Page 28 - ELG2205 May Issue 480

TEACHERS’ TIPS .

Language learning blocks

Teachers are using online games to engage students. Gerald

Nikolai Smith finds out how

PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK

t is a truth universally acknowledged that eyes light up. They’ll be eager to share their companies, Minecraft-Ed seeks to get students
a classroom of young learners in possession experiences with you. motivated and immersed through video games.
of a good (or poor) vocabulary, must be in Video games can be stressful too, especially “I’m not a gamer. In fact, before I designed
Iwant of a game. competitive ones like Call of Duty or FIFA. these courses, I’d never played Minecraft,” says
Jane Austin aside, I believe the importance However, not all games are created equal Athay. However, during her years of teaching
of games in the classroom cannot be when it comes to education. Creative online with various companies such as Whales
understated. A good game makes reinforcing simulation games such as Roblox or Minecraft English, her students, particularly the boys,
vocabulary and grammar relatively painless, are particularly well-suited to a classroom. consistently brought up Minecraft in free talk.
but more crucially, it means the students have Imagine you’re in a world made up of “What I ended up doing in the classes,
fun, something which is essential for a good 4 x 4 blocks. You explore, find caves, craft because they struggled with attention and
English language classroom. with engaging with the material, is I would
As the Covid pandemic pushed many This is the goal: to marry try and relate everything to Minecraft.” It
students into e-learning, games have saved seemed Athay had found the magic key for
many of my classes from the tyranny of reading the imaginative her students.
PPTs or watching long-winded YouTube motivating fun of video Athay, along with her business partner,
videos. However, as we moved online, ELT developed two courses with three levels:
has underutilised one type of game which games with content-based beginner, intermediate and advanced. One
could mesh perfectly with the e-classroom: course, a literature one reading books called
video games. language learning Diary of a Minecraft Zombie and another more
I’m not just saying this to vindicate my experimental course named Hands On, Minds
own childhood obsession (although it’s a armour and weapons, raise cows and sheep, On. Hands On, Minds On starts out with
bonus). Psychologists have long known the and dig to the middle of the Earth. Oh, and a PowerPoint going over useful vocabulary
connection to fun, learning and creativity. you’re learning about bees and pollination in and concepts, then both the student(s) and
Neurologist Dr Judy Willis points out in a English while you do this. teacher start up Minecraft and practice what
2007 paper that, “Brain research tells us that This is the goal of Minecraft-Ed Ltd (not they’ve learned.
when the fun stops, learning often stops too”. affiliated with Cambridge English’s Adventures The students (or at least their avatars) get
In that same paper, she advises teachers to in English Minecraft), to marry the imaginative to move around solving puzzles and read what
make the material relevant and to promote a motivating fun of video games with the NPC’s (non-player characters) have to say
stress-free environment. tried and tested concepts of content-based about the topic.
Many, if not most, young students know language learning. Often, they’ll need to use what they learn
and play video games daily. Mention games “It’s child-driven learning” says Tracey in the first part of the class in the second
like Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite to a Athay, director and co-founder of Minecraft- one. “Maybe once they’ve learned about the
school-age student and you will see their Ed Ltd. As one of the newest edtech ELT importance of pollination, they might build
28 May 2022