This Week's Project: Learning English with Video Games

Learning English with Video Games

As June comes to a close - and a new year officially begins (hello, hello, 1447! 🎉) - I've revived an old project that aims to teach English through video games. In the past few years, I've been putting together ideas for English learning programs and experiences that take advantage of the formats which are most attractive to young learners today. I've explored everything from social media to video games. Speaking of video games...

Technically, I didn't complete a whole game in just a week. Oh, no - this is a much greater undertaking than can be completed in a week. There's art to be made, and interfaces to be designed, and code to be scripted, and narrative to be designed, and all that other fun stuff. However, I did manage to work on the design document.

This is a huge step forward, because unlike other design documents for video games, this one includes an entire built-in curriculum, complimenting the gameplay and mechanics. There's a lot that I still need to figure out, but given that the curriculum is perhaps the most important part of the design, I'll take the win for this week and feel good about it. Alhamdulillah! Despite all the distractions - and, boy, have there been distractions! - I managed to complete one more thing that will bring me closer to my goals.

 

For this particular learning experience, I'm working with a very specific target audience in mind: Moroccan teens from 11-18 (and possibly young adults, too, if they enjoy this style of game). The genre is a simulation-type game, but the game is driven by a central narrative that progresses as the student/player progresses in their English language learning. 

As far as challenges go, this early in the design and development stages, there's one particular issue that I think might trip me up. The game is themed, as all games are, and since I can't make the world's biggest game delving into every little avenue of English language - all the topics, all the words, all the phrases, all the situations, etc. - I do have to find a way to strike a balance between the restrictions imposed by the theme and objective of the game, and the breadth of language that I would like to model for students in order to get them to successfully complete a range of CEFR standards for their language proficiency level. 

This game is ideally the first of many, all of which will focus on a different theme & objective - completely different games - that will highlight different topics and subjects that players can explore while learning English at the same time. I'm hoping to make use of transferable knowledge in the form of what players already know about other video games in the same genres, and how that can help them understand the EFL game more accurately, despite linguistic challenges. In a way, this is a template of sorts, and if I can make this work, I'll have something to base the other games on moving forward. The hope is that students/players will find the game that best suits them - the genre, theme, or type of game that they enjoy most - and enjoy a rich learning experience that, while heavily themed, will give them a strong boost in their English language learning journey.

The game is not meant to be a complete learning resource on its own. It's not meant as a replacement for a full English language course, or even a replacement for a textbook. That being said, I still envision it being a rather robust resource, and, should I ever complete and publish it inshaAllah, I hope that the students/players who enjoy it find their hours of gameplay concretely rewarding in ways most other games are not. 

When I have something to share, I'll be opening up the Beta Testers form for anyone who wants to playtest the game (or any other game I develop, mayhaps?). In the meantime, you can still sign up to be a Beta Reader or a Course Evaluator, so if any of those sound interesting to you, head on over to the site here.   

If ever I share a project that you're intrigued by and want to learn more about or get involved in, don't hesitate to drop a comment. I'll be setting up a Contact Me page soon, and in the meantime, you can always send me a more detailed message in my tumblr ask box. Just start it off with the word INQUIRY in all caps, so I'm sure it's not something that I need to respond to on the blog itself. 👍