| Body | One of the issues affecting access in education is the celebration of and appreciation for the disparate and unique realities facing learners. The purpose of this activity is to engage novice university (and possibly high school) learners in critical thinking and language output regarding how situations impact one’s perception of self. In order to complete this activity, students will first complete a bio poem of themselves as university or high school students. Then, learners will work in teams to play Day 1 and Day 2 of This War of Mine. They will reflect upon their gameplay to write a new bio poem in which they demonstrate how war might impact one’s perception of self.
Objectives: Learners will be able to:
- Acquire new vocabulary related to one’s everyday life through context and collaboration
- Write general information about one’s self including physical and personal descriptions
- Provide meaningful feedback about another learner’s writing
- Engage in meaningful self-reflection about writing skills
- Use context to determine meaning while reading
Modes: Presentational Writing, Interpretive Reading
Resources: Bio poem template, Notes handout, Exit ticket, This War of Mine app or computer game
Procedure
- Learners will review how to write general descriptions of self by completing the bio poem template. A perfect way to review these rules is for the teacher to model using the template for the class.
- After learners complete their poems, allow them to work with a partner to review what they have written. To conduct this peer review, learners will suggest where more details might be needed for communication and will identify instances of misunderstanding or miscommunication.
- Now, learners will work with a team of four to play Day 1 and Day 2 of This War of Mine. At this proficiency level, learners will not be able to understand all of the text within the game. They should focus on using context and recognizing cognates and linguistic patterns to understand what is happening. As they play, learners will take notes on the appropriate handout regarding how the characters in the game feel. This information can be found in the conversations that the characters have with one another and on the status cards in the bottom right corner of the screen. After they play, learners will work individually to write descriptions of how the game characters in a war-torn country might feel regarding concepts such as family, home, and leisure. These descriptions will also be written on the notes handout.
- Next, learners will write new bio poems from the perspective of one of the game characters. Teachers will give learners the same template that was used in in Step 1 in order to complete this portion of the activity. Learners should be careful to make their descriptions as robust as possible for their proficiency level
- To close the class, learners will be tasked with answering the questions below on an exit ticket. These questions will inform instruction for subsequent classes.
- What similarities exist between the two poems that you wrote?
- What differences exist between the two poems that you wrote?
- What strengths do you have when it comes to writing descriptions?
- What do you want to improve upon when writing descriptions?
Notes:
This War of Mine is available for Android and iOS devices and on Steam for roughly $14.99. The mature content of the game (some language, violence, and substance abuse) requires that teachers play the game themselves before deciding whether or not to implement the game.
If the game is too mature for classroom use, a game like Fallout Shelter or The Sims would be easy to implement in its place. The important thing is to provide learners with the opportunity to experience the perspective of someone else through gameplay and to communicate their experience in a way that is appropriate to proficiency level.
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