The age-old question: How do you make learning more engaging? The answer I support: when learning feels like "play." Game-Based learning is a curriculum design that I have championed ever since attending a workshop last summer with The Institute of Play. The hardest new concept for educators to accept is HOW to make the learning (not the review) feel like play rather than utilizing "teacher input." There are a couple of concepts advocated by The Institute of Play that I used to design this vocabulary teaching game: Vocabulary Ladder. Here are the rules to the game in which students LEARN new vocabulary in a fun and engaging manner.
Divide the class into teams of 3-4 students.
1. It kinda feels like play: The goal of the game is to be the first team to make it to the end of the "Candy Land" - like map.
2. Everyone is a participant: Each member has a role to play. One person is in charge of writing their answer choice on a personal white board and holding it up when time is called,
The Writer. Another member is in charge of defending and explaining why they chose the word,
The Lawyer. Then someone is in charge of rolling the dice,
Dice Roller The final person (and in groups of three the dice roller can double up and do this) is the
Place Mover and travels to the front of the room to move the game piece.
3. Failure is reframed as iteration: As I listen to various arguments, I praise their ability to look at loan words or cognates even if their choice is wrong.
4. Learning happens by doing: I pick about 15-18 never seen before vocabulary words from a new unit and place them into a Power Point. I then give them about 5 translations to choose from. Students have to guess the definition to the new word based on prior knowledge, loan words, perhaps something they have seen before in another class, etc.... and be prepared to defend their choice.
5. Challenge is constant: Words must be new so that students are having to rely on cognition skills to learn the vocabulary, rather than just memorize. This is not a review game but rather a learning game where meaning for the new words is created immediately when their groups try to logically predict and then justify meaning. To prevent one team from having an advantage, teams with correct answers get to roll a dice to determine how many spaces to move forward. So, at any time, it is still anyone's game as a perfect 6 could be rolled or a 1 could be rolled. Also, on the game board their is a ladder indicating a backwards move. If the team rolls and lands on this block they move back a row.
6. Feedback is immediate: The correct answer is revealed after all the Lawyers have presented their case. Then, only the groups with the correct responses get to roll the dice and move forward the same number of spaces on the game board.
7. Everything is interconnected: Students have fun using material they have seen on television, heard in science class, "it looks like this..." The meaning of the vocabulary is created instantly without any teacher input.
How to Make A Game Board:
Using painter's tape, make a "Candy-Land" like board. This one was made on a white vinyl table cloth purchased at Walmart. Once I mapped out the route, I used a sharpie to draw in the boarders. Include a slide down and a slide up to keep the game interesting and random.
The game pieces (stuffed animals) were purchased at the dollar store along with a pack of dice.
For more great ideas check out my store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Digitally-French?aref=6n02igd7
