In brief, MAGEs (Mini, Applied Game Environments) are basically fun, quick games that Instructors can play with groups of students in their languages classes to practice specific grammar points and / or vocabulary families.
Here are some more specifics:
Mini - Have you ever played a minigame? That's what MAGEs are supposed to be like. They need to be very easy to explain and very quick to set up.
Applied - In accordance with Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), MAGEs need to involve real communication in the target language. Specifically, the students need to use the target language in a meaningful way in order to be successful at the game.
Game - One of the great things about games is that you are doing something, and that something is (hopefully) interesting! That's the idea here. In accordance with Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) the students are completing tasks with the target language. And the tasks should be fun and engaging! (And games, my friend, are about an authentic a task as you can get in a classroom!)
Environments - With MAGEs, there is a game, and there are learners, and the instructor is the intermediary between the two.
Game (technology) ←→ instructor ←→ class (in groups)
This setup allows for greater interaction on the part of the students, and allows for the instructor to provide guidance, scaffolding, and feedback.
A few additional details:
All of my MAGEs are provided free of charge. We're educators. Let's be real.
All of my MAGEs are available here as either browser-based or downloadable for Windows. I try to keep them as user-friendly and easy-to-use as possible.
I love replay value! That is why all my MAGEs have randomly generated content. They're never quite the same. Please feel free to suggest new content!
I have used MAGEs in my own classes for years, and continue to do so, as well as refine and create more of them all the time.
If you have any questions, or, even better, suggestions, please feel free to email me!
Here is a list of the MAGEs that I currently have available:
Adivina - This MAGE is a multipurpose guessing game (similar to Guess Who?). You choose your category (e.g. animals, foods, movie characters, etc.) and how many options you want displayed, and Adivina generates a set of options for you. Secretly pick one of the options, then have your students ask you questions until they can figure out which option you are thinking of. Then you can generate a new set of options!
The Storage Room - This MAGE provides a randomly arranged set of images of classroom items. You secretly pick one of the items, then have students ask you questions about its location (e.g. is it above the table?) to try and guess which item you are thinking of.
Overseer - For this MAGE, have one student is at the controls who cannot see the screen. The rest of the class can see they screen. They yell instructions to the player telling them which way to turn, to go, to stop, etc. Their goal is to get the player through the maze. It can be fun to time them and see who can do it the quickest!
Ninjaed - This is a fun little MAGE for practicing comparisons with your students. Secretly choose one ninja and then have your groups of students take turns asking you questions using comparisons until one of the groups figures out which ninja you are thinking of. You can increase and decrease the number of ninjas using the buttons on the right.
The Family - With this MAGE you click the button to generate a random family tree. Then secretly pick one of the people in the family and have your class ask you questions until they can guess who you are thinking of.
Casa - In this MAGE someone builds a room one step at a time (without the class seeing) and describes it as they do so. The class is broken into groups and uses the clues to try and build the room as identical to the key one as possible. At the end, compare codes to see who got the closest!
Find Uncle Bob - Uncle Bob is lost! Pick a city, and your students ask you questions about what is in the city to try and figure out which city Uncle Bob is in. This is a fun way to practice locations.
Quick Questions - I almost always use a very simple Google Form called Quick Questions. If you connect it to a Google Sheet (you can see mine here), it makes it very easy to ensure full class participation! Basically, you ask any question you want, and the students (usually in groups) respond using the Google Form. (Copy the content from the second tab of my Google Sheet to yours, and it should automatically tally each group's score!) You watch for the answers to come in on the Google Sheet. And once everyone has answered, you go over the answers as a class. It is basically a very versatile and simple version of Kahoot!
