Using digital games to create communicative activities

about social justice topics

Silvina Orsatti, EdD

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg
silvina.orsatti@pitt.edu
Twitter @sorsatti

January 11, 2020

A) AGENDA

 Games (definition, characteristics, design elements)

 Game literacy for language learning
o Game-mediated learning
 Game-based learning
 Game-enhanced learning
o Taxonomy alignment for gaming (TAG)
 Wrap-around activities
 Social justice education (definition, components)
o Social justice issues (by themes, by P’s)
 Digital games about social justice topics
o Immigration Nation (description, highlights, walkthrough, communicative activities,
game resources)
o 3rd world farmer (description, highlights, game concepts and content, communicative
activities, game resources)
o Against all odds (description, highlights, walkthrough, communicative activities, game
resources)
 Criteria for games in the classroom

B) RESOURCES

(FREE) GAMES
 3rd World Farmer @ http://bit.ly/3rdworldfarmer (web-based/Google Play, 9 languages,
manual/tutorial, teaching resources, take action)
o Tutorial @ https://youtu.be/ViAsfHb8pbU
 Against all odds @ http://www.contravientoymarea.org (web-based, 4 languages, teaching
resources, take action)
o Teacher’s guide @
http://www.contravientoymarea.org/teachersupervision/es/pdf/LH_ALL_ES.pdf
 Immigration Nation @ http://bit.ly/INation (web-based/App Store/Google Play, English/Spanish,
teaching resources)

MORE GAMES

 Games for change @ http://www.gamesforchange.org/games/

  Games for sustainability @ https://games4sustainability.org/gamepedia/
 Dignity world games @ https://www.enterdignityworld.com/games/
GAME-BASED LEARNING WEBSITES and APPS

 Conjuguemos @ http://www.conjuguemos.com
 Drops @ https://languagedrops.com
 Duolingo @ http://www.duolingo.com
 Factile @ https://www.playfactile.com/
 Free Rice @ http://www.freerice.com
 Gimkit @ https://www.gimkit.com/
 Goosechase @ https://www.goosechase.com
 Kahoot @ https://kahoot.com/
 Memrise @ https://www.memrise.com
 Mondly @ https://www.mondly.com
 Quizizz @ https://quizizz.com/
 Quizlet Live @ https://quizlet.com/

C) REFERENCES

 Gee, J. P. (2014). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York:
Macmillan.
 Glynn, C. (2017). Opening windows to the world through social justice education. Retrieved Jan
7, 2020 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hc-xAory-I&feature=youtu.be
 Glynn, C., Wesely, P. & Wassell, B. (2018). Teaching World Languages through the Lens of Social
Justice (2nd edition). Alexandria, VA: ACTFL
 Grahn, L. & McAlpine, D. (2017). The Keys to Strategies for Language Instruction. Alexandria, VA:
ACTFL
 Green, A. (2014). Allen Interactions’ Taxonomy Alignment for Gaming (TAG). Retrieved Jan 7,
2021 from http://resources.alleninteractions.com/online/aa/allenacademy/TAGDocument.pdf
 Hackman, H. (2005). Five essential components for social justice education. Equity & Excellence
in Education, (38), 103–109.
 Nieto, S. (2010). Language, culture, and teaching: Critical perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge.
 One world - Nations online (2021). Countries of the third world. Retrieved Jan 7, 2021 from
https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/third_world.htm
 Orsatti, Silvina (2017). Gamifying the Spanish curriculum to promote motivation and willing
communication in the college-level classroom. Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
 Sykes, J. & Reinhardt, J. (2013). Language at play: Digital games in second and foreign language
teaching and learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
 UNICEF (2021). Take action. Retrieved January 7, 2021 from https://www.unicef.org/take-action
 UNITED NATIONS (2021). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved January 7, 2021
from https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
 United Nations (2021). World day of social justice. Retrieved Jan 7, 2021 from
https://www.un.org/en/observances/social-justice-day
 World Food Programme (2021). Saving lives Changing Lives. Retrieved Jan 7, 2021 from
https://www.wfp.org
D) TAKEAWAYS

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E) Q&A

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