Gamification in language room ----- Serious Games

I want to practice gamification in another type of game called serious game, which is focus on a particular purpose and environment and no end to play. What I chose for this time is My Beauty Spa Panic from a gaming website OgiGames.

    I design learning objectives with four levels depend on the different difficulty class. First is describing walking routes of characters (Customer goes straight and then turn left). Second is vocabulary about spa (towel bathtub massage). Third is verb-tense (The waiter is doing nail polish for the customer now and they finished shower just now.). Fourth is story-telling. Students are asked to tell classmates what happened in his spa panic. I plan to assess my teaching goal by two ways: peer mediation and expert mediation. The whole class works in pairs to play this game and be required to practice learning objectives with each other by turns. Then I will call some students answer my questions related to the lesson.

Gamification in language room ----- Escape the Room Games

Today I have learned a new concept called gamification, which means applying game-design thinking into non-game activity that can make things more fun and engaging. I never thought that online game can be a way to teach, but after reading 7 Things You Should Know About Gamification and What is Gamification? I have some clear idea about gamification. It is helpful for teacher to active learning atmosphere and involve students in lessons. That is amazing. So I am going to try it by myself. I choose a game from a online-game website Big Fish called Room Escape: Floors. Personally I have played this game twice, the second time I searched its walkthrough in Google, because I have a big trouble obstruct me to complete successfully.

If I use this game in my language classroom, my learning objective is mainly on vocabulary, which must be chosen from these three aspects: furniture (pillow desk sofa piano), color (red green white black) or preposition (on, next to, behind, below). The whole class divided into six groups to play, each one focus on one of the six keys needed to escape. Then let them exchange their findings to pass the game together. I will give the oral walkthrough to assess whether they have mastered new vocabularies. Teacher play role as a mediator and promoter. I will give students a hand when they meet troubles in learning process and supervise them keeping new words in mind.

Thoughts about Twitter after reading

   I have chose two articles from my teachers` Diigo. These are useful to me. One of them tells me about actions what I should not do in Twitter. It lists ten actions like doing advertising, showing being loved and judging professional things with own prejudice. I totally agree with the author and this article reminds me a lot as a beginner in Twitter. The other article recommends me some awesome twitters classified by their subject. It is convenient for people looking for particular fields. And this collection of helpful twitters is valuable. I think Twitter is a place people can share various resources, exchange ideas and get responds immediately. I will check it usually from now on.

Article 1：10 Twitter Mistakes You Should Avoid

Article 2: Using Twitter for Teachers` Professional Development

Twitter Chat

It is not my first time to use this kind of chat, but in twitter with professional topic, I have never been in.  I have attend a chant called #web2.0tools. This group mainly focus on the Internet technology in education. People share their idea about the advantages and influence of various learning websites, and also do lots of recommendation. I have tried some, they are very useful and I never knew it. I think TC can be a good way for teachers to get knowing about the educational tendacy which is changing rapidly. Teachers and students will keep pace with the world by twitter. Being on time must raise the learning effciency of student as they can gain more help and creative methods. In adiition, people exchange ideas in anytime under the same chat topic. They can help each other and improve together.