I had an idea, I asked my Spanish teacher to work with me on it, and I'm finding it so interesting I want to share it.
My idea was that we would play "tic-tac-toe" (known by many names--in fact, in British English it is "noughts and crosses.") In Spanish it is "tres en raya," "tres en línea," "ceros y cruces." In any case, it is the children's game in which players alternate writing X's and O's in a 3 x 3 grid, trying to be the first to get three in a row.
The point wasn't to play the game, because the game is boring for adults. Older children learn quickly that the game is always a draw if neither player makes a mistake.
But my idea was that on each player's turn, the player would explain his strategy and plans.
It turns out that this brings in a lot of advanced grammar involving conditionals, hypothetical situations, and various forms of the more complicated past and future tenses. And it does so in a very natural way. These are all things I can imagine a nine or ten-year-old child saying.
"You could have won if you hadn't played in square 2."
"If I play in square 5, then I will win no matter what move you make."
"If I play in square 5, then I will win no matter what you do."
"If I play in square 5, any move you make will end up with you losing."
"If I play in square 5, then you must play in square 6 to block me, and then I will win on the next move."
"If you had played in square 1, you would have won."
"You should play in square 3 unless you want me to win."
"I am going to play in square 2 because I know that that is a bad opening move, so it will make the game more interesting."
I think games are great for learning languages. A couple of my teachers and I have used roll20.net, an internet site that is kind of like Skype, except designed with special functionality of a tabletop and dice, and the ability to scan in cards and draw game boards. I would certainly encourage other teachers or students to try it for their lessons or language exchanges. Here is the tutorial on what you can do with it for card games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKGlqLF096g ; (If you are a role play gamer, that is what the site is most commonly used for and you can find groups of Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinders, or similar game to play with.)
I have used the Spanish version of Flux with teachers. I have also tried ¨Go Fish.¨ Go Fish is good in Spanish because you can practice the different ways to ask for things or give commands. I have also found that just trying to explain a complicated games like ¨Castles of Mad King Ludwig¨ to someone that has never played it is a challenging language activity.
I am planning to try the free online version of Settlers of Catan through Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/games/ I think any of those games could be used in the same way that you used tic-tac-toe, and because they are not as simple also provide even more possibilities for language learning. Anyone interested in trying Settlers of Catan in Spanish through Steam? Or in English?
Thanks, Susan, for mentioning roll 20. I've never come across this site before and I'm very interested in using it. I've read a blog series about using RPGs as a vehicle for language teaching and I think it could be very interesting. I've been thinking about using this approach myself and I think roll 20 could be useful.
It's this kind of moment that keeps me coming back to the italki forums. I'd thumbs up you many times if I could.
