iPad Game “Jetpack Joyride”: Lesson Plan

I recently received a copy of “Digital Play” (a book review will be available in the near future), which is written by Kyle Mawer and Graham Stanley, and was inspired by this book to prepare an EFL lesson which incorporated an iPad/iPhone Game.  The game that I decided to focus on is called “Jetpack Joyride“, created by Halfbrick (the company behind many popular iPad/iPhone games such as Fruit Ninja), and is an addictive yet simple game which involves the use of flying through a level.  It is controlled by simply pressing the iPad or iPhone with your finger and is incredibly intuitive.  All material required for this lesson is detailed below.  The only preparation required for this lesson is printing out the material below and cutting up the Story Board Images for distribution for each group of students.  There is a video that is required for the lesson and it is accessible via YouTube and is also available to view below.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzxi8nid9BQ]

Jetpack Joyride Lesson Plan(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Jetpack Joyride – Story Board Images(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Image Story Board Template(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Jetpack Joyride – Rules(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Please feel free to let me know what you thought of the lesson and also provide feedback if you managed to incorporate this within your class.  I understand that not everyone will have access to an iPad or iPhone but for those that have this game on their smartphone or tablet, it may offer possible ideas to incorporate games within the EFL classroom.  A Wordle for the lesson is provided below and you could incorporate it in the lesson (perhaps as a context creator or to prompt students to write the rules/objectives of the game).

Jetpack Joyride Wordle(function() { var scribd = document.createElement(“script”); scribd.type = “text/javascript”; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = “http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js”; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })();

Nevertheless, have you used digital games within your classroom?  Can you see the future of tablet games within the EFL classroom or is this sort of activity basically a repackaged form of edutainment?  I am keen to hear opinions from other teachers about whether we should be getting learners to play games for language learning or focusing on the basics of language learning.  That being said, I will be using this lesson with a group of Columbian teenage learners and will provide feedback very soon.