Have you ever noticed how quickly children master video games controls but struggle to remember English vocabulary? What if learning English felt like palying a video games? What if students begged to practice grammar and vocabulary? What if we could help them develop kindness, teamwork and cofidence?
That exactly what my project "Play with purpose" is all about using digital tools like blooket, baamboozle, classdojo, nearpod, wordwall, etc to teach English as a Foreign Language while nurturing Social Emotional Skills.
In my context, in Tunisia and especially when I talk about my students because they study in a rural school so learning English is difficult for them and my students here struggle with fair of speaking, no motivation because they have not the chance to practice English outside the classroom.
So by using digital tools for gamification in my teaching process transforms the experience of learning English as a foreign language into something engaging, interactive, and effective, all while promoting social-emotional skills in my classroom. Through my project "Play with purpose", I successfully cultivated my students language abilities, emotional intelligence, teamwork, and critical thinking in an enjoyable, student-centred way.
My fun digital toolkits are:
-Blooket; For interactive games with rewards and competition and this turns vocabulary into team adventures. This funny tool encourages communication and enhance self-confidence among students.
-Wordwall; Teaches garmmar and vocabulary funny and builds emotion words, this tool lets students track progress, building confidence and self-awareness.
-Baamboozle; Team quizzes for vocabulary and grammar review. his tool renforce teamwork.
-ClassDojo; For speaking challenges, students here can post voice notes, correct mistakes of posted sentences full of mistakes, and studens can turn English learning into a daily or weekly quests for examle solving a word puzzle and here we can enhance students student's speaking, reading and spelling skills. this funny tool reinforce responsibilityand mindset by awarding points for positive behaviors.
And others like Kahoot and Nearpod.
My implementation steps are:
- Identify objective.
- Choose tool and match activity to digital tool strength.
- Design activities; Incorporate competitions, rewards and collaboration.
- Provide instructions, monitors and feedbacks; ensure students understand rules and goals, track engagement and adjust as needed.
Impact on my students:
My students show greater confidence and self-esteem. They are more willing to participate. I observed a 70% reduction in classroom conflicts, 80% of my students can express their emotions using English Language, 99% of my students felt happy during my English classroom.
My experience of gamifying EFL through fostering SEL using digital tools turns language learning into an emotionally aware, engaging experience. By using digital tools, I effectively design engaging, enjoyable lessons that enhance English skills and life skills
At its heart this is not about technology , it's about remembering that behind every stuggling English learner is a chlid who laps to play.
Your project "Play with Purpose" truly reflects the power of combining gamification and social-emotional learning to create a positive, engaging EFL environment especially for students in rural settings. I loved how you used tools like Blooket, Wordwall, Baamboozle, and ClassDojo not just to teach English, but also to build confidence, teamwork, and emotional intelligence.
