View Content #24289

By Katie Carpenter, Ben Pearson, and Stephanie Knight

The purpose of this activity is to help novice language learners acquire vocabulary by exploring their community. In order to engage in this exploration, learners play Ingress to guide their search for items needed to throw a party celebrating Afro-Latino heritage.

Objectives: Learners will be able to:

• Negotiate unknown meaning in a commercial app.
• Create lists in the target language of items needed to throw a party.
• Predict and verify the influence of African culture in Latino communities.

Modes: Presentational Writing, Interpretive Reading, Interpretive Listening

Resources: Ingress mobile app, Ingress introductory video on YouTube, Portal Documentation Sheet

1.     Put learners into groups of four or fewer and explain to them that they will be tasked with planning an authentic Afro-Latino celebration. In order to plan this celebration, learners will create lists in the target language that are separated into the following categories: dress, decorations, food, and entertainment. The creation of the lists will occur in Step 4 of this activity.

2.     Next, introduce learners to the Ingress app, a game designed to familiarize players with their local communities. Allow learners to view the Ingress introductory video on YouTube, download the game, and select a faction to represent. This step should take roughly 20 minutes for large classes and can easily be completed at home.

3.     After that, learners will go to a neighborhood in which the target language is predominantly spoken. In their assigned groups, the learners will travel from portal to portal within the game. Their goal is to defend and hack as many portals as possible, all the while tracking their progress on the Portal Documentation Sheet. As the learners defend and hack portals, they must search out items for their party (food, dress, decorations, and entertainment). This step in the activity should take between 1-2 hours and will likely have to occur as a field trip.

4.     After the outing is complete, learners will regroup as a class. Together, they will discuss all of the materials that they need to find for their party and brainstorm any other materials that they think they might need.

5.     Finally, have learners reflect on the limitations of what they were able to find in the community as they played Ingress. It is fine if this discussion takes place in the first language, target language, or a combination of both. Use the following discussion questions as a guide: Where did you look for your materials? Why did you look there? How difficult or easy was it to find what you needed? What language did you learn from the process?  How did interacting with your environment impact your learning?

Notes

Teachers may find it necessary to help learners figure out the meaning of words that they don’t already know as the learners are conducting their exploration.