In recent years, Escape Room becomes a popular activity in Asian countries. There are also mobile and online games. I thought it might be a possible assessment for language class so Kim and I decided to work on it for the Pedagogical Trade Fair.
The hardest part of our project is to come up with clues. The point of the game is that all the clues are connected, and eventually lead people get out of the room. For our project, we also need to add in the Chinese language factors. We used Chinese idiom because advanced students had previous knowledge with it and they could also learn new idioms.
Procedure:
- Students imagine themselves locked up in a room; they need to find clues in order to find the key and get out
- The clues are hidden in different parts of the classroom; students need to have certain knowledge on Chinese idioms in order to solve the clues
Escape the Chinese Room video: https://youtu.be/7z83L52Ardc
English Escape Room Games:
- http://www.tvokids.com/games/bigescape
- http://www.tvokids.com/games/bigescape2
I had a lot of fun following the misadventures of Dr. Know It All (though the music is rather annoying). If someone is indeed going around vacuuming words out of books, it is comforting to know that you guys have a reputation (from your Language Analysis class?) for making up cool new words. Anyway, room escapes are clearly an a new game genre allowing for great linguistic creativity. Thanks again for making us aware of these possibilities and showing us a wonderful example.