Gamifying Your Classroom


Gamification has always caught my attention as being a great approach to engaging your students inside and outside of the classroom. In my own personal experience, Kahoot! And Boom Learning has been my go-to gamification resources. Younger elementary students enjoy the competitive nature that goes along with Kahoot!. This can be seen as a con in some situations, because Kahoot! is not necessarily beneficial for L2 students. Kahoot! uses time and speed to account for how many points you earn. This could be discouraging to students that are not proficient in the language. On the other hand, Boom Learning has been one of my all time favorite resources to use in the early childhood classroom. This application is engaging and age appropriate. There are countless boom card decks that target skills and even specific decks for L2 learners.

When researching gamification, most articles mentioned that gamification is used as a strategy to engage and motivate students. Gamification is a great supplement to ELL learners to help revisit and give the opportunity for extra practice. L2 learners can utilize the applications and resources available to them to help enhance their vocabulary and motivate them to find success in the classroom. Researchers state that games “promote communicative competence and encourage creative and spontaneous use of language”(Iaremenko, 2017) Games can help students to feel more comfortable in their own learning environment. Students also are encouraged to take control of their own learning with the guidance of teachers supplying them with the gaming resources. 

Teachers are always looking for ways to integrate technology and games into their instruction. Here are a few gamification tools that I recommend: 


  • Boom Learning - this tool is free for teachers and students. The app is accessible on most devices. Students can complete boom card decks that work on specific skills. Students can track their progress and see how they are improving. Teachers also have access to data and information regarding student usage and how students are doing on a specific skill. Below is an example of a boom card deck slide working on letter sound recognition and building words. 



  • Brainpop/Brainpop Jr. - online resource that allows students and teachers to watch engaging videos that cover topics in several different subject areas. This used to be one of my favorite resources as a student. Brainpop has added games and activities that go along with the videos on the website. Brainpop does require a paid subscription to access the resources. 


  • PBS Kids- a wonderful gaming resource that targets many different learning objectives. This resource is definitely geared towards early childhood/primary school age. PBS Kids also features games that are available in multiple languages. 




References: 

Iaremenko, N. V. (2017). ENHANCING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION THROUGH ONLINE GAMES. Information Technologies and Learning Tools, 59(3), 126. https://doi.org/10.33407/itlt.v59i3.1606

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Comments

  1. Ms. Bower's ELD BlogDecember 6, 2022 at 6:05 AM

    Amanda,
    Thank you for the lovely post. I loved using BrainPop when I was teaching elementary. I have also used PBS in my classrooms now to help with ELA information now. I particularly love the lessons with videos they publish. I have used it for podcasts and have found the different lessons interactive and engaging.

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