Video Games as a teaching tool?
 

I must admit, I am into video games, sometimes. And, I can't help to think that video games may have some use in the classroom. I mean, if you think about it, you can easily set up a lesson plan around a game that the students enjoy. For example, students in Korea love Starcraft. You can easily take stills from the game and create vocabulary like "attack", "stop" "flank", etc. and build from there. Thoughts?

Re: Video Games as a teaching tool?
 

As a video game skeptic, I'm against the idea. . . But that's partly because I don't know the value of "flank" in day-to-day use. ("Mom didn't want me to go to the movie, so I flanked her by asking dad" is the best I can come up with, and it's not good.)

What about videos based on video games, like Red Vs. Blue (search YouTube. . . but the language might not be appropriate) or the StarCraft three 'previews'? Maybe you could make a lesson out of them?

Re: Video Games as a teaching tool?
 

LOL! Of course I wouldn't teach the word "flank". I was just using it as an example. Videos games do provide a wealth of vocabulary that can be used in real-world context. Take Final Fantasy X as an example (for those that know of the game).

It has story and dialogue. It has vocabulary that is relevant to real-world environments such as "plains", "group", "together", "weapons", "armor", "walking", etc. Moreover, it has the actual cinematography to match the vocabulary in a context that students find extremely interesting. I'm actually starting to convince myself! lol.