teflgeek

I spotted a colleague (Thanks Neil!) using this with a class the other day and it looked brilliant and so investigated – it is really impressive work!

Turns out Neil spotted this on Larry Ferlazzo’s site.

The Curfew game is aimed at young adults / older teenagers and is set in a dystopian Britain, some 16 years in our future.  It aims to raise issues related to civil liberties, human rights and authoritarianism, though it does this not by preaching, but merely by putting the game player in situations where these rights have been removed.

From a language learners’ point of view, the dialogue is relatively authentic (obviously it’s scripted) and therefore might be difficult for lower levels to access.  Dialogue is subtitled though, so I think CEF levels B2 and above would be able to cope with most of it.

I used the game last night with a class who really got into it and refused to leave the room at the end of the lesson…  The mix of character interaction, point and click adventure game discovery and the occasional arcade game style task clearly winning them over!

I used this as the second half of a lesson that looked at civil liberties and human rights in fairly broad terms – asking learners to list the rights they had now and then running a mini-pyramid discussion to decide which rights they thought they could live without.  This was also a handy way of making sure that the basic concepts and vocabulary of game were pre-taught.  We also discussed Martin Niemoller’s “poem” – first they came.  Obviously some of these issues may be sensitive topics for your learners, so some discretion is advised!  I’d also suggest that you have a go at the game yourself beforehand, just to check over the suitability of the content – and also so that you can help any students struggling with what to do next!

To go and play the game click here:  The Curfew Game.

The only caveat is that the game is too long to play in a single lesson (as it should be?) – and it doesn’t “save” (though if you don’t clean down your computer it might remember where you were the next time you try and play it).  But I’m fairly sure my learners were happy enough to go home and work through it all again!

Happy Game play!