Dear reader,
Let me explain you what is the purpose of all this project. If you are here it's because you want to learn more about my plan, you are just curious about what's going on here or you are one of my students who are learning English in a fun way.
What's the fun about this? Well, we have Ingress, a videogame which uses the Satnav in your mobile phone to interact with its virtual environment. I'm trying to combine this videogame with some interactive English lessons related to the in-game experience and to use some serious game mechanics to make my students learn English in a different way, a more motivational one (I hope).
So, every single language ability (reading, listening, writing and speaking) will be developed and improved by programming activities which are going to mix in-game virtual experience with real life lessons and resources.
These activities will be rewarded with different marks which will be taken into account to be added to the "normal" marks the students get throughout the evaluation term.
Let's talk about the project step by step.
So, every single language ability (reading, listening, writing and speaking) will be developed and improved by programming activities which are going to mix in-game virtual experience with real life lessons and resources.
These activities will be rewarded with different marks which will be taken into account to be added to the "normal" marks the students get throughout the evaluation term.
Let's talk about the project step by step.
My students are reading about the Niantic project story. I want them to learn about the game before they start playing it. So knowing the basics of the story behind Ingress will make them better players, since they'll learn that there is a story behind it and this is not just a "normal" game.
In order to learn how to play Ingress, the students will download a guide for beginners and they will need to read it if they want to achieve their virtual aims inside the game. They will also use their scanner in English, so they will acquire more vocabulary which will be developed and written using a glossary.
To check their reading skills we are going to work with questionnaires, open questions, multiple choice activities and little tests about the extracts they are going to read.
What about the Listening?
There are plenty of videos to work and develop the students' listening ability. They will watch a few of them and they will work doing several different questionnaires about what they watch. All of the videos will be related to the Ingress story and/or Ingress gameplay.
So... how will they improve their Writing skills?
That's an interesting question. First, they will need to communicate in English in the channels which will be created for their factions. Then, they will also write a weekly diary reflecting their experiences both in real life and inside Ingress. Furthermore, when they gather together in cooperative groups each Friday, they will write a plan using the intel map and the worksheets provided.
Finally, they will need to write reports about their progress inside/outside of the game both using their own handwriting and digital resources.
And finally, the Speaking...
All of the plans mentioned before will be arranged among the group members using English. Moreover, the Strategist on each group will discuss these plans with the Faction Supervisor (one teacher who will take control of the Enlightened Faction and another one who will be in charge of the Resistance). The Faction Supervisors will make the students use their English during the whole session. Every Logistic Manager will have a meeting once a week to exchange the items his/her group needs with the colleagues until their inventories are refilled.
To learn more about the different roles stablished go to the "Roles" sections into this website.
As an extra, the students will also learn or improve:
Which learning standards are going to be developed with this project?
In order to learn how to play Ingress, the students will download a guide for beginners and they will need to read it if they want to achieve their virtual aims inside the game. They will also use their scanner in English, so they will acquire more vocabulary which will be developed and written using a glossary.
To check their reading skills we are going to work with questionnaires, open questions, multiple choice activities and little tests about the extracts they are going to read.What about the Listening?
There are plenty of videos to work and develop the students' listening ability. They will watch a few of them and they will work doing several different questionnaires about what they watch. All of the videos will be related to the Ingress story and/or Ingress gameplay.
So... how will they improve their Writing skills?That's an interesting question. First, they will need to communicate in English in the channels which will be created for their factions. Then, they will also write a weekly diary reflecting their experiences both in real life and inside Ingress. Furthermore, when they gather together in cooperative groups each Friday, they will write a plan using the intel map and the worksheets provided.
Finally, they will need to write reports about their progress inside/outside of the game both using their own handwriting and digital resources.
And finally, the Speaking...All of the plans mentioned before will be arranged among the group members using English. Moreover, the Strategist on each group will discuss these plans with the Faction Supervisor (one teacher who will take control of the Enlightened Faction and another one who will be in charge of the Resistance). The Faction Supervisors will make the students use their English during the whole session. Every Logistic Manager will have a meeting once a week to exchange the items his/her group needs with the colleagues until their inventories are refilled.
To learn more about the different roles stablished go to the "Roles" sections into this website.
As an extra, the students will also learn or improve:
- Their researching abilities since they will need to investigate several different puzzle/riddles.
- Their glyph hacking skills, a kind of code/patterns with hidden messages which they will need to memorize to decode them.
- Their teamworking skills to cooperate with the members of their group and the other groups which belong to their factions.
- Their social abilities to negotiate with their partners, resolve problems and exchange the items they need to succeed in and out of the game.
- Their values helping their faction members to achieve their goals.
- Their ability to analyze and explore the environment.
- Their digital competence using apps and devices they didn't use before.
- Their responsibility using their devices in a healthy way.
- Their healthy habits, since Ingress is a game which makes you move to achieve your goals.
- Their knowledge about the place they live in, since all the landmarks of their city are in-game portals they will need to explore and interact with.
Which learning standards are going to be developed with this project?
- You can learn about this question downloading and reading the this file - Press here!
