By David Berresford
I first started using Ed Tech in my classroom over 10 years ago, when I began teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Some of the initial tools I started using were Kahoot and Quizlet, which were rather new at the time and were game-changing as they could allow learners to do quizzes and activities in the classroom in real-time using their personal devices. It was this real-time element, providing learners with immediate responses, results and feedback all through their mobiles, which really fascinated me and provided inspiration for an idea which I would finally develop, nearly 10 years later!
The idea behind Prontoclass is to offer a similar experience to other tools mentioned above, but more tailored to second language learners. It draws on some of my favourite traditional paper-based games that my students used to play in my classroom. I’ve been able to digitise some of these games so learners can play it on their personal devices via Prontoclass. There are currently 3 games available on Prontoclass; Taboo, Hotseat and Jumble.
"Great concept to get people using technology but without sacrificing social interactions"*
Taboo
Taboo is a game where a chosen student will have to describe a word to their classmates without using the ‘taboo’ words on a banned list. I use this game a lot when I want my learners to review certain vocabulary from the week connected to a unit or a language point. It develops their vocabulary range as they have to think of creative ways to describe a word they’ve recently learnt. For their teammates, it develops their listening skills as they have to listen to what’s being described and shout out an answer. Using Prontoclass, a teacher can set up an online version of this which will randomly select students to be the describer and send them a word to describe to their teammates via their mobile phone.
"Overall it was a lot of fun and good to build rapport from colleagues"*
Hotseat
Hotseat is another one of my favourite games, due to the frantic nature and fast pace. The setup is simple, the class is divided into two teams. Each round a random student will be picked to be in the ‘hotseat’, which is traditionally a seat at the front of the class. Their teammates will then be sent a word and will have to describe it to them. The student in the hotseat who shouts out the answer first will be awarded a point. After the first round, two new students will be selected to be in the hotseat. This can be played digitally via Prontoclass, where students will be sent the keywords to be described to their mobiles.
"Really engaging way of encouraging interaction in a classroom environment"*
Jumble
The final game available on Prontoclass is Jumble, a game where students have to work together to arrange a piece of text, ranging from sentences to paragraphs. Traditionally, this would have involved hours of cutting up paper strips, organising them into teams for students to then put them back in the correct order. A great game, but very time consuming! Now with Prontoclass, the teacher no longer needs to cut up paper as they can be separated digitally and sent to student’s phones in a jumbled order. In teams, students must work together to put them in the correct order to form a logically flowing sentence, or paragraph. Each student will receive a different piece of the puzzle, so they must work together and look at each other’s devices.
"Jumble worked well to get all people participating"*
There are other games in the pipeline, so watch this space! But for now, I hope that Prontoclass can bring something unique to the classroom and learners studying various languages or disciplines can enjoy it!
Prontoclass was designed and developed by David Berresford, and if you are interested in using it or want to learn more then please keep an eye out for future workshops, or contact David directly: d.berresford@sheffield.ac.uk
*All quotes from colleagues at a Digimeets session
David Berresford is an English Language Tutor and a Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) member at the ELTC.
