Games have always been a big part of how I teach.

And it actually started when I was in Uni.   I did a summer internship with Arthur Andersen,  one of the biggest accounting firms in the world at the time.

🍾 Besides winning a bottle of champagne for giving the best presentation, I also noticed that almost every session started with a game.

So when I started teaching kids (another long story!)  I figured “If the big accounting firms can use games to learn new skills then I’m pretty sure we can too!”

No, you can’t!

Now of course I got huge blow back from the “older” teachers with such wonderful sayings as  “learning isn’t about having fun”  – well, errr, yes, if you look at the research then it is ….

And “you can’t prepare for the exams with games” – well, errr, I think if a multi billion dollar accounting firm does it that way there might be at least something in it ….

Yes, you can!

Anyway, what I quickly figured out was that these teachers were just seeing games as “something extra.”

They were misunderstanding and just using them as a “time filler” like hangman when they finished their grammar lecture early.

Of course that’s just a waste of time, quite literally.

What makes games works is when the skill you need to learn is actually practiced in the game.

Now in accounting this can be quite tricky and there are only a few games you can use,  but, luckily for us, when we teach English, and especially spoken English which is what we do here, then it’s actually really easy to take so many really fun game mechanics and just add in the English we want to practice!

Star Wars?  Check!   Castles and Ninjas?  Check!  Princess & Unicorns?  Check!

So every lesson on the curriculum has a “no prep” recommended game,  then a few alternatives for smaller classes or when you have more prep time.

And then on the site there are two main Extra Games pages,  one for VIPs with everything in there and one that everyone can use with a selection of my top ideas.

Give them a try, I think you’ll like them! 🙂