As a language teacher, I think that gamified learning is a very relevant topic. When I was learning French in high school, I remember the classes always having some sort of game that was normally used as a warm up/review. Especially when learning something difficult like a new language, I think it is easy for students to feel overwhelmed when they don’t understand. However, if the students have a learning game to focus on, hopefully it can be a useful tool to ease stress. I also think that there are certain grammar/vocabulary concepts that are foundational for the language, so having a game to help solidify these concepts can definitely be beneficial.

In class, we also talked about making safe spaces for students to make mistakes and learn from them without being penalized. When learning a new language, one of the fears students have is making mistakes because it is something they are uncomfortable with. From my own experience, one of the stumbling blocks that held me back from speaking in French classes was and still is the fear of making a mistake. When in reality, we are not trying to have all students speak French perfectly, but we are hoping that they become interested in the culture and the language. For French Immersion students we are talking about creating their own cultural identity that involves speaking both English and French. We want them to be proud and confident of being able to express themselves in another language even if it is not perfect. Taking all of this into consideration, it makes sense that having games can help create an environment that encourages students to try and make mistakes.

I also think that if you focus on collaborative games, that could lead to creating a classroom environment that reflects this. As a teacher, I hope to create an environment for students to collaborate and work together instead of feeling like they have to compete with one another. When learning a new language I think that it is important to rely on one another for help when you might not know a certain concept or how to say something in French. Using games and fun activities is a way to build a community in the classroom.

One game website from today that I really enjoyed was “Be Internet Awesome” which was created by Google to help students learn about internet safety. This was the first time I have seen this game and I was excited that it was also available in French. I think this would be a fun game to incorporate into a lesson, especially in a French immersion environment.