Friday, July 13, 2007

Learning through Games

It all happened here, on this virtual spot. An image, a word, a comment sparked the initiative.

Last Thursday a failed meeting ended up in a gaming session. Childhood memories, an old Monopoly game from NYC, a common interest, a shared language, similar goals?
A new plan:
TOEFL iBT Prep Class Game Night Monopoly NYC Edition
And some basic rules you worked out :
- Always speak English
- Have fun, it's just a game

Here's what Bernie Dodge, the creator of WebQuests, thinks about the power of games in education:
Power = Attention x Depth x Efficiency


http://www.infinitethinking.org/2007/03/itm-extra-p-x-d-x-e.html

And you thought you were just playing a game!?

Just as I told Vani in a recent e-mail:
Remember when we talked about experiencing the language at the beginning of the year? This is exactly what you are doing. I knew an exam prep course could be more than just grammar and drilling. It's about people and connections. You've proven me right!
Have fun tonight!

Update: TOEFL iBT Monopoly Game Night Video

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Well, we did have fun. We also spoke all the time in English. Those who didn't abide by the rule got a penalty. Some people finished with a blue or green tongue, others ended with burning throats, but as bad as it sounds it was all innocent and funny : )
    Thanks to Mariano for offering his home and to Vanina for the thematic ornamentation.
    OK ... Mariano won, I lost, and there are some infamous pics to record that.

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  3. Hi, Ale,

    Thanks for your comment! I've just watched the video on Mariano's blog (and on You Tube as well). What a night! Should I consider using the same methods when my students speak Spanish in class?
    Anyway, I've just added the video to the wiki.

    Thanks for sharing ;-)

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  4. coming up soon by e-mail.... The winner AND loser picture. You can't miss it. Sorry to public readers of this blog but I can't post the picture, as Alejandro said it's kinda infamous.
    About the video Mariano has to add the videos and pics from my camara because he was penalized as well and he got to eat to thingie. The only one that wasn't penalized was Alejandra. Good job!!!

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  5. Ok, hold your horses: I was wrongfully penalized, but I complied to satisfy popular demand.

    It was when I was asked why Alejandro was penalized. I repeated his word off the record and that, according to you, was worthy of penalization. :P

    It was still quite fun complying with it.

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  6. I hope next time there´s enough PEOPLE (that means Homo sapiens, it includes all members of the species, with no distinction according to their line of work) to play Monopoly and some other game at the same time, like Go for example.

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  7. nice blog.. This is a very useful blog for me.well enough nice stuff abt TOEFL.

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