There is a lot
of reading in
many computer games. This includes instructions on how to play the
game, the
objectives, in-game text from characters or game help, and
the walkthrough. More importantly,
being turned on by the games, kids can read a level over their head. All this makes online games ideal for outside of classroom reading practice.
The McDonald's Game is a serious game
that students could play outside of the classroom for autonomous learning. I played
it twice and found that the entire game relies on the player’s understanding of
the game help. Players are required to read 30 pages of instruction as to how
to run a big company like McDonald’s. In the game, players need to take control
over everything from feeding the cows to marketing McDonald’s
hamburgers. Unlike traditional reading materials which usually drive people to
sleep after a few lines, the closeness-to-life and fun offered by the game
makes it perfect for kids to read in their spare time without being bored at
all. One way to assess students’ reading comprehension is to start a discussion
of the game in class. Teachers could assess their reading ability by raising
questions like “What do I need to know to play the game?” “How are doing with your
McDonald’s business?" From students’ responses, teachers could have a clear
picture of whether they have understood those game help texts.
Gamification is the application of game
elements in non-gaming contexts. “In academe, gamification typically employs
elements such as points, badges, or progress bars to engage or motivate
students in the learning process。” （7 Things YouShould Know About Gamification. As an ESL teacher, I personally hold
that games are often more engaging than traditional classroom teaching methods. Online game genres like point-and-click, or escape-the-room are very interesting ways for
students to memorize vocabulary or practice speaking and listening. Take speaking
for example, I used to find that it is very difficult to engage students to
speak in classroom, let alone outside classroom. One reason for thisdifficulty is that traditional speech topics like “please describe the city you live in”
is quite boring. However, there are so many ways to encourage speaking with
computer games. Sometimes, even the mention of a favorite game name could
probably start a lively discussion in class. Anyway, who doesn’t love playing
games!
Polleke’s Blue Room is one of the many
escape-the-room online games which could be used in second language classroom. I
played it for three times and found that it is a good one for learning some key
vocabularies and practice speaking and listening. The learning objectives would
be for students to grasp some key vocabularies like panel, isle, gorilla, and
be able to use those vocabularies in both speaking and listening. In the beginning
of the class, the teacher is supposed to list the vocabularies she/he expects students
to learn. Students would be paired in two as a team. One of the students will read the
walk-through firsthand and then instruct in his/her own word to the teammate how to escape the room. The student who describes is expected to include as many key
vocabularies mentioned in the beginning of the class as possible. And of
course the student who actually plays the game is expected to recognize those
vocabularies at the hearing of them. In the whole process, the teacher acts
like an activity facilitator and coordinator. The teacher will record the number
of the key vocabularies uses by the speaker of each team and the time each team
uses to escape the room. The team who uses most of the vocabularies and the
team who uses the shortest time will be rewarded.
There is a lot
of reading in
many computer games. This includes instructions on how to play the
game, the
objectives, in-game text from characters or game help, and
the walkthrough. More importantly,
being turned on by the games, kids can read a level over their head. All this makes online games ideal for outside of classroom reading practice. 
