Levelling the Playing Field. Seriously.

Just about the most serious thing it's possible for one person to do with another is to play a game.

- Tom Chatfield, Fun Inc. 

I have been in a frenzy of reading about games and learning recently (more about that in a later post).  While reading about the mesmerising power of play, and its magical effect on learning, I had a pang of guilt that my own core class had become so serious. Our core courses are a rather serious business, covering academic writing, spelling, grammar, a project and study skills in the short span of eight hours a week. All this is higher-level work done with students who are generally still false beginners due to an unrelenting legacy system.  The Herculean task of mastering academic report writing with students who spell their names differently every day tends to lose its levity easily. 

The recent student protests did a great deal to change the atmosphere, but learning engagement was still very low. Then a miracle happened. 

A neighbouring class challenged my students to a football match. They arranged everything, and I just showed up to watch. It was a staggering realisation that the agile, capable youths who had set up this match and played it with such focus were the self-same students who often staggered into class late without a pen, or the classroom skills to excuse themselves. It was sobering to think that on a football field I am far less capable than they are in an academic report. 

This experience did more than remind me how great the differing strengths of individuals can be. It also brought a new team spirit to the classroom. Even more surprising is the rapport that has grown with "weaker" students who are now enthused. One student literally went from sheer apathy, side talking and a failing grade to enthusiasm, concentration, a decent passing mark and - AND! conversing with classmates in English before lessons. All this in a matter of a week. Other factors are at work, of course: he has been spending time with new friends and practicing writing with the class buff. Yet at the core is a change of heart. 

All this because of a football match? Well, of course it doesn't necessarily have to be a match. But the power of a game, team spirit, caring and authentic communication are a quick and powerful transformer of what happens in the classroom. I am still stunned. 

Image: mtcleroux, from the match