Games for English Literature by Izabela Hopkins

Author:Izabela Hopkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Libri Publishing
Published: 2016-07-11T19:16:16+00:00

Students throw the dice and move around the board collecting cards. This part of the game may either be timed, for example, 10 minutes; or, as above, it ends as soon as a group completes a set. The students’ first task will be to look at the cards and arrange them in order, matching dates with events etc. They exclude quotation cards from this timeline. After this has been accomplished, the actual order of events is given, and each group earns a point for every correctly matched event and date. They are then given a minute to rearrange their timeline accordingly, and move to the second stage of the game. At the centre of the board, and at the beginning of the game, the teacher places a card containing a question, face down. Only after the first stage of the game has been completed are the students allowed to look at the card. This question will be text specific and formulated in such a way that allows the students to draw connections or observe differences between the information collected on cards and the text; to demonstrate the dialogic relationship between the text and context, and to discuss it. They present the conclusions on the blank sheet of paper. The posters are scored separately, and the combined scores of the poster and timeline rounds decide the winner.

Outcomes and Reflections

In checking the accuracy of their timelines, the students receive instant feedback during play, which allows them to correct their errors. The feedback received after each presentation and the exposure to the work of their peers will further broaden their understanding of the text as well as emphasise the interdependence between text and context, whether it be symbiotic or antagonistic.

Variations

To demonstrate the malleability of interpretation while allowing for a more comprehensive engagement with the text, devise a different question for each group. The accessories could be made text, subject specific or kept at a general level so that they can be reapplied to different scenarios. Alternatively, there could be sufficient number of cards designed at the outset to allow for some to be removed or added to meet the demands of different scenarios. For example, variations of this game could be designed to teach about genres or language as well as abstract concepts such as difference, race, grotesque, centrality and marginality.

vi. Writing summaries

Purpose and Aims

To promote a closer engagement with a text, both at the analytical and lexical levels. The game allows the students to practise their interpretative and writing skills.

Accessories

Passages from a text, blank sheets of paper, markers.

Process

Working in groups, each student is given a passage from a given text with the stipulation that they cannot show it to one another. Their task is to summarise the text in a set amount of words. They are not allowed to use any strategic words that may give the game away, for example proper names. Once they have produced their summaries, each student reads hers/his aloud, and collectively they decide in what order they should be arranged.

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