Theme: Computer games and their effects on young people
Lexical area: Computer language
Cross curricular links: Information technology, social studies, media studies

Instructions for language assistants in Italics

Classroom materials

Introduction
This lesson is about computer games. It gives students a chance to express their opinions about gaming. There are opportunities to personalise the lesson for your students by giving them the chance to design their own quiz and do a class survey to find out about the gaming habits of the class.

A reading text from the Trend UK website will stretch higher level students and can be used as a basis for discussion on the possible dangers of playing violent games. Quotes from people within the gaming world can also be used to provoke debate and to get students to express their own opinions on the influence of computer games. Younger students with good imaginations have the chance in the final task to design their own game.

Puzzle style introduction

Ask your students: "More money is spent on them than going to the cinema or renting films. Britain is the third biggest market in the world for them and one European country (Greece) banned them completely until recently and others want to ban them (e.g., Germany). What are they?" Accept guesses until you get the answer - Computer games.

1. Computer functions
This is for very low levels. With higher levels get them to brainstorm as many functions as they can for using a computer. With low levels, show them task one (or do your own version on the board) and show them how to separate the first function.

Answers:

• send e-mail 
• write a letter
• do calculations
• surf the internet
• print
• listen to music
• watch DVDs
• record CDs
• playgames
 

Tell students that in this lesson we're going to look at the last function in the list , playing computer games.

Task 1 Computer functions
What can you do with a computer? Try to separate the functions from this long line of letters.

sendemailwritealetterdocalculationssurftheinternetprintlistentomusicwatchDVDsrecordCDsplaygame

What do you use a computer for?

2. Computer games survey
This is a class survey for students to find out about the gaming habits of the class members. With low levels go through the questions together, check their understanding (try not to ask them ‘do you understand this question?' but ask someone the actual question and see if they give an appropriate response) Check pronunciation of the sentences too before the students begin to carry out the survey with their class mates.

• Students should ask the questions to five others. If you think some students will get left out then put the students into groups of six and they must ask the questions to their group members. Older students should be able to do the activity as a ‘mingle' and choose who they want to ask.
• The results could be displayed in a bar chart if you have time. Show an example of a bar chart on the board to give students the idea.

Task 2 Computer games survey
Write the names of five class-mates in the columns 1-5 and then ask them the questions about computer games. Write their answers in the chart. Write your own question in the last space.

	1	2	3	4	5
1. Do you like playing computer games?
2. How often do you play computer games?
3. What's your favourite computer game?
4. Do you think computer games are addictive?
5. Do you usually play computer games alone or with friends?
6.

Look at your results and decide who is the biggest computer gamer in your class?

Make a bar chart to show the results of your class survey.

3. Test your computer games knowledge
If your students seem keen on computer games, they can test their knowledge by doing this quiz. I'm not sure how this quiz will ‘travel' and work in different countries but it will at least give the students some ideas of question types for task 4 where they can design their own quiz based on the games they and their friends play.

Answers: 1) b 2) a 3) b 4) b 5) a 6) c 7) a 8) b 9) c

Task 3 Test your computer games knowledge

Are you a computer gamer? Test your knowledge by doing this quiz. 1) What's the name of the star of Tomb Raider? a) Sara Loft b) Lara Croft c) Tara Proft 2) What's the name of the highly addictive Russian puzzle game where you have to fit lots of coloured bricks together to make a wall? a) Tetris b) The Russian Front c) Puzzled 3) When was the Playstation first released? a) 1999 b) 1994 c) 2004 4) Who says "@!#?@!" when he is hit by something? a) Donkey Kong b) Q*bert c) Pacman 5) What must you destroy in the Star Wars game to get to the next level? a) The Death Star b) Darth Vader c) Fireballs 6) Who makes the X-Box? a) Sony b) Nintendo c) Microsoft 7) The pictures in computer games are made of lots of small spots. What are the spots called? a) Pixels b) Dixels c) Spotets 8) What's the name of the online virtual world created by Linden Lab? a) Another World b) Second Life c) Crazy Life 9) Where were the Nintendo DS brain training games were first launched? a) The USA b) The UK c) Japan

 

4. Make your own computer games quiz
With very low levels go through and check their understanding of the ‘wh' question words before you start. (What, when, who, where, why, which etc.)

If you have done task 3 with your class and they seem to be real gamers, put them into pairs or groups and they can design a quiz with questions about the most popular games in their country. You can assist with the question writing. When they have 5 questions each you could do the quiz as an inter- team competition.

If you have a buzzer or a whistle the first team to buzz gets the chance to answer. If this would raise excitement levels too much you could run it like a pub quiz! Give teams papers and they all get the chance to answer the other teams' questions. At the end, swap the answer papers, the teams give their answers, and points are awarded.

Task 4 Make your own computer games quiz

Now you are going to write your own computer games quiz. Think about the games you and your friends play. Write 5 questions below. You must know the answers to the questions. Make some quite easy and some difficult ones. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

5. Computer gaming
This text is taken from the Trend UK website. Before students read the text they should find out the meaning of the words in the box. If time is limited, write your own definitions and put them on the board in a jumbled order. Students then only have to match your definition to the word.

If you want to try to encourage learner autonomy, ask students to use a dictionary to find the meanings. You could divide up the words and give pairs or small groups a couple of the words to find in the dictionary. Then all groups share their definitions.

When students have read the text, use the questions below to discuss their views on the influence and effects of gaming.

Task 5 Computer gaming
Before reading the text about Computer gaming write the definition of the following words. Use a dictionary or ask your teacher to help you.

Words	Definitions
1. Rewarding	a)
2. To pull the trigger	b)
3. Colloquial	c)
4. to warn	d)
5. A link	e)
6. To arise	f)
7. Regardless	g)
8.To blur	h)

 

Computer Gaming: What's real and what's not? Today's video game worlds are so detailed they give the player a realistic and rewarding experience. It is not just children that play these games; it is as common for men from 18 to 30 to have some sort of games console at home. People think this may affect real-life behaviour and ask whether life-like computer games are a good thing; especially games where the player takes on active roles like pulling a trigger in first person shooter games to simulate armed battle. Modern characters have become more like people than cartoons, the language has become more colloquial and the sound affects are now more realistic. For these reasons concerns have been raised about links to aggressive behaviour. Worried parents have welcomed computer game classification whereby games are given similar ratings as films. These warn people of violent and sexual content and make it easier for parents to monitor what their children are playing with. Are computer games making us more aggressive? There is no existing evidence that proves a link between an increase in computer game violence and aggressive or violent behaviour in children, but the question still arises: should it be acceptable for computer games to depict graphic scenes of violence? What lessons do players take from games like Grand Theft Auto where players speed through city streets trying to reach their destination in the quickest time regardless of pedestrians in their way or Hooligans: Storm over Europe where men storm football pitches, fight rival gangs and attack police. Do you think these computer games blur right from wrong and fact from fiction? Games Championship Manager - Manage a Premiership football team for a season Wii sport - Play tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing in the comfort of your living room. Call of duty - A first person shooter war game Grand Theft Auto - Driving action game Hooligans: Storm over Europe – a fighting game Lemmings - guide as many Lemmings to safety as you can through hazardous environments. Lego Star Wars - Action adventure Mario Kart – A driving race game This text was adapted from the British Council UKinfocus website

Read the following quotes from a selection of people involved in the gaming industry. Discuss them with your class. 

"When you don't know what the colour of eyes of your ten best friends are because you've never met them in real life you may have a problem." Jay Parker - therapist and co-founder of the Internet Computer Addiction Services.

"Blowing somebody's head off becomes rapidly boring." Seamus Blackley - Xbox co-creator

"You may kill a thousand people on the screen in 4 hours of play." Pamela Eakes - founder of Mothers Against Violence in America

"My only contact with the outside world was this little Tamagochi." Peter Molyneu - Creative Director of Lionhead Studios

"You'll meet people that you never would have met." Tim Moss - Sony

 

"If I were designing a game, it would have stuff that girls like, like shopping." No name -a player at Seattle's Gameworks Arcade.

7. Design a new computer game
Students work in small groups to design their own computer game. Encourage the students to use their imaginations. Show an example of a storyboard (like a comic strip) on the board. If you have time and your students get involved this could develop into a project. Students could draw pictures of the characters and write descriptions of them or they could make posters to advertise the new game. If you have coloured card and lots of time, this could make a great wall display. You could have a class vote to decide on the best game.

Task 7 Design a new computer game
For most people the computer game experience starts in the shop and ends on the sofa! But have you ever thought about how a new game is made? Work in groups and design a new computer game. Follow these steps:

Think of the story. (You may decide to base the game on a film or TV series).

Create the characters.

Think of the levels and environments of different levels.

Draw a storyboard of the game's first level.

Show the storyboard to the rest of the class and explain your game to them.

Internet links
Information about banned games in different countries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games

A pod cast about whether children’s screen time should be rationed. You could use extracts of this pod cast with higher levels:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/02/2009_42_mon.shtml

An article about the history of gaming, how games are made and the source of quotes from task 5. There are also some fun on-line quizzes to do if you're a games fan yourself!
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/

This site has reviews of the latest in UK games.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/

This site is for female games fans!
http://www.womengamers.com/

An article from the CBBC news site for kids about children testing computer games in class:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7290000/newsid_7295800/7295823.stm

Will Germany ban violent computer games? Read more on the CBBC news site for kids here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8030000/newsid_8037500/8037513.stm

An interesting article on video games and age limits in the UK and the USA.
http://www.out-law.com/page-5810

A Times newspaper article about a link between computer games and rickets:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/child_health/article6997656.ece

A Guardian report on educational computer games:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/03/naomi-alderman-educational-games

Read about first person shooter games here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_shooter

Read an article about brain training games here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4930996.stm

By Jo Budden and Sally Trowbridge

 

 

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