Didactic level: educational game
Created in partnership with Charlotte Wellens
Didactic game: Introduction
We chose to create a game which is versatile enough so that it can be played with almost every
theme, aspect or subject of a lesson. We have designed the questions based on the current popular
theme of pollution and environmental issues but keep in mind that this can be easily adapted for a
lesson where the tenses need practicing. For obvious reasons, the rules should be adjusted with the
theme (this will be explained in detail further down in the text).
Because the subject of the game can be adjusted it is also possible to play this in different grades.
However, it is preferred to do this in a year where the pupils already have the skills to speak and
discuss their opinion in English.
Everything written down in the following text is based on the theme of pollution and environmental
issues. Keep in mind that e.g. the formation objectives need to be adapted along with the subject you
want to use
Formation objectives
World view
The pupils learn that something is wrong with the word and that pollution must be stopped.
Language
The pupils learn some new vocabulary and repeat the grammar rules. They expand their knowledge
of the English language.
Personality formation
The pupils learn the importance of saving our world, keeping it clean and making sure we stop
polluting it.
How to play?
Goal of the game
The idea is that you, as a player, need to save the world from being destroyed by the Decepticons
(the evil robots from the television show and movie Transfomers). You do this by finding their most
prized possession “the Cube”. This Cube contains the power to create and destroy worlds, it speaks
for itself that the Decepticons wish to destroy the world and that they need to be stopped. Your
friends, the Autobots (the friendly robots and adversaries of the Decepticons), have already found
the Cube but now they need a password to get inside the building which contains it. This password is
known by only one Autobot who goes by the name of Rodimus Prime. There is only one problem,
Rodimus has been captured and torn apart by the Decepticons. They have hidden his five body-parts
all over the world. It is your job to find these parts, combine them, revive Rodimus, get the password
and retrieve the cube.
The rules
The rules are adaptable to the subject. These are the rules we came up with:
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You can play in teams or on your own.
Pick out a pawn.
Roll the die to check who can start: the one who throws the highest number can start.
Pick out a ‘continent-card’ to see where you have to start: you can start on one of the big
dots of your continent.
The big dots contain a question card with an anagram where you can earn a piece of
Rodimus’ body. Try to figure out the newly learned word and give an explanation of the word
of your own. You can earn 1 part per continent.
The small dots contain a question card with one easy question you have to answer every
time you stop on a dot.
!!! Read the questions out loud + when you’re out of question cards, start from the top again
(repetition is key)
Try to collect the 5 parts of Rodimus’ body to put him back together. Only this way he can tell
us the password we need in order to find the Cube.
If you have all 5 parts in your possession, you have to travel to the Cube. Rodimus will tell
you the password and then you will be able to grab the Cube and save the Earth.
Board
The rules are pretty useless without knowing where you are going to play this game. So here’s the
board we made:
The big dots are the places where the players can start (as said in the rules). Every continent has its
own colour of dots, the white dots are for transportation over sea.
The questions
These are the questions we came up with for the theme “pollution”. We made questions for one
continent. If you actually want to play the game you will have to come up with enough questions for
each continent. The questions are designed so they can be easily used when printed.
Big dots
Decode the anagram given below and give a correct explanation of the word:

Tupelo lot
o To pollute
o To make an area or substance, usually air, water or earth, dirty or harmful to people,
animals and plants, especially by adding harmful chemicals

Insolvent mint ear
o Environmentalist
o A person who is interested in or studies the environment and who tries to protect it
from being damaged by human activities

Pigeonfoot cacti roll
o Ecological footprint
o The amount of the Earth’s energy that someone or something uses
Small dots
Choose the correct explanation of the given word:

Pollution:
A) Damage caused to water, air, etc. by harmful substances or waste.
B) Dust, soil or any substances that makes a surface not clean.

Environment:
A) The air, water and land in or on which people live.
B) The earth and all the people, places and things on it.

Smog:
A) Thick fog produced by very small drops of water collecting in the air.
B) Air pollution, especially in cities, that is caused by a mixture of smoke gases and
chemicals.

Ecological footprint:
A) The amount of earth’s energy that someone or something uses.
B) The mark made by a person’s or an animal’s foot in nature.

Environmentalist:
A) A person who lives in a forest and only uses things that can be found in a forest to
stay alive.
B) A person who is interested in or studies the environment and who tries to protect it.

Oil spill:
A) A release of oil into the environment due to human activity.
B) The dripping of oil from a bottle of olive oil.
Conjugate the verb between brackets in the given tense:

Present simple:
o An environmentalist (to defend) the forests by chaining himself to a tree for several
days.

Past simple:
o BP (to pollute) the ocean by not fixing the hole in the pipeline immediately.

Simple future:
o The ice caps (melt) even faster if we keep on polluting the environment.

Present perfect simple:
o Greenpeace (to fight) the polluters for several years.
The game is designed so you can come up with your own questions and implement them yourself. If
you feel like using this game with tenses you could easily let them fill in a sentence every small dot
using a tense per continent. When they step on a big dot they would have to fill in a more difficult
sentence or maybe 3 sent