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Online Interactive Storytelling Games
The document discusses interactive storytelling games for language teaching. It begins by asking teachers questions about how they currently use games in their teaching and what types of games they and their students play. It then provides examples of interactive storytelling games that have been developed for language learning, including escape room-style games where students must work together to solve puzzles. The document discusses designing interactive storytelling games, noting they should involve co-created stories, random events/outcomes, player agency, and a games master facilitator. It provides templates and outlines for games teachers can use or adapt for their own classrooms.
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Online Interactive Storytelling Games
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- 2. Think about thefollowing. What role do games play in your teaching? Do you use games with learners often/sometimes/rarely/never? Outside of class do your learners play games? How often? What type of games do you and your learners play? Have you ever played a role- playing game? What do you think an online INTERACTIV E STORYTELLI NG GAMES REFLECTIO N https://ltsig.iatefl.org/ltsig-mo
- 3. Role-Playing-Games and English Lessonsby Elena Pereseada. Lockdown learning – Role-play Games Online by James Egerton. James has developed several games for language learning, including Saving the Princess (a prepositions quest) Hiking Adventure. Role-play games in the classroom by Mike Astbury Five Best Practices Teachers Can Learn from Dungeon Masters by Paul Darvasi. INTERACTIV E STORYTELLI NG GAMES READING https://ltsig.iatefl.org/ltsig-mo 1 2 3 4
- 4. INTERACTIV E STORYTELLI NG GAMES PLAY TESTS https://ltsig.iatefl.org/ltsig-mo 1 2 3 A fortnightto cross the valley. Watch part of the recording of the playtest of this game (Webheads in Action weekly meeting) Get the Treasure and Escape the Island! Watch part of the recording of the playtest (Association for Language Learning) A quiet year. Quiet Year
- 5. • Interactive storytelling • Examplegames • Escape the family dinner party • Get the Treasure and escape the island ONLINE INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING GAMES Who am I ?
- 6. What is aninteractive story? An interactive story is a guided short story in text form, with questions. It is a speaking acivity, with students working in pairs. The storyteller has a handout of the story and reads it stopping to ask the listener questions. The storyteller continues when happy with the responses. http://englishconversations.org/interactive-stories Mark White ONLINE INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING GAMES
- 7. THE SMALL TOWN PHOTOGRAPHER The small townphotographer A photographer (What is his name?) lives in a small town (Where is it?) where he has successfully made a good living for many years. In the window of his shop he proudly displays some of the wedding photographs he has taken of happy couples over the years.
- 8. INTERACTIVE STORYTELLIN G GAMES Similar torole-playing games (RPG) Interactive story-telling games + co-created, more open-ended stories + random events and outcomes + facilitated by a Games Master (GM) + longer activities (several classes) RPG in ELT
- 9. A live listening/ interactive story / escape room role-playing game #ELTESCAPE Graham Stanley, May 2020 ESCAPE THE FAMILY DINNER PARTY
- 11. Small talk What languagedo we use for socialising? Apologising and making excuses What things do we say to apologise / to make excuses? ESCAPE THE FAMILY DINNER PARTY
- 12. Small talk The weather’slovely/horrible today, isn’t it? How is school / work? Did you see the news today? What’s new? How was your week / weekend? Did you have a good day? Apologising and making excuses I’m very sorry, but… Unfortunately, I have to… Sorry for the inconvenience, but… I’m afraid I have to… I’m sorry to trouble you, but… I hate to say this, but… I’ve got a bit of a problem, you see… Apologies, but… ESCAPE THE FAMILY DINNER PARTY
- 14. What was itwe have to remember to do?
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- 24. GET THE TREASURE AND ESCAPE THE ISLAND Graham Stanley @grahamstanley June2020 An #ELTESCAPE ADVENTURE FOR LEARNERS
- 25. TREASURE ISLAND -You have followedthe old man’s instructions and have at last found the secret island. -You have a map and know where the treasure is hidden…or so you think. -You and your new friends have one last chance to find it.
- 26. WHO ARE YOU? -What isyour name? -Where are you from? -What do you do? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And most importantly… …what do you secretly want? At any point during the game, you can reveal your hidden secret and try to accomplish it. If you do not do this during the game, then it will happen at the end of the game.
- 27. WHAT MAKES FINDING THE TEASURE DIFFICULT? -1) -2) -3) -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Decide together what three things are going to make your adventure difficult.
- 28. CHALLENGE S The game willconsist of 6 turns. During the first 5 turns, there will be a challenge to overcome. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Each character needs to write a challenge (do not tell the others) Example challenges:
- 29. SUCCESS During each ofthe 5 turns, we will randomly select a challenge. Each turn a different character will decide what to do to try to overcome a challenge We will select a chip from a bag to see if you are successful or not. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- 30. CHALLENGE 1 Set the scene Describethe challenge - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How will you overcome the challenge? Chances left = 10
- 31. CHALLENGE 2 Set the scene Describethe challenge - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How will you overcome the challenge? Chances left = 10
- 32. CHALLENGE 3 Set the scene Describethe challenge - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How will you overcome the challenge? Chances left = 10
- 33. CHALLENGE 4 Set the scene Describethe challenge - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How will you overcome the challenge? Chances left = 10
- 34. CHALLENGE 5 Set the scene Describethe challenge - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How will you overcome the challenge? This is the final challenge and your chance to get the treasure! Chances left = 10
- 35. PERSONAL CHALLENGE S Now it’s timeto reveal your hidden wants and see you have been able get what you wanted if you haven’t already revealed them - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- 36. INTERACTIVE STORYTELLIN G GAMES Designing yourown Start with LEARNING OBJECTIVES OISGs should be… + co-created, open-ended stories + random events and outcomes + player agency (not predetermined) + facilitated by a Games Master (GM) RPG in ELT
- 37. INTERACTIVE STORYTELLIN G GAMESGRAHAM STANLEY @GRAHAMSTANLEY 25th July2020 https://www.slideshare.net/bcgstanley
Editor's Notes
- #2 Online interactive storytelling games are a great way to motivate language learners to speak and listen. They can also be easily adapted by the teacher to most levels and are suitable to play with a range of age groups. During this workshop, we will look at how best to approach online storytelling games with some examples and then discuss how teachers can best design their own games for their learners. Graham Stanley works for the British Council in Mexico City. He is the editor of 'Remote Teaching' (British Council, 2019), the author of 'Language Learning & Technology' (CUP, 2013) and the co-author of 'Digital Play: Computer games and language aims'. IATEFL LTSIG Monthly webinar given on Saturday July 25th 2020 https://ltsig.iatefl.org/ltsig-monthly
- #3 Before the webinar, I suggested you do some pre-tasks to ensure you make the most of to The first part of this was reflection on your own practice 1. Reflection Think about the following. What role do games play in your teaching? Do you use games with learners often/sometimes/rarely/never? Outside of class do your learners play games? How often? What type of games do you and your learners play? Have you ever played a role-playing game? What do you think an online interactive storytelling game is? Just out of interest, how many of you did it? This was adapted from Laine Marshall’s SOFLA (synchronous online flipped learning approach) and the reason for asking you to do it is so we can move more quickly to the design part of OISGs. If you didn’t do this, then please consider doing it after the webinar if these games are something you are interested in. If you are watching a recording of this, then you can pause the recording and do the tasks now. For those of you watching live, we are going to move on.
- #4 Pre-webinar task A was to choose one of 4 reading texts. If you did this, then can you write in the chat which one you read. If you didn’t have time, then I suggest you take a look after the webinar if OISGs are something you think you might want to play with students. 2. Pre-webinar task A Choose one of the reading texts below, read it and think about the following questions: Is this something I can see myself doing with my learners? Why? Why not? Reading: Role-Playing-Games and English Lessons by Elena Pereseada. Elena runs the RPG in ELT Facebook group, which consists of a lively bunch of teachers who meet every week to playtest and discuss RPGs for teaching and learning English. Lockdown learning – Role-play Games Online by James Egerton. James is an active member of the RPG in ELT group and has developed several games for language learning, including Saving the Princess (a prepositions quest) Hiking Adventure. Role-play games in the classroom by Mike Astbury Five Best Practices Teachers Can Learn from Dungeon Masters by Paul Darvasi.
- #5 Pre-webinar task B was to choose one of 3 recordings of playtests of interactive storytelling games. Again, if you did this, then can you write in the chat which one you watched a segment of? If you didn’t have time, then I suggest you take a look after the webinar. Play tests are an important part of designing any game, which we will come back to after taking a look at Interactive Storytelling in general. 3. Pre-webinar task B Choose one of the recordings showing interactive storytelling games being played with a group of teachers and answer the following questions: Knowing what you now do about role-paying games, is this what you expected to see? If not, what is different? How do you think you would approach the design of a similar game for your own students? A fortnight to cross the valley. Watch part of the recording of the playtest of this game carried out in the weekly Webheads in Action weekly meeting. The playtest starts at 6:31. The discussion about the tool (Hex Kit) used and the game starts at minute 36:11. Get the Treasure and Escape the Island! Watch part of the recording of the playtest of this game carried out in a webinar give to the Association for the London branch of the Association for Language Learning (the game play starts at 9:31). The play test finishes at 42:52 and there is then a brief discussion about the game and if and how it could be adapted to suit lower level language learners. A quiet year in the valley. Watch part of the recording of the Quiet Year playtest conducted by the RPG in ELT Facebook group. At minute 44:29 we stop playing and discuss the game and if it would work with language learners.
- #6 What we are going to do is to look at interactive storytelling in general and why it adapts well to the online environment, then I’ll look at two of the games I’ve made
- #7 I first came across the concept of interactve storytelling years ago, when I was introduced to it by an English teacher based in Japan, called Mark White. Mark has lots of example stories and recordings of students telling his stories on his website. I immediately liked the idea and decided to write one of my own to try out with my own students.
- #8 After I came across this, I tried my hand at my own interactive story. Although in the class you would have the ss working in pairs with one student the storyteller, online, you can either do this as a whole class activity, or send the students to breakout rooms. I like the idea of doing a live listening with students as the teacher can adapt the script to suit the students. I also recommend an open-ended story that will pique your students curiosity. I’m going to tell my story and have you respond in the chat as an example of this. THE SMALL TOWN PHOTOGRAPHER 1. The Wedding Photograph © Graham Stanley, 2005 A photographer (What is his name?) lives in a small town (Where is it?) where he has successfully made a good living for many years. In the window of his shop he proudly displays some of the wedding photographs he has taken of happy couples over the years. He is very fond of one photograph in particular (What does it show?) It’s of a couple posing next to a ruined tower with a brilliant red sunset in the background of the picture. (Why is he proud of it?) It’s a particularly good photograph and ever since displaying this photo in his shop window, he has noticed an increase in the number of customers his studio has received, especially for weddings. And people enquiring about wedding photographic services always comment upon it. (What do they say?) He’s convinced that the photo is a one-off, and he has often tried to recreate the photo again with different couples – in fact they often ask for it – but it never turns out the same way (Why not? What’s wrong with them?) (What is his explanation?) There must have been something special about that day, something magical. He was just starting out as a wedding photographer, the couple in question were so in love, plus an extra, unknown factor. One October morning (what is he doing?) he is surprised by a special visitor (Who is it?) It is the woman featured in his special wedding photo. Quite a bit older, but still recognisable. She waits until he isn’t busy and introduces herself. (What does she want?) She explains that she has recently moved back to the town after living elsewhere. (Where was she living? With who?) She is living with her mother now. ‘I’m sorry’ says the photographer (What does he think has happened?) He believes the woman has divorced her husband. The woman does not explain, but she does ask the photographer a big favour. (What is it?) She asks him to remove the photograph from his window as she now passes the photographer’s studio every day on her way to work and the photograph disturbs her (Why?) The photographer is surprised by the woman’s request and agrees to it, telling her that he will remove it at the end of the day. The woman thanks him and leaves the shop. The man works hard for the rest of the day, and starts to wonder if he has made the right decision agreeing to remove his lucky photograph from his window. (What does he do?) He finally decides to respect the woman’s wishes and removes the photograph but three things happen the next day to make him regret his decision. Talk to your partner and say why the photographer wishes he hadn’t taken the photograph from the window, explaining the three things that happened.
- #10 This is a live listening / interactive story / role-playing game designed to encourage speaking among EFL students. It can be played in a classroom or online and requires no other materials other than this powerpoint, a teacher and students. To use, follow the instructions in the notes section, asking students to supply answers to the questions and moving the story forward to a resolution. The scenario can be played with different levels of students (you can grade the language to suit) and is meant for them to practise their general speaking skills, although the language of excuses and socialising will be mainly used. Because of this, it is an ideal game for B1-B2 level students. The game should take around 20-30 minutes to play. If you want to make this more like a RPG, you can use dice to determine the reactions to what the players say, although this is optional. Images created using https://www.doodly.com/
- #11 Scenario: Every year, your Uncle Baco and Aunt Camila hold a dinner party to celebrate your cousin David’s birthday. All of David’s cousins are invited, along with Grandpa Philip and Grandma Mary. You don’t particularly like your cousin David, but you have promised your parents you will go and you have accepted the invitation. On the day of the dinner party, a surprise announcement is made about a very special event that is happening in the town hall at 10pm that night (What is it? Ask the students to tell you). There is limited space at the town hall and so you will all need to leave the dinner party by 9pm in order to get there in time. Unfortunately, past experience tells you that these dinner parties usually go on late, and don’t finish until 11pm. (Why? Because the food is usually served later than expected and David and his family love to play board games after dinner) This time, though, you are all determined to escape the dinner party by 9pm, but without upsetting anyone. The invitation asked you to be at the house at 7pm, but you know they don’t expect you to be punctual. However, you have an idea (What? f you arrive early and offer to help with the food, perhaps you can leave on time.)
- #12 In particular students will be socialising / practising small talk / making polite conversation; apologising; making excuses and promises. If you feel it necessary, you can pre-teach this language or deal with it as you go along / afterwards. Use this slide if you want to brainstorm with students before the game begins.
- #13 In particular students will be socialising / practising small talk / making polite conversation; apologising; making excuses and promises. If you feel it necessary, you can pre-teach this language or deal with it as you go along / afterwards. Use this slide if you want to share this language with students before the game begins. While the students are speaking, take note of the language they use and deal with errors once the game has finished. Afterwards, you should also look at the language of excuses. If you want to add more of a game element to this, then you can award points to students who use these phrases correctly.
- #14 Before you set off for the dinner party, your mother reminds you some of the things you need to do when you are there… “So, remember to each buy cousin David a birthday present before you go. He’s just started studying law at university, so something related to that, a book or something for him to wear when he’s doing work experience would be useful. Or you could always get him another board game…you know how much he likes those… …Don’t ignore Aunt Camila like she said you did the last time. I know she’s usually in the kitchen most of the time during the dinner party, but please make sure you send her my love and tell her I’ll call her tomorrow to ask how the party went… …Don’t forget to laugh at uncle Baco’s jokes, no matter how bad they are. You know he gets upset when nobody laughs at his jokes. …As usual, please don’t let Grandpa Philip tell any of those stories about when he was in the war. We all know he wasn’t in any war and he embarrases everyone when he tells those stories he makes up. …Finally, remember to be patient with Grandma Mary as she is losing her hearing. If she doesn’t understand what you say, then please take the time to tell her again. Just before you leave, your mother reminds you of the most important thing… Remember to be kind to everyone and make sure nobody gets upset with you. I am still embarrassed by what happened last year (What happened last year?)
- #15 Do you remember what you have to do before and at the dinner party? Ask the students to tell you what they have to remember to do… 1. Buy cousin David a birthday present each. What do you buy him? 2. Don’t ignore Aunt Camila and tell her your mother Will call her tomorrow to ask her about the party 3. Laugh at uncle Baco’s jokes 4. Don’t let Grandpa Philip tell any of his invented war stories 5. Finally, remember to be patient with Grandma Mary as she is losing her hearing
- #16 After buying presents for cousin David, you arrive early to the dinner party and Aunt Camila opens the door… “Hello! I didn’t expect you to be so early. I’m still cooking, so please take a seat in the living room. There’s nobody else there, but make yourself at home, turn on the TV…” WHAT THE SS SHOULD DO: Help Aunt Camila in the kitchen to prepare the food….
- #17 Because you helped Aunt Camila, the food is now ready and Aunt Camila asks you to take it out to the table while she calls for the others. Uncle Baco is the first to arrive in the dining room… “Hello again and welcome! Wow! How you have all grown since I last saw you! Please sit down. I want to catch up with you all. My wife can bring the rest of the food to the table… Let me tell you a joke. Can I? I have a really good one I think you all being language tachers will appreciate…ready? How many eggs does it take to make an omelette? Ermmmm…no, that’s not right….what was it again? Et me see if I can remember….something about a French omelette….erm yes, that was it…Do you need two eggs to make a French omelette? Well? No, one egg is enough! Ha! Ha! Get it? It’s the French for egg…that’s the punchline, see…pretty good, eh? Do you know any jokes?
- #18 Uncle Baco goes to find his son while Grandma Mary and Grandpa Philip arrive at the table. What do you say to them? Grandma Mary: I’m sorry, dears, I didn’t quite hear what you said? Grandpa Philip: Did I ever tell you about the time I… was stuck in the trenches in Normandy? / jumped out of a plane in Vietnam? / fought against the Taliban in Afghanistan?
- #19 Cousin David arrives at the table… The ss should make small talk / wish him a happy birthday / give him presents. He has recently dropped out of his law course at university, so he will be upset when he receives some of the presents and will go to his room… he can be persuaded to return to the table When he comes back down, the food is served
- #20 The food is served and small talk at the table… Grandma Mary cannot hear Grandpa Philip Will try to talk about a war story Unclu Baco will try to tell a joke… about a bear, a cave and French cheese (Camenbert) Cousin David will be quiet Aunt Camila will be in the kitchen, not at the table…
- #21 Now, dessert….birthday cake…. “You can’t leave until you’ve tried David’s birthday cake…and then we’ll all play Scrabble…or Monoploy…”
- #22 The idea of playing board games is suggested… the ss will have to come up with excuses if they are to escape the party… If they stay to play the board games, it depends on which one they play, but Scrabble or Monopoly will take them past 21:00
- #23 The idea of playing board games is suggested… the ss will have to come up with excuses if they are to escape the party… If they stay to play the board games, it depends on which one they play, but Scrabble or Monopoly will take them past 21:00
- #24 The idea of playing board games is suggested… the ss will have to come up with excuses if they are to escape the party… If they stay to play the board games, it depends on which one they play, but Scrabble or Monopoly will take them past 21:00
- #25 This game is © Graham Stanley 2020 graham.stanley@gmail.com Get the treasure and escape the island is a role-playing game for English language learners of A2+ level. It is designed to encourage speaking. Set-up: The game is for 3-5 characters, so if you have more than 5 learners, put them into pairs or groups and tell them each pair/group will be playing a different character. You need:- a bag of 24 chips/counters (12 green and 12 red). Aternatively, you can use pieces of paper that are red and green or which have with Y (for ‘yes’) and N (for ‘no’) written on them. These will represent the outcomes of the decisions the learners make during the game. Your learners need:- pencils/pens and paper Available to download her: https://www.slideshare.net/bcgstanley/get-the-treasure-and-escape-the-island https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hixdvn51szvpwso/AAAWVHy_2Q9FsJ_wothg1BWsa?dl=0
- #26 Read the story to the learners as an introduction to the game.
- #27 Ask the learners to work in pairs/groups (or on their own if there are 3-5 of them) to decide on the following for their character: Name; Origin; Profession (job) And… Their ‘secret want’ i.e. what is it they want that the other characters do not know? This might be to keep the treasure for themselves, or they may be a government agent who wants to arrest the others, or anything else the learners can think of. A player can decide during a turn to reveal the secret and try to succeeed. If they do this, draw a counter to see if it succeeds (green) or not (red). If the players do not reveal their secrets during the game, then they will be revealed at the end and their success will be shown through drawing counters.
- #28 Ask the learners to think of three things that are going to make finding the treasure difficult. e.g. a) The treasure is is an abandoned tmeple in the middle of a jungle. b) A storm is coming and you only have a few days to find it. c) There are other treasure hunters who are also going to the island looking for the treasure.
- #29 Ask each of the pairs/groups of learners to write a challenge (and keep it secret) If you only have three characters/learners, then the teacher should write 2 more challenges. You can use the examples above or come up with your own.
- #30 Tell the learners that there will be 5 turns and each turn will present a different challenge (those the learners have written). Before each turn, a character will volunteer to decide how to overcome. Then the challenge will be randomly selected and that character (i.e. the learners in that pair/group) must decide what to do to overome the challenge. The teacher or a learner will then draw a chip from the bag to see if they were successful or not. Once a chip has been taken from the bag, do not put it back in again. If the action is unsuccessful, there are consequences. A different character can try to overcome the challenge with a different action, but during the game the player have a total of 10 chances (2 per challenge). They can use any number of chances to overcome a challenge, but once their ten chances are used, they will be automatically unsuccessful overcoming a challenge. i.e. If they have used up their final chance on challenge number 4, then this means they lose the game because they have no chance of being successful when presented with challenge number 5.
- #31 Select a player (either randomly, the teacher selects, or a volunteer). Encourage the learner to describe the challenge in as much detail as posible, to set the scene. A learner volunteers and describes how the group overcome the challenge…they say what they attempt to do. This uses 1 chance (máximum of 10) The teacher (or the student) draws a token from the bag – if it is green, then the attempt was successful. If red, then the attempt was unsuccessful. The teacher describes what happens. If successful, the game moves on. If unsuccessful, another learner can volunteer another idea to overcome the challenge. Again, a token/counter is drawn and this decides whether the attempt was successful or unsuccessful. There is no limit as to how many times the learners can try to overcome a challenge, but there is a limit to the number of chances they have during the whole game (all 5 chances) – if they run out of chances, then they will not find the treasure.
- #32 Select a player (either randomly, the teacher selects, or a volunteer). Encourage the learner to describe the challenge in as much detail as posible, to set the scene. A learner volunteers and describes how the group overcome the challenge…they say what they attempt to do. This uses 1 chance (máximum of 10) The teacher (or the student) draws a token from the bag – if it is green, then the attempt was successful. If red, then the attempt was unsuccessful. The teacher describes what happens. If successful, the game moves on. If unsuccessful, another learner can volunteer another idea to overcome the challenge. Again, a token/counter is drawn and this decides whether the attempt was successful or unsuccessful. There is no limit as to how many times the learners can try to overcome a challenge, but there is a limit to the number of chances they have during the whole game (all 5 chances) – if they run out of chances, then they will not find the treasure.
- #33 Select a player (either randomly, the teacher selects, or a volunteer). Encourage the learner to describe the challenge in as much detail as posible, to set the scene. A learner volunteers and describes how the group overcome the challenge…they say what they attempt to do. This uses 1 chance (máximum of 10) The teacher (or the student) draws a token from the bag – if it is green, then the attempt was successful. If red, then the attempt was unsuccessful. The teacher describes what happens. If successful, the game moves on. If unsuccessful, another learner can volunteer another idea to overcome the challenge. Again, a token/counter is drawn and this decides whether the attempt was successful or unsuccessful. There is no limit as to how many times the learners can try to overcome a challenge, but there is a limit to the number of chances they have during the whole game (all 5 chances) – if they run out of chances, then they will not find the treasure.
- #34 Select a player (either randomly, the teacher selects, or a volunteer). Encourage the learner to describe the challenge in as much detail as posible, to set the scene. A learner volunteers and describes how the group overcome the challenge…they say what they attempt to do. This uses 1 chance (máximum of 10) The teacher (or the student) draws a token from the bag – if it is green, then the attempt was successful. If red, then the attempt was unsuccessful. The teacher describes what happens. If successful, the game moves on. If unsuccessful, another learner can volunteer another idea to overcome the challenge. Again, a token/counter is drawn and this decides whether the attempt was successful or unsuccessful. There is no limit as to how many times the learners can try to overcome a challenge, but there is a limit to the number of chances they have during the whole game (all 5 chances) – if they run out of chances, then they will not find the treasure.
- #35 The final challenge happens when the players reach the treasure Select a player (either randomly, the teacher selects, or a volunteer). Encourage the learner to describe the challenge in as much detail as posible, to set the scene. A learner volunteers and describes how the group overcome the challenge…they say what they attempt to do. This uses 1 chance (máximum of 10) The teacher (or the student) draws a token from the bag – if it is green, then the attempt was successful. If red, then the attempt was unsuccessful. The teacher describes what happens. If successful, the game moves on. If unsuccessful, another learner can volunteer another idea to overcome the challenge. Again, a token/counter is drawn and this decides whether the attempt was successful or unsuccessful. There is no limit as to how many times the learners can try to overcome a challenge, but there is a limit to the number of chances they have during the whole game (all 5 chances) – if they run out of chances, then they will not find the treasure.
- #36 If there are players who haven’t yet revealed their hidden wants, then now is the time. Ask for volunteers and then check to see if the player hs been able to succeed by drawing a counter. If it is green, then the player was successfu. If red, then the player didn’t get what they wanted. In each case, the teacher should elaborate on the story, and the player can add details as they wish. This happens whether the players find the trasure or not. This is the end of the game.
- #37 What about designing your own OISGs? One of the two examples I have shared was meant to encourage general speaking and the other something more targetted (small alk / excuses). One of the scenaios (treasure island) was something your learners are unlikely to do and the other ( the dinner party) is a typical situation. If you want to play test some games, then I recommend you join the weekly play tests carried out by the RPG in ELT Facebook group.
- #38 Thank you! Any questions?