The Journal, Page 99:
The Two Games I use for Teaching English
– Bloons TD 6 and Scribblenauts
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PUBLISHED ON: May 9th 2024
Written By:
Blisscast
Edited By:
EmeraldDM8
Hello everyone, and welcome to the 99th Page! Can you believe that our next Page will be the 100th? I know I’ve said it over and over, but I’m really proud of what I managed to achieve; I bet EmeraldDM8 is too, although right now he’s smashing his head against his computer screen preoccupied with other things because of all the CSS needed for the new and exciting upgrades that we’re currently adding to the site! So, I hope you’ll be looking forward to them as much as we do!
Talking about my week, even if it has been quite hectic due to my job, I still managed to play some games, and read a few volumes of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga (I have about 25-30% left to read, which is still a lot as the series has 343 chapters), so one day I’ll finally be able to write a proper blog about it! Plus, I’ve also spent some time playing an intriguing Chinese fantasy ARPG called Gujian 3, and I was almost tempted to write a First Impressions about it, but EmeraldDM8 vetoed it, and his words were, literally, “How are we going to advertise that?”; whilst it’s a depressing thing to think about (it’s not like I’m writing to become famous, you know?), it’s also true that some things, ranging from unknown topics to super famous ones (like Yakuza / Like a Dragon) are hard to advertise, and it’s sad when literally no one checks them out (read them, will you?), so I guess it’s okay (plus, he mostly does it for the site’s own good).
Moving on, I’ve also worked on some of my Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links decks, namely one for Declan (D/D/D) and a couple for the newly added Dennis, but as always, I’m still missing some cards; while I’d love to write something about my decks, it’s also true that EmeraldDM8 is unsurprisingly amazing at writing about these things, and he’s actually currently working on a blog about this same topic, so I recommend you check it out when it’s done!
Finally, I’ve also tried to work on my third episode of GUI Wonderland, the one about Apple Lisa, and I blame my perfectionism, as I’ve found a huge folder of documents about it on Archive.org, and my professionalism makes me feel the need to read them all before I start writing the blog, so you’ll have to wait a bit more before that one comes out; when it does, though, I bet you’ll find it as fascinating as I do!
Now, it’s finally time we move on to the actual topic of today’s blog, which is…
Two Games for English Teaching – Bloons TD 6 and Scribblenauts
Let’s first start with some context, as I bet some readers might be confused; I’ve recently started working as an English Teacher, specifically preparing kids and teens to take the Cambridge Exams (which let them have certificates to prove their skills), and I would be lying if I said I didn’t like my job! I’ve always thought that knowing English was a crucial thing, especially as I’m Italian (and that’s why our blogs get translated into Italian too), and for this same reason I find it extremely rewarding to be able to help my fellow Italians to learn it; most importantly, though, I do my absolute best to make them understand that English isn’t just a school subject that you are forced to learn, but is an extremely useful tool that opens so many doors, be it hobbies, travel, and work (although they usually ignore this last aspect as they’re still young and free). While it’s not an easy thing to achieve, I find that showing them what’s in store if they manage to learn some English makes them want to use it more; I mean, I’m likewise learning Japanese because I want to play all those games that weren’t translated in English, and I don’t think I would have put so much effort into it if I didn’t have a specific and exciting aim.
For this reason, I have noticed that it can be interesting to include some games in my lessons, and I’m not only talking about traditional games, but also videogames; while it was admittedly hard to find completely suitable games (fanservice… fanservice everywhere), I’ve managed to pinpoint two that, in my opinion, can be quite intriguing to use in a classroom setting. Thus, let’s have a look at them!
Bloons TD 6
Actually, we have already talked about it in the Journal (in Page 37), though today I’ll be talking about it in a different light; in case you don’t know it, it’s a Tower Defense game, released for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Apple Arcade; something I love about this choice is that it’s pretty straightforward to acquire it from the Steam store, or either the Google Play or the App Store, and you don’t need a controller to play it, plus (as I always say) it works even on a toaster (which aren’t exactly made for gaming), so, luckily, you won’t need to drag your 20 kilos of gaming Desktop to the classroom, or your Steam Deck if you have one.
In Bloons TD 6, we’ll play as an adorable but deadly squad of monkeys who need to defend many different locations from the incoming villainous force of the Bloons, which are extremely dangerous colorful balloons, that will spawn from certain sides of the map, and will do their absolute best to reach the other side, unless you pop them first; unsurprisingly, if too many get past that point, it’s game over. So, in order to protect the monkeys, we’ll need to properly place our towers, the monkeys themselves; unfortunately, they can be very weak, like the Darts Monkey (which will timidly throw small darts at the Bloons), or they can be immensely powerful, like the Super Monkey (which becomes either Superman with laser beams in his eyes, Batman, or an almighty golden statue) or the Sniper Monkey (my favorite, as it can hit from almost any position in the map). They won’t stay weak forever, though, as they can all be powered up as each match goes on, by utilizing some of the coins that you earn in every turn; so, basically, the Bloons will be quite weak at the beginning of each match, yet as turns pass by, they will even become able to kill almighty opponents as some straight-up blimps! For this reason, you’ll need to place your towers in the correct places, choose the most suitable ones, and come up with the perfect strategy; you can choose from three difficulties, each with a set number of turns and bosses to beat, and once you complete them, you can choose to continue playing until your lives run out (which is what EmeraldDM8 and I always do).
The sniper and the engineer, a tale as old as time.
So, how does this help you learn English? First of all, in order to read the rules and effects of each tower, you need to know English (but I bet that was obvious, wasn’t it?), however, most importantly, you can make students strategize together to win each match (which is admittedly heartwarming to watch)! Especially in the hardest levels, it can be amazing to let groups of students come up with strategies and tower placement and watch them as they try to convince their peers that their idea is the one to put into practice. Something that really helps is that it’s usually easy to guess what a tower does, even if you have never seen it before; for example, it’s easy enough to guess what a sniper or a plane will do. The only issue I’ve found is that sometimes the students will get confused due to the great number of towers available, but you can temporarily limit them before the match starts, so it’s fine. Luckily for us poor teachers, it’s easy to play it, as you just need one computer or mobile device, or, if you want to spice it up a little bit, you could take advantage of the multiplayer features of this title; up to 4 devices can be connected at once and be able to cooperate in the same match, and the earned coins get divided among them, so you can divide your students into groups.
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Whilst Bloons TD 6 wasn’t new on the Journal, this title actually is; it was recommended to me by none other than EmeraldDM8, as he thought it would be fun to try it out with my students.
As always, in case you don’t know about it, Scribblenauts Unlimited is a puzzle sandbox game, that was released for Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One; you can easily purchase it for Windows for a small price on Steam, and, similarly to Bloons TD 6, it even runs on a toaster, as it has low hardware requirements (plus, you don’t even need a controller, and it’s even reported to work on XP, so if your toaster runs XP, you’re set), making it easy to run on any computer (once again, no gaming computer required).
We play as a young boy, Maxwell, who is granted a magical notebook that can summon anything he wants, given that he writes what he wishes to obtain down in the small journal. As with all heroes, our Maxwell has a specific objective; he has to collect Starites to save his sister from a terrible curse, and in order to earn them he has to help people with their various troubles. So, once he meets someone in need, he can summon literally anything he wants to from his notebook to solve the issue; what I personally adore about it is that there isn’t only one way to resolve a problem, as it all depends on the player’s own imagination. To give you an example, imagine you have to save a kitten from a tree; you could be boring and summon stairs, you could get a rocket pack, or you could make either Maxwell or the cat be able to fly!
Quite incredibly, the game is capable of summoning almost anything (plus, you can even find mods that add more items), and we are even allowed to appoint qualities to our items (for example, we could summon a flying chair or a pink rocket pack, or my absolute favorites, the pink zombie keyboards), so the possibilities in store for us are truly unlimited; though, how does this help students with their English?
Quite simply, in order to make anything appear, students will have to know the English word for it, and this will help them greatly with their vocabulary learning; they will be able to associate any word with the related item and try to remember as many words as possible to find out new ways to solve puzzles (and I promise you they’ll instantly remember how to summon things like flying dinosaurs). Since the game is incredibly addicting and fun, the students will end up enjoying this unusual way of learning, and I bet they will have more fun with something like Scribblenauts Unlimited rather than with a vocabulary list or a plain set of pictures on a whiteboard. Luckily, even if there aren’t infinite levels to solve, there is an easy way to replay older ones, so that all your students can enjoy the game and use their imagination to invent new ways of helping Maxwell save his sister.
The only “issue” I’ve found is that, in order to access all the available levels, you need to complete them first, and it is not so straightforward to reset the status of a map, so if you don’t do it properly, your students might have to first save the inhabitants of the place from an invasion of the famous pink zombie keyboards (but that can definitely be fun on its own); once you learn how it all works, you’ll be able to have a lot of fun with your students!
Now that we are at the end, did you enjoy this quite unusual Page? I had a lot of fun writing it and remembering all the times I’ve played these with my students, and who knows, maybe they’ll help you too (if you are a gamer teacher, leave us a comment below)!
Thanks for reading this, and I hope I’ll see you in next Thurs⎯ no, wait, I hope I’ll see you in the grand and majestic Page 100, or anywhere around the site!
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References
- Wikipedia: Scribblenauts Unlimited – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribblenauts_Unlimited
- Steam: Scribblenauts Unlimited – https://store.steampowered.com/app/218680/Scribblenauts_Unlimited/
- https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn02.nintendo-europe.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F10_share_images%2Fgames_15%2Fwiiu_14%2FSI_WiiU_ScribblenautsUnlimited_image1600w.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=ad5e9b7fd7e73ae8c53eb881bc47e0cc2a20be93f62df4d60b0abb3a807c0d5d&ipo=images
- Steam: Bloons TD 6 – https://store.steampowered.com/app/960090/Bloons_TD_6/
- Ninja Kiwi: Bloons TD 6 – https://www.ninjakiwi.com/Games/Mobile/Bloons-TD-6.html
- Wikipedia: Bloons TD 6 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloons_TD_6
- https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteam%2Fapps%2F960090%2Fss_d82f8f2022db8c36bb28393434d6e65dea2d9c64.1920×1080.jpg%3Ft%3D1562124874&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=168d911f591d50c40f3244e7352e323375a99fc13da80938350a8b42da7ab5e1&ipo=images
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