Multilingual Language Games: Creating a Board Game Lending Library to Support Multilingualism in the Home

Jan 19
6 min read

Nicole Jones

Alvin Brooks Middle School (Hickman Mills C-1 School District)

Kansas City, Missouri

Introduction

Many times, families do not have access to language and education-based resources. The multilingual board game lending library is designed to celebrate bilingualism and help bridge the gap between home and school. Games encourage growth in the areas of English language acquisition as well as each family’s language and cultural background. Games introduce the concept of play, communication and learning in the family. These types of activities provide a path for families to use all languages spoken in their homes as well as embrace their cultural backgrounds.

Incorporating academic games at school and home has been shown to positively impact learning. Current research shows that game-based learning can have a significant impact on student performance, engagement, and motivation in the classroom. To break it down further, learning games can increase the student’s internal motivation to want to learn (Jagušt et al., 2018) and desire to engage in classroom and learning activities.

The language board game lending library is located in my classroom. Students decide what game they would like to check out from the lending library closet. Each game contains a label stating the game’s name and its assigned number. After they choose a game, they fill out a form in the board game check out binder located next to the library closet. They are instructed to write down the name of the game, the game number and check out date. They also write the date they will return the game. Students can check out a game over the weekend or a week, depending on when they think they will be able to play the game with family members.

After the game is officially checked out, students take it home in a carrying case to play with their family. A parent questionnaire is placed in the game carrying case. Parents are asked to fill out the form to help me understand what their experience with the game was like. When students return the game, they put the date they returned it on the sign in sheet and sign their name. After this, I return the game to its spot in the library closet. When a student returns a game, they can choose another one and check it out using the same process.

Goals

The first goal of my project is to increase family engagement and language acquisition in multilingual homes by providing opportunities to play literacy focused games that are fun and engaging for all members of the household.

The second goal is to empower and equip immigrant and refugee families by providing in-home literacy focused supports through language-based games. By doing so, they gain confidence in helping their children learn at home. They can speak in their native language while also expanding their own understanding of English.

The third goal is to create and implement an ongoing board game lending library that is sustainable and will benefit refugee and immigrant students and their families for years to come.

This project, based on the goals listed above, will build on each families' skills and funds of knowledge as a foundation of new learning. This is true because it will introduce a new way to learn and provide a setting for the whole family to practice and increase literacy skills by engaging and bonding with each other. It will allow them to use their home language(s) and unique cultural experiences, while building upon their English language vocabulary.

Step By Step Plan

Before I could implement this program, I researched the most effective language board games on the market. I did my best to find bilingual games that represent my students’ home languages. It was also important that the games appealed to all age groups in the household.

Planning

Research and locate bilingual and vocabulary-based board games in the home languages of my students and that can be played by varying age groups in the household.
Create a purchase list of games in English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Swahili, Arabic and Yoruba.
Submit items for purchase.
Create multilingual parent information letters that explain what the board game lending library is and how it works.
Create the checkout system for the learning games lending library.
Place games in travel bags and attach tags to the bags.
Create a family engagement and vocabulary acquisition survey for families to complete after they play the game at home.

Implementation

Assign games to students to take home.
Send reminder letters to parents and inform them of the due date.
Gather returned games. Check in games and assign new games to students.

Gathering feedback

Gather all games at the end of the school year and prepare the board game lending library for the upcoming school year.

Materials

All games and carrying cases were found on Amazon.

Example of multilingual games:

Ukrainian/ English Bingo Game https://a.co/d/bWQtwSo

Jenga Bilingual Spanish/ English Questions - https://a.co/d/8hhKkH

Yoruba card game- https://a.co/d/jhrE34z

Swahili card game - https://a.co/d/h9JwRXb

Bilingual Bingo - https://a.co/d/j5PpjBH

Yo Sabo - https://a.co/d/3YWAXjY

Examples of vocabulary focused games:

Guess in 10 Foods- https://a.co/d/7V8tjBO

Guess in 10 House Items - https://a.co/d/c0hYUiC

What Am I?- https://a.co/d/jdNFXd3

Picture Word Bingo - https://a.co/d/5QZZCSS

Word Pop CVC words - https://a.co/d/d8t3RBw

Storage and organizational items:

Toy Storage Bags with Zipper -https://a.co/d/2TTROK3

Large and XL carrying bags-https://a.co/d/6kTScwa

Sustainability

The language board game lending library is sustainable in the following ways. The games do not require updates or changes after each use. Games will be kept in durable travel bags. The check out system for the lending library requires minimal updates. This should only include updating student rosters as needed and reprinting board game directions and possibly tags that are connected to the travel bags. Teachers can easily replicate this process. Teachers will be able to follow step-by-step instructions to set up their lending library. I plan to introduce this project during our first day of professional development in hopes that it will encourage teachers to start a similar project in their field. By doing so, teachers can provide learning tools for parents to use at home in math, science, reading and so many other areas!

Reflections

This project was very fun to implement. My middle school students were intrigued and excited to pick out a game and bring it home. This seemed to be the first time my students from Ukraine, Nigeria and The Congo have seen a bilingual game or activity at school in their home languages. They were so excited to show their families! The survey feedback I received from families was very positive. They appreciated the chance to choose new games and play together. I am glad that I focused on choosing many games that all ages of the family can play. Some students told me they played their game with a younger sibling, and some played with their parents or older family members.

One difficulty I noticed was that a few students did not get to play the game with their parents, as originally intended. They took the games home over the weekend but stated that their parents had to work. Two students checked the game out again, during the week, and reported getting to play with a parent. The others played with their siblings or other younger family members that live in the home. I encouraged them that it was still good to play with other family members if their parents were not available and that they were still learning valuable information and creating good memories.

Many of my students were eager to help me set up the lending library system, which seemed to give them ownership of the project. They all did a great job organizing the games and creating labels and helping me put together the logbook. They also did a good job remembering to bring the game back and turn it in on time. I was pleasantly surprised that the games came back in excellent condition and all pieces were accounted for. I made sure to tell the students that I was very happy to see this and appreciated their ability to do so! Since learning-based games help encourage problem solving skills and collaborative learning (Dichev and Dicheva, 2017), I’m encouraged to know that students are engaging in learning activities at home that will help them deepen their ability to work with others, win or lose gracefully, and work together with family members of all ages during game play.

I highly recommend other teachers implement this program as a way to deepen our students’ first language and encourage English language acquisition in the home. The lending library was relatively easy to set up. Since children enjoy playing games, it’s a great way to encourage learning and help families create fun and lasting memories together! By sending games home, it provides a free and family-oriented time of fun for the student’s whole family! Parents are able to help their children learn English vocabulary while embracing their home languages!

References

Dichev, C., & Dicheva, D. (2017). Gamifying education: What is known, what is believed and what remains uncertain: A critical review. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0042-5

Jagušt, T., Botički, I., & So, H.-J. (2018). Examining competitive, collaborative and adaptive gamification in Young Learners’ Math Learning. Computers & Education, 125, 444–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.06.022