines and have a little chasing sessionevery two lines instead of every four to let more people have a go.

5. Would you like?

Play question and answer dance. See the game for how to play. First practise saying, "Wouldyou like some milk?" in unison a few times. Count the children in with a one two. Then hold upa picture of the apples and count the children in. They must ask, "Would you like some

apples?" Have one go

with each food picture until the children have more or less got it. This should have taken youtwo minutes total so far.

Now you are ready to spend another 3-4 minutes on the game. When you stop the music hold upa picture card of one of the food items from the story. Count the children in and ask the question

with them. If the children can do it on their own so much the better, then you can answer them

with, "yes I

would", or "no thank you".

6. Role play

This is something to play once the children are very familiar withthe story and are ready to start using more language than just naming individual words.

Sit your group down on the floor and tell them to pretend to be in a restaurant where they are toorder.

One of the children is a waiter. If possible give them a tea towel and tray as props. The waitercomes up to the group and asks them, "would you like some milk", "oh yes please say the


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group", and the waiter goes off, selects the correct flashcard and brings it back to the table. Now

swap the waiter over and let another child have a go. If possible have the real fruits available for

the waiter to take over to the table.

7. Shopping race

Divide your children in to two teams and give each child a picture flashcard of a fruit or food

item that he or she must buy. At the other end of the room are two shops, one for each team.

Place your two best children in each of the shops. On go the first two children from each teamrun down to the shop

and the shop assistant must ask them what they would like for example, "would you like some

bananas?" The child doing the shopping must say, "oh yes please" if his or her picture is ofbananas and "no thank you" if it is of any other item.

You can vary how you play with this idea. For example you could allow the shop assistant to seethe flashcard so that all the shopping is done very quickly, and this is the best way with the three

year olds anyway. Or you could allow the shop assistant three guesses, and if none of thoseguesses are of the picture in the flashcard then the shopper has to go back to his or her team

empty handed.

There are of course many more ideas in the e-book of games which accompanies the stories, andI hope that, if you have found this series of emails with pre-story games and flashcards, a storyand post-story ideas, that you will see how much fun and how satisfying your teaching can be,

and that you will get the whole package of games with all ten stories.

Thank you for your interest, I hope the material has been helpful, and all the best with your

teaching. I will contact you again in a while, and remember that you can unsubscribe at any time

by clicking the link below.

Do let me know how you get along with the esl games for preschool and story and I shall email

you again soon with more ideas to use after story telling, and particularly with more speaking

ideas.

Documents

How to Teach Using Game