Tanuki Talk

Thank You JALT and So Says Japan: Fall


Hello everyone,

 

Of course we are sad not to be at JALT this year meeting and talking with everyone, but this post is a thank you to JALT for awarding Tanuki Games's Jay Underwood and Stephen Case a best of JALT award! We are extermely proud to be awarded this by JALT who have been nothing but supportive since we founded Tanuki Games 4 years ago. Thank you!

 

We also have a quick new So Says Japan for you. A bit late in the season but the leaves are still all brown and the weather is at a "do I need a jacket" level so we present to you So Says Japan: Fall / Autumn. Eight new game/ discussion cards for you to use for free! 

 

Download here: 

 

 

 

 

Thank you! Here is us with our lovely awards!

 

 





So Says Japan: Summer!

by Stephen

 

Hello everyone,


We have a new free download version of So Says Japan with 10 new cards containing 14 new questions on all things summer. 


We are very excited that this is the first version to be published in English and Japanese and this will apply to all free sets going forward. We also have conversation practice papers in both English and Japanese and a full vocabulary list. Be sure to check them out. 

 

We have been very busy over the past few months and there will be six new free sets coming every few weeks until the end of the year and some new large sets available for purchase in the fall. Thanks for playing! 

 

Download the cards by clicking on the images below:

 

 

SSJSummerENG

English Cards

 

SSJSummerJP

日本語のカード

 

SSJSummerQuestionsENG

English Questions

 

SSJSummerQuestionsJP

日本語の質問

 

SSJSummerVocabulary

Vocabulary / 単語

 

 

The rules, play mat and other free versions of So Says Japan are avalible here:

 

https://www.tanukigames.org/free.php

 

 

 

Photo for the webbanner is by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels
All the graphic design work for So Says Japan is by Taylor Ruddle. Check him out here. 




So Says Japan: Christmas and New Years 2019!


 

Hello everyone,

 

Just in time for those end of year lessons, we have a new, updated and expanded set of So Says Japan: Christmas and New Years for you! Download it here:

 

ChristmasandNY2019

Download 

 

 

This free version was a real hit last year, so maybe you will get a chance to use them in your classes over the next week or so. 

 

This year’s version contains updated versions of the eight cards from last year plus four new cards. All these cards are made from new survey data collected this year. While most things have gone unchanged there have been a few notable deviations from lasts year’s results that are fun to explore. 

 

 

If you were Santa, what would you give children all over the world?

 

This card had the biggest differences from last year. I hope this means that we are seeing a trend towards a less materialistic view of Christmas. However, it might be down to the slightly different question asked! Whatever the reason, toys has dropped to second place, beaten out by sweets (last year we labeled this as ‘food’ but when looking at the answers again we saw that all of the food was of the sugary variety, so changed this to ‘sweets’). Even better, money has completely gone to be replaced by love and peace! Yay love and peace!  

 

Santa2018       

                                 2018                                                         2019

 

Who will you spend New Year’s with? 

 

This was a bit of an anomaly as friends and partner have swapped places this year. We probably need a bigger data set! However, it was nice to see that a few less people will be spending New Years alone this year. 

 

NewYear2018        SpendNY2019

                                 2018                                                            2019

 

What is the best Christmas Song?

 

While ‘All I Want for Christmas’ and ‘Last Christmas’ remain the firm favorites of many a Japanese person we have a new entry from a Japanese band for this year! Back Number have slipped into the number three slot ousting Ariana Grande. Back Number’s ‘Christmas Song’ came out in 2015 (had almost a billion YouTube views since) so maybe this one has some staying power. 

 

 

       

                                 2018                                                            2019

 

Have a listen to Back Number:

 

 

We hope you have fun with this new set of cards. Enjoy the expanded question set. Below you will also find a link to our 2018 version so you can have fun comparing the differences in answers and boards and rules for the game are linked below. 

 

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

 

 

 

So Says Japan: Christmas and New Year 2018

 

Game Board and Rules 

 

 





EFL Escape Rooms - Resources


 

 

From a talk I gave last weekend at a conference in Kobe, Japan, I could see that there is a genuine interest in making and implementing Escape Rooms in ESL and EFL classrooms. Next week on this blog I will share my slides, thoughts and puzzles, but for now, here is a list of resources I introduced at the conference that I think can get educators started on creating their own rooms. 

 

 

 

 

 

The disruptive media lab's mission statement is to drive innovation in education. They have an extensive article on the steps they recommend educators take to design their own rooms. They present a series of interesting questions that relate to the pedagogy as well as the practicalities of making an effective room. This guides would be designers through the process of making a room. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakout Edu has a series of videos on designing immersive educational experiences that are a must-see for would be designers. Although most of their site's content is behind a paywall, the ideas in these videos are applicable to any escape room designs.

 

 

 

 

Puzzled Pint is a worldwide, monthly event in which people gather to solve a series of puzzles while enjoying good food and drinks at the host bar. Their site is a goldmine of puzzle ideas. They are pretty difficult, so you'll need to adapt them to be suitable for the classroom. The plus point of these puzzles is that they all designed to be print and play. 

 

 

              

 

 

Escape Team is an app that controls the narrative, progression and hints of a paper-based escape room. The app is free, but the puzzles are contained on PDFs. This means you can print multiple copies of the same escape room which allows it to work for classrooms with large numbers of students. Further 'rooms' are purchasable through the app which, again, you can print multiple copies of. You can even design your own puzzle sheets and upload them to the app through their website. 

 

 

 

 

The best way to get an idea about how to make your own rooms is to play as many as possible. Obviously some people don't live with easy access to escape rooms and the cost can be prohibitive. These out-of-the-box escape rooms are a great alternative. This can give you an idea of how puzzles nest and flow into each other and ideas about what makes a puzzle difficult or easy.


At around $10 - $15 dollars a game, you play multiple of these games for the price of a single live escape room. I recommend the Unlock series as the narrative structure of these games is very strong and many of the puzzles are controlled by a free app. You can try a number of free versions which are downloadable on their website (links below). The Exit series and Journal 29 books are slightly harder overall, but also contain many creative ideas and are well worth a play. If you are thinking of buying these to use directly in the classroom without modification then Unlock is perhaps the best. This is because they are reusable, while the Exit series games can mostly only be played once. For a more detailed review comparing Unlock to Exit check out this review from Shut Up and Sit Down.


Free versions of Unlock:


Tutorial (PDF) (10 minutes, super simple)
5th Avenue (PDF) (30 minutes, easy)
The Elite (ZIP) (60 minutes, normal)

Doo-Arann’s Dungeon (PDF) (30 minutes, easy)
The Temple of Ra (PDF) (60 minutes, hard)

 

One way I have found to do these in the classroom is too play the first tutorial in the students L1 (many translations available at boardgamegeek) which only takes a few minutes. Once they are on-boarded with the mechanics then it is easy to try the next ones in English only. 

 

AR Escape  AR Escape

 

 

There are a couple of AR escape rooms worth your attention. The imaginatively titled Escape the Room : AR and Scriptum AR Escape Room are both fun experiences with great designs that are built to allow multiple people play them at the same time. I think they are both interesting looks at what we can look forward to even more advanced rooms in the future. 

 

The great thing about AR escape rooms is that it offers no limit to the type of puzzles and narratives they can explore. There are some exciting things happening between AR and ESL / EFL at the moment and I hope in the future that we can move towards making some truly great escape experiences with well developed learning outcomes deliberately made for the English learning classroom. 

 

 

 

 

GSL

 

 

If you want to listen to people discuss the in and outs of escape room design, what works and what doesn't, and how and how not to implement them in the classroom then I recommend either of these two podcasts from Inverse Genius. Games in Schools and Libraries covers a broader range of topics related to games in general but escape rooms are a common topic.

 

 

Escape

 

 

Escape! from Geek and Sundry is a series in which celebrities play escape rooms. Another place to look at to see how fun and creative escape rooms can be, as well as a place to find inspiration for puzzles and themes. 




Finally, I recommend going to http://scottnicholson.com/ for a series of papers on escape rooms and how to use them in educational settings. Educators in fields other than ESL / EFL are doing some very exciting things with the escape room format. This paper in particular on using an escape room to teach computer programming is extremely insightful. 






Wow, what a list! By no means comprehensive, but a lot to go on and more than enough for people to start making their own rooms. I will be sharing my own escape rooms pretty soon and will also be writing about what I think escape rooms need to work in the ESL and EFL classroom (or any classroom). Stay tuned to this blog for more details. Follow me on Twitter and Tanuki Games on Instagram for more updates. If you are an English Language teacher who has designed or is designing similar things then please get in touch or comment. I'd love to know who else is doing what. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is part of the ‘Tanuki: Games We Love’ series. This is where we share RPGs, board and card games that we love to use in the classroom, along with lesson plans and adaptations for utilizing the game. We have no affiliation or deals with these companies. These are just games we genuinely think are a worthy addition to your classroom shelves. 


 

 

 





Games We Love : A Shakespearean Fiasco


 

Fiasco is a storytelling RPG about plans gone wrong. It is an RPG that requires very few resources, no set up time and can be easily explained as it is played. It is also easily adaptable to fit almost any theme. Indeed hundreds of playsets exist that cover everything from superheroes to spies, romcoms to Renaissance Italy. Although most games of Fiasco tend to veer towards a comedic theme within its flexible mechanics lay the possibility for drama, tragedy, farce and everything in-between. 

 

Many educators have realized that the structure of Fiasco is ideal for use in the classroom to teach a variety of subjects. Teachers have created their own playsets or ‘hacked’ the game to use in their classes. We have to! This is our Shakespearean version of Fiasco that uses location, themes, props and quotes from a wide range of the Bards works to create a playset that is incredible fun as well as a way to get students to discuss some of Shakespeare most famous lines. Even outside the classroom who doesn’t want to spend an evening making up stories while speaking in Ole’ Time-y voices!

 

Click on the image below and you can download our Shakespeare inspired playset: 

 

 

Our Playset

 

 

 

If you have never played Fiasco before or for more resources on how to play check out the makers website at https://bullypulpitgames.com/games/fiasco/


If you would like a more in-depth reviews and explanation check out these articles or videos:


Wired: https://www.wired.com/2011/08/fiasco-an-in-depth-rpg-review/

Father Geek: http://fathergeek.com/fiasco/

Shut Up and Sit Down: https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/rpg-review-fiasco/


Wil Wheaton playing on Geek and Sundry:



To see what is out there in terms of playsets go to http://fiascoplaysets.com/

 

and other educators turning Shakespeare into an RPG (LARP):  https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/multimedia/Interactives/artsedge-games/170224-artsedge-games.aspx#ae-games-rpg 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is part of the ‘Tanuki: Games We Love’ series. This is where we share RPGs, board and card games that we love to use in the classroom, along with lesson plans and adaptations for utilizing the game. We have no affiliation or deals with these companies. These are just games we genuinely think are a worthy addition to your classroom shelves. 

 





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