Game Playing

               

             Sound Factory – Simple fun, yet you have to know what the labels say as you go or one can quickly get lost in the game.  For language development the students will be talking about the story line of Dink the tire factory musician.  The basis of the game is for the player to gain new instruments.   With each new instrument it shows that the learner has the ability to follow visual and written instruction.  All of this while they compose a fun song while Dink is working.  Don’t forget if the boss catches you - game over.  This means you need to be able to read the prompt to stop all noise and continue your work without any distractions.  The final goal is to earn all the instrument through several days of work so you can record your own song.  I think this could work with two players taking turns helping each other along the way.   The teacher can be watching how well the students are able to follow instructions in English as they play the game.

                For assessment and to keep the fiero going in the classroom the students could have a competition. To see who gets the most instruments by the end of class or who gets to compose their own song first. 

                I think by using this simple idea the class could be creative and create their own imaginary game.  They may not be able to produce it but they could draw up a basic concept and write ideas about what they would like their own game to be like.  This could be done as a class or individually.  For this step using the walk-through would be helpful for the class to read so they have more of a background.  Though it is given in as part of a video in the start of the game as a teacher I would also like them to read the walk-through.  This would take language development farther and get much more creative.  Images from the game could be used at this time to help connect the two activities.

                 I played this game about five times.  I got to the second day and earned seven instruments.  I will probably play a couple more times, don’t tell anyone.