Any ESL experience with Minecraft?

[Jenna]

Hello everybody, I'm a part-time ESL (English as a Second Language)
teacher at a local public school, and I was wondering if anyone has
any experience of using Minecraft with second language learners. I'm
thinking about developing some sort of ESL curriculum or program
proposal that can utilize Minecraft for my M.A. scholarly paper, and
I'm looking forward to hearing about any advice or feedback you may
have.

Thanks!

- Jenna

[George Wood]

I have taught some ESL mathematics students, and now that I think of it, I should've used a Minecraft lesson or three.

[Minecraft Teacher]

You should definitely check out Andre Cherck's blog at:

http://gamebased.tumblr.com/ 

He's in Denmark teaching English to high school students.  And he's @vexmand on Twitter if you want to reach out to him.

~Joel

[Jenna]

Thanks so much for the help! I'm following Andre's Tumblr already, so
I will definitely try to get in touch with him then.

[Waldo]

I just got MinecraftEdu last week... I teach high school ESL and am in
the process of developing some lessons for my ELL students. I built a
replica of the high school I am in and then started building a
learning environment outside of it. At this school I have 2 students
who are POE and I have them in separate classes so I'm going to get
creative with how they interact. I have built a quarry where they
will have to mine for their supplies in the first lesson to understand
the basics of how the tools work and their strengths. In the second
lesson they will have to build a house, following a rubric, out of a
set number of materials I give them in a chest. I am also going to
have them work on assignments where I supply one student with part of
a list of objects and the other student will have the other part.
They will have to work together to complete the tasks. I will have
them journal (in English) about their experiences and to leave each
other notes on what or how they did part of the assignment. I'm still
turning it over in my head right now, but am excited for the
possibility to provide them with "out of the classroom" experiences
from within the classroom.

[Zack H.]

Hello. Nice thread going here! Good to see second language teachers
utilizing Minecraft, as well as those in the content areas. Jenna, I
recently wrote a grant to get Minecraft into the computer labs at the
university here in Ohio. Haven't heard back yet, but should in the
next couple of weeks. I've also gathered quite a few resources in
terms of scholarly articles on games and learning, and some of the
stuff that's been published on Minecraft specifically, which I have
used in papers on the subject. I'd be happy to share these materials
with you if you think it would be helpful.

Waldo - I think your idea to provide pairs of students with materials
the other needs to complete a task is wonderful. I think this
demonstrates one of the benefits of Minecraft - collaborative
learning. It has real potential to benefit speaking and listening
skills of ELLs for sure. Look forward to speaking with you both in the
future!

[Jenna]

Thanks Waldo and Zack for the responses! Really great to see
Minecraft being used all over the world. I would love to incorporate
it into my own classroom, but the only way I can is getting separate
flash drives for each Minecraft file, as we are (probably) not allowed
to download software onto our school's shared laptops. I'm thinking
about applying for funding to get MinecraftEdu-priced games and
hopefully start teaching with the program.

Zack: If you really don't mind, would you care to share the sources
you've acquired? I'm currently looking at the works of James Gee, and
my friend just sent me an article by Piirainen–Marsh and Tainio (2009)
that is a Conversational Analysis on collaborative gaming in Final
Fantasy.

Great stuff so far, everyone!

[Joel Levin]

Hey folks!  Just thought I'd chime in here.  I'm delighted that there's finally a little discussion going on lately in this group.

I find it quite interesting that language instruction is quickly become one of the most common uses of MinecraftEdu.  I guess it makes sense.  You don't NEED to do any special setup ahead of time, or present focused in-game activities.  It's enough to just get the kids playing together and communicating in the new language.  I'm quite interested in everyone's thoughts as the school-year progresses.

Zack, by all means share the resources!  I recently just tossed up a ton of interesting links on to Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/joelnyc/minecraft-edtech-gbl/

But in better news...  we are FINALLY getting started with our MinecraftEdu Wiki There's a fair bit of work to do.  Many stubs need expanding.  If anyone of you want to contribute, I'll gladly get you an account!  We could use all the help we can get!

http://minecraftedu.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

~Joel

[Zack H.]

Jenna and Joel, thanks for the responses. I'll get some articles
together to send your way tomorrow. I'll have to check out Piirainen-
Marsh and Taino that you mentioned. One of the authors I've been
getting into recently is Robert Weissberg. He talks a lot about
teaching writing through conversation, dialogue, and collaboration. I
think some of his theory could be applied pretty solidly to Minecraft.
Joel -- Just checked out your Pintrest page. Looks like there's a ton
of good stuff there!

I certainly wouldn't mind helping out with the Wiki either. Not sure
how much I could contribute to the technical side of things, but might
be able to lend a hand with some of the pedagogical sections. Talk
soon!

Zack

[Zack H.]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to do a shameless self-plug here, and let everyone know
that I've just started a new blog, which will chart my efforts to
teach ESL with Minecraft at a large Midwestern university. Classes
begin in a couple weeks, so I'm working hard to finish the curriculum
world and write the accompanying course workbook. I'll be sharing bits
and pieces of these as I go, and would love to hear feedback from the
ESL teachers working on similar projects. The blog can be found here:
http://tesolbuilders.blogspot.com/

Best to you all,
Zack

[Joel Levin]

It's not  a shameless self plug at all.  This is exactly what this group is for!  To share what you are doing with other interested teachers.  I look forward to reading you blog.

My only quibble so far is that you didn't mention that you are using MinecraftEdu!  ;p

~Joel

[Zack H.]

Dang, Joel! You are quick!

Yep, not mentioning MinecraftEdu was an oversight on my part. I was so
excited to get my post up that I forgot to give credit. Nice work on
my part, considering that the screenshot I used is a prominent feature
of the mod. =p

Check out the edited version, newly posted. Should clear things up a
bit.

Zack

[Joel Levin]

Haha, thanks.  :)

[Eric]

I only saw a picture of a room with an info block in it, on that blog. Do you have a world built already? Will they be connecting in the lecture hall or from home? Do you have an Edu server set up?

[Zack H.]

Hi Eric,

I've completed worlds for one of four units in the course. Working on
the second today. The way the syllabus is designed, students are
learning to compose pieces that conform to different writing genres:
summary, narrative, descriptive, and persuasive essays. Their
knowledge of these genres is scaffolded through a number of
interactive exercises in Minecraft. The class will be held in one of
the computer labs we have on campus. I don't have the Edu server up
and running yet, but am in contact with the lab administrators to get
that in the works.

[EduElfie]

I agree with Joel not a shameless plug at all, the more we all share our journeys with the wider community (and eachother) the better for all of us trying to improve education through gaming. So now for my 'shameless plug' if you havent already seen my blog, feel free to have a read of my journey so far, contending with differing ideals behind GBL and successes and failures in getting things happening at my school. I also have many videos on my youtube channel, where I have tutorial videos and videos of MinecraftEdu being used with students. Hope it helps, and lets all keep sharing.
Elfie.

[Zachary Hausrath]

Hi Elfie,

Thanks for bringing up the importance of sharing our journeys with one another, especially in the spirit of your latest blog post. I've been reading your blog for a bit now, as well as watching your videos. They have helped me along the way to put my own ideas into practice, and to finally start sharing my experiences on blogspot, so thanks for the inspiration. Looking forward to seeing all of our projects grow and develop.
Best,
Zack

[EduElfie]

Thanks, it is nice to know there are actually people reading my blog, and watching the videos. And it is even better to hear that they have helped you begin sharing. You have just given me the 'bump' I need to keep going for a while longer. I have shared your blog with an English teacher at my school who is interested on starting to use Minecraft in her classes, so fingers crossed she takes some of your ideas on board and incorporates them into her teaching and then shares again herself.
Elfie.

[dangjavageek]

Thanks to Elfie and Zack for posting their blog entries, we're reading them and sharing them.  They are making a difference to our community of educators, thanks for sharing.

[Patrick]

Hi Zack,

Very interesting Zack. I'm following your blog. I have a few
questions.

What exactly is the context in which you teach? e.g., are your
students preparing to attend university, attending university or do
you teach an ESL class at university? How old are your students?

I teach in a foundation program in Australia (our students are
preparing to attend university).

Take care,
Patrick

[Patrick]

Please post articles (link to) specifically published on Minecraft

[Zack H.]

Hi Patrick,

The students that are enrolled in the class are already attending the
university, but need extra practice with reading and writing skills
before they are qualified to take English 101 - the freshman English
course at the University. The course I'm teach is a credit-bearing
course designed to help them on their way. There are three writing
levels in our program. The 3rd and final class must be passed for the
students to go on to ENG 101. The course I am teaching with Minecraft
is the first of 3 levels. Most of the students are 18 - 22 years old.
I just finished writing a workbook to go along with MC curriculum, and
am working to set up the servers this week. I'll get back to you on
the articles when I get a chance. Thanks for writing. I look forward
to hearing more about your own work. Have you started teaching with
MCEDU yet?

Zack

[James York]

Sorry to necro this thread, but I'd just like to share my experiences with EFL (not ESL) in minecraft.

There are a few blog posts over here http://yorksensei.posterous.com but the majority of my work remains undocumented. I am starting a second semester of teaching English in minecraft and this semester I am focusing more on preparing learners to participate in online NS-NNS intercultural communication. 

The reason I am doing this is due to an amazingly positive response from my favourite community -- reddit: http://redd.it/10qmqy. I am a little apprehensive about how the project will work though, as my students are beginner learners.

I would be very interested in setting up an English learning server for all non-native EFL or ESL learners to come and participate in joint builds and other language learning tasks (I have a fairly long list). Would anyone else like to help me set up an online server for the purpose of language learning?

[Miika Warsell]

Hello all,

I'm also necroing this thread. I teach English at a local elementary school and one of my special ed groups is nuts about Minecraft. The group is small (only 5) so it'd be very manageable to try something different like this.

I have recently read about MinecraftEdu. Is it worth on investing on this? Moreover, do any of you have any ideas how to incorporate their love for Minecraft into normal classroom activities? I.e. not necessarily using a computer lab.

Cheers.

Miika