My Minecraft adventure started years ago when some of my students spoke so much and passionately about this game. Honestly I thought it was a strategic game of some sort of a not-for-middle-aged-female-teacher sort of game like WoT of WoW or ... you know, that kind. I had no idea about a game, the only thing I remember is their obsession with it.
Then I had this student one summer (one-to-one), whom I asked if she had ever played Minecraft. She showed me marvellous glass castles and a hotel she had built with her friends. I was amazed at her creativity and the amount of work she had invested in it.
It was Filip and Marijana’s #RSCON5 webinar that convinced me to buy a MC Pocket Edition.
I immediately saw some potential in it, I thought it could be used in reading and listening comprehension tasks (I dictate or write down what kind of house or farm learners have to make) and well, that was all I could think of back then.
As it turned out, there was far more in it.
Speaking of engagement, you don’t even need the game to be present in the lesson. Just say “creeper”, “enderman” of “Minecraft”, and tadamm, like a magic spell! Ice is broken, doors open, walls fall down. You gain credentials instantly in the eyes of your students, you get immediate respect and just everything smoothens. It was clear when I taught those two boys (12 and 13) who had English lessons with me in their summer holiday (a month with their granny in my small town), and they didn’t mind the 8 am (!!!!!!!) lessons, their little brothers also claimed their own English lessons, they booked me for next summer and I had lessons with them in the autumn holiday and right after Christmas.
I’m lucky with my clientele of mostly one-to-one learners, I can just hand them over the device for, let’s say five minutes (one ninth of a 45-min lesson, mind you), and see what happens.
Some types of activities I have been using:
Minecraft dictation
This is the simplest ever picture dictation kind of activity.
I make a short video I start like this: “I have a mission for you.” Then I explain the mission to build a particular object.
Why do I use a video and not tell them what to build just face to face? One reason is that they take it more seriously. (Sad but true.) They concentrate better, it’s something of more importance :) Also when giving instructions in real life, they tend to clarify meaning by asking back in Hungarian right at the moment they don’t understand something, without trying to make the effort. I’m really bad at handling this. As for the video, they can start and stop it, they do make the effort and I see better what are the things I do have to explain (word meanings, etc.) and what are others that they can figure out by themselves.
Originally I wanted it to be a reading task but that girl was just too little to read :)
The same can be done with written instructions.
The whole thing may be homework if the parents are minecraft-friendly.
The mission:
The product:
10min rounds
There was this boy (13) who needed help with his school English. All we had to do was to do the exercises in the workbook again. To tell you the truth .... these exercises make me sick. I know they are necessary, but in this form ......... today’s kids have difficulty doing them, they can’t concentrate (no wonder, the exercises are boring as hell), they have no idea of the meaning of the sentences, they just write something really sluggishly... and that’s all. I see no point in it.
But still, we had to go through them.
So this was the deal:
We divided the lesson into 10 min. periods. Each period started with doing one or two of those exercises (paper, pencil). Once they were completed perfectly, he was allowed to play Minecraft for the rest of the 10-minute period.
During his play (in the remaining some minutes) I was narrating what he was doing in Minecraft (so that he might acquire some language), I was also taking notes.
We did it in rounds in his lessons.
I prepared a very simple written text from my notes about what he did, what he built, what mobs and animals he met, then we used it in the next lesson for a slight language work. (I hid info that was not true, I made gapped texts, I jumbled the word order or the words of some lessons, etc.)
Our subject did the exercises surprisingly quickly and accurately so that he could get back to the game. The follow-up exercise worked well too.
Our subject did the exercises surprisingly quickly and accurately so that he could get back to the game. The follow-up exercise worked well too.
Just play for 15 minutes
This is the least structured and well-planned, high on DOGME one.
We agree on a time (15 minutes maximum), set the downtimer and let the student just play Minecraft.
I take notes and create a text as they play. Then this text is available for a range of things again: gapped text, banked cloze, read and draw, guess the meaning of words, with beginner readers (1st graders) follow the text and draw a tally when I beep (they find it hilarious), jigsaw reading, etc.
In a 1-2-1 lesson it is really easy to do, the (emergent) language-based exercises can as well be prepared for the following lesson.
Minecraft culture
The internet is packed with Minecraft anything. Minecraft is a subculture, so you can search Google for the most unusual sounding search words like Minecraft sandwich, Minecraft grandmother, Minecraft unicorn, there’s an endless list of the most mind-blowing things. Some things are not appropriate for all age groups though.
Minecraft has legends that fascinate kids a lot. Do you know the story of Herobrine, for example? There are several videos about it.
Here’s one, it can be narrated for example:
There are Minecraft songs. How about a love song parody?
There are all sorts of parodies. Once I used the first part of this one with a beginner, he had to order flashcards with words and short phrases from the video.
3D to 2D
Once i had this idea to build something in 3D and then to translate it into Minecraft. We built a pine tree with sugar cubes first.
I used it with a 7-year-old girl once and then with a 8-year old, it didn’t really work the task was too difficult and they were rather focused on trying to eat some of the 3 D blocks.
Creating videos
Once one of my MC tutors (a 5th grader) showed me a screen video recorder and we started to create screen videos. He surprised me a lot. I swear I never explicitly taught him “was” or the Past Tense, I always used a lot of input thought, but I had no idea he was able to produce so much English as he did in those videos.
Directions
When I was shown multiplayer, i immediately showed it to my next MC minded student. Guess what, we lost each other this gave me the idea to use Minecraft to use directions. I simply built roads. This project hasn't been exploited yet ;)
When I was shown multiplayer, i immediately showed it to my next MC minded student. Guess what, we lost each other this gave me the idea to use Minecraft to use directions. I simply built roads. This project hasn't been exploited yet ;)
And the course #evomc15 has just started!
Looking forward to what is coming!
