Spanish 101

Created by: Neda Mihneva and Veronika Subertova

| Instructional Objective | Learners & Context | Object of Game | Game Materials |
| Time Required | Rules | Design Process | References |

Instructional Objective

The main purpose of this game is to create a fun way of learning and memorizing Spanish vocabulary. Not only will linguistic skill being challenged, but also the fastest path will need to be determined in order to reach the top fastest.

Learners & Context of Use

This game is designed for the beginners in Spanish language studies.

Object of the Game

Finding the fastest path to reach the top of the pyramid while learning new Spanish vocabulary.

Game Materials

• Game Board
• Four different colored game chips [Word ... PDF]
• Four different game pieces.
• Game Cards [Word ... PDF]

Time Required

This game is for 2-4 players and it should be played for thirty minutes to an hour depending on how fast will the players find the fastest path.

The Rules

Game Play:

• Each time a question is answered correctly the player can decide which direction he or she would move by one position. Every direction is possible unless the position is already taken by another player.
• Yellow square: question regarding “greetings”
• Red square: question regarding “food”
• Blue square: question regarding “family”
• Green square: question regarding: “numbers”
• White square: open position available to step on as many times as you wish, cannot be taken by anyone, no questions asked.
• Black square: risk position, harder question to be asked, if answered correctly player can move by two spots any direction and if not player has to wait two rounds.

Design Process

The game board is arranged in squares that are built to form a pyramid. There will be 27 squares each of blue, green, yellow and red. Also, players have the chance to stop at 14 white colored squares and take a risk at 14 black squares. The player would also have to keep in mind that he has limited amount of squares to use so they have to find the most efficient path towards the top.

The main concern while creating game was the size issue and difficulty of task. At first we were thinking about a bigger structure and multiple-choice questions. Considering that there is a limited amount of time a player can maintain interest while playing games, we decided for a medium size structure that should take about 30 minutes to play.

The subject matter and search for the best approach for an educational game was another main concern while creating this game. The players can simply help each other out by trying to find the correct answer among each other and learn from each other.

The main purpose of this game is not a stressful competition, but trying to find a fun way to learn and memorize foreign language words. The process of memorization is already stressful enough so we would like to find a way to help students increase their learning productivity while having fun by playing this game.

We have learned that cooperation among group members is very helpful to enrich individual ideas and find the best way to approach the main goal of the project. Every member of the group is an individual who increases the value of the project by his or her own ideas. By creating this game we were trying to find the best way for the players to develop their learning skill and also we have developed our ability to find alternative procedures, which will eventually be helpful for each one of us.

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References

• Sabias Que”, beginning Spanish by VanPatten Lee Ballman
• “VOX” Compact Spanish and English Dictionary, Mc Graw Hill