TRPG for Teaching EFL

TRPG = Tabletop Role-Playing Game || EFL = English as a Foreign Language
Under Construction - TRPG Design STARTED on November 8th, 2021

This area is a work in Progress. We will add a direct link to downloadable materials soon. As we develop the TRPG, will will expand the materials and explainations.

Please be patient as we provide appropriate materials and information. This TRPG is also useful for teaching intermediate Japanese to learners of the Japanese language. As time moves on and we find volunteers to assist, we will include Korean and Mandarin languages. The game itself is being designed to encourage cross-cultural and multi-national interaction - as well as to provide a fun, hands-on learning environment for language learners.

Project 13

A Superhero SDG Project

          This is part of a larger SDGs focused project for students at the junior or senior high level with approximately a B1 Preliminary to B2 Preliminary level of English. The character sheet, linked below, contains Japanese to facilitate rapid understanding of the components as the language on the sheet is not the target of the lesson. In our contemporary world, SDGs are a major part of our lives. It is imperative, for our evolution as a global population, for each new generation to seriously consider and internalize the impact their actions have on the world, and how they can help to solve problems both locally and globally. It is my firm belief that creativity drives the desire to learn and engage. The more a student can access their own style of creativity, the more fun they'll have with what they're learning, and as a result, the more they'll ultimately learn and retain.

          As a standalone, the character sheet can be used to facilitate discussion through the lens of a superhero or heroine so that they can imagine fantastical approaches to problems. Here, the key element is to get students thinking critically about what limitations their characters have in terms of strengths and weaknesses, traits and flaws. They then apply them to problems. While it is obvious that this creates unrealistic and fictional approaches to key issues in the world, it does engage creativity which is necessary for coming around to new and innovative ways to solve problems. In acting, this is called bringing it in or walking it back. Essentially: Go overboard, then restrict and fine tune until you have all the power of the first creative elements packed into a working and realistic final product.

          The character development is an open-concept for creativity, and design can be widened or restricted based on the aims of the class taught. In its base form, the students have a set number of points to allocate to their physical and mental stats that range from a base of one to a maximum of five. The total number of distributable points available is 27. As for items carried, back-story, powers, etc, all of these are left up to the students. Encouraging students to start first with an image to then attach their other ideas to is recommended. If they know what their character looks like and what their physical stats are, they can then work to understand what they do, what powers they have, what special traits they may possess, and how they think and act.

          When using the character sheets for interaction, encourage the students to imagine that the character is the one acting and answering the questions. This pushes the boundaries of their English by having them speak of someone and something just outside of the realm of immediate and personal knowledge while still being connected to those two aspects of language. The characters must also be able to work as a team, so students must consider how they can use their powers and abilities to assist each other in a team and cover the gaps. At higher levels, role-play can be done to make a play instead of build a project.

          ***MORE IN DEVELOPMENT***

"PROJECT 13" an SDG Project Character Sheet - DOWNLOAD PDF (CC:BY-NC-SA)

© Copyright Dragon Pier (2019.11)