Use Serious Game Outside of the classroom

For the game that I want students to play outside the classroom for autonomous learning, I choose the Trace Effects.    

This game is designed to learn American English and culture. This game will ‘complement students’ classroom English language instruction through interactive 3D multimedia learning adventures’. The game ‘exposes users to American society and explores themes related to entrepreneurship, community activism, empowering women, science and innovation, environmental conservation, and conflict resolution’. ALL in all, this game provides some real American life. Students can not only learn language but culture of that language.

I played Chapter one of this game 3 times and get familiar with how to play it and then the whole game. I find this game great for learning outside of the classroom because it is divided into different chapters. During the game, students can learn vocabulary and some communication strategies. In order to get score, students need to communicate with people, for example, students and library staff. Students can talk with different people and hear Native American English with some body language when they are asked to do various actions. In this way, Students can experience real campus life. During the conversation, students need to be polite which means students have to follow basic communication rules. When students complete some of the conversation completely, they can get a score. Students can be motivated in this way so that they will engage more in the following game. One great practice is that after some actions, students will be asked to have a small quiz. Students can take notes and review the dialog whenever they want.

My language learning objectives would be SWBAT infer the meaning of some words in context; apply American daily communication skills in their own life and describe the problems and ask for help from others with target language.

I can use this game in my teaching because after asking students to play the game at home, I can design some role plays using scenes in the game to see if students can perform successfully using target vocabulary and expressions. This is one way of assessing. Also, I can make students into groups and assign each group different topics in the game to do a presentation. Last but not least, I can ask students to write an essay explaining the problems Trace encountered and how he solved them. 

How to Use Casual Game in Classroom

Gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging.

One rational for using games for language learning is that games can provide interactive experiences which engage and motive students. Students will have a positive attitude toward their language learning tasks.  Game is one great way to keep students engaged in language learning process. For example, by using walkthroughs, students can concentrate on teacher’s instructions which engage students into reading or listening. Students will find those walkthroughs very helpful for completing the game, so they will pay more attention to teacher’s direction. In addition, games are filled with language features such as new vocabulary, new sentence structure which provide useful language learning resources. So students can learn in a relaxed atmosphere.

I choose a game called Phantasy Quest. Personally I played the game first 3 times without the walkthrough but I got stuck.  After 3 tries with the help of the walkthrough, I completed the game. Even with the help of walkthrough, it is very difficult at some steps; for example, using the lantern to find the plant. I tried several times before I found it in the black hole. Another hard part is going out from the cave. I had to try different ways to get to right exit so that I can move on to continuing steps. The step14 should have been ‘go back once and go top right, go to middle door, go to middle door, and go left’.

My language learning objective would be SWBAT

Recognize and understand some new vocabulary; develop listening skills by focusing on details; understand my oral walkthrough and complete the task and use the vocabulary in their daily life.

The role of the teacher would be the resource and tutor. The teacher acts as a controller at the very beginning to explain the game and to teach some new vocabulary. Then the teacher acts as a resource because the teacher provides the walkthrough to students. During the game, the teacher acts as a facilitator. When students have some problems or when they get stuck, the teacher will be supportive.

I think the students would be actively involved because there is a clear goal of this game. Once students begin to play the game, they will be motivated because they eager to finish the game successfully. Also this engagement enforces the language learning objectives.

I would use a walkthrough for the game because I found it hard to complete separately when I play the game individually before the class. Students will be frustrated if they could not find the way out. I would use the walkthrough as a listening test. Students need to listen to and understand my instruction before moving on. I would use images from the game to introduce some vocabulary before playing the game. For example, lantern, skull, plant, rope, fishing pole, skeleton, key and the theory of how to use the stick to move the rock. I would write those words on the blackboard.

I can assess whether my learning objectives had been met by using the walkthrough. If students can escape from the desert successfully following my instruction, it means they can understand the listening part. To put the game into small part will work better because I can see if students can complete each step after each walkthrough. That is, we play the game step by step and I assess one by one. Also, I can have a vocabulary test after the game to evaluate students’ mastery of those words. 

Use Twitter for my own professional development and teaching

In the article The Teacher’s Guide to Twitter, it is said that ‘Twitter has proven itself to be an indispensable tool for educators around the globe’. There are many resources in Twitter. Based on the topics that we are interested in, we can follow people who will be useful in our professional development. Meanwhile, we can share resources that we find out with other people. This is proved in this article by the opinion ‘Create, Don’t Just Consume’. One great way of doing this is joining a Twitterchat. I never joined a chat like this before this course. After doing this, I noticed the significance of this kind of information exchanging. People can ask questions and get various answers from participants. Almost every participant will share his or her idea on that question. In the future, if I come across a problem and cannot find a solution, I can write it down on the chat group. I am sure I can get a number of creative answers.

Since Twitter is so convenient and helpful, I am sure I will use it in my teaching. After checking A Must Have Guide on Using Twitter in your Classroom, I summarize several items I will use in my teaching. With the development of e-learning, I can set up a class twitter which teachers, students and parents can access and communicate. For example, I can use hashtags on Twitter so that students who were not able to make it to class can follow along and stay on top of the conversation. In addition to the assignments students were asked to do, I can put some extra ones for them. Every student has opportunity to post a question or reply to questions or topics. It seems that Twitter is a great tool for increasing communication and cooperative learning. Also, I will share various resources on Twitter. Students who want further study can track them and learn by themselves. Last but not least, parents can assess the Twitter so they can know what happened on their children. This is also a good platform for me to get in touch with them. In the whole process of using Twitter, I have to keep everything in order and make sure to update in time so that I will not miss important information.

Twitterchat #ntchat

I attended the Twitterchat #ntchat. Our Topic for tonight is Parent Conference Tips. It is a “structured chat” like Question 1, Q2, with Answer 1, A2. I followed four questions of this chat.

Q1: What is the first thing you do to prepare? The answers said about reviewing student grades, paperwork, and students’ performance in the school. Also, one mentioned that she made magnets for parents to take home with website/blog/grades websites and my email/twitter. This is a good tip for me because connected with education technology I can get in touch with parents out of the school in this way.

Q2:  How can you include student reflections in the conference? What role does the student play in team meetings/conferences? Some schools have students run the conference. There are some hints given by the participants on working with Ps and parent conferences.

Q3: There will be times when you'll need to defuse an UPSET parent. What are some good strategies to do this? To conclude, they said they try to understand why they are upset and talk with them about the concerns. Try to talk about some positive things about students at first.

Q4: How can you monitor time so that parents have the chance to ask all questions? Do you use a timer? Some of them mentioned that they will write a schedule or use a timer.

I find Twitterchat is great to share opinions. For me, because I do not have much experience, I can get many tips from their chat. I think this will be a good form of professional development for me. Actually I never thought about how I will run the parent conference. I realized that it is important to get connected with parents because I can get information about students from their parents. Students spend a lot of time home with parents. From this chat I learned a lot of tips about how to manage the conference, how to balance parents’ and students’ reflection. During the chat some participants gave resources link which I can use in my future teaching experience. For example, one great resource is 12 ConversationStarters on What Parents Want You (Teachers) to Know. I also notice that they have class website or blog so that they can meet online. I think this is a development as technology is used more and more in both learning and teaching.