LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERSPODCAST: GAMIFICATION
Jan. 29, 2024
Mixed Levels: A2-B1, B1-B2
Type of English: General English
Tags: The Media; Entertainment; Science and Technology; Gadgets and Inventions; 13-15 Years Old; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old; Speaking; Vocabulary Lesson
Publication date: 01/29/2024
In this podcast, we look at how gamification is taking over our work, our studies, our fitness and several other areas of our lives. First, students discuss questions on the topic and then listen to a podcast in two parts and do comprehension tasks. They move on to do production tasks, including creating a gamified app, and discussing what they have listened to. (by Edward Alden)
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English (L3).
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English (L4).
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English (L3).
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English (L4).
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English (L3).
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English (L4).
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English (L3).
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English (L4).
- CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in American English.
- CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in British English.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
Part 1
Lorin: Hello! This is Jacob and Lorin's podcast. I’m Lorin…
Jacob: And I’m Jacob. I thought I was going to have to start on my own, Lorin. That was close!
Lorin: Yeah, sorry about that. I was at home playing my video game and lost track of the time.
Jacob: It’s funny you mention that because our topic today is related to that. Not being late, I mean, but games. I know how much you like your video games, so I thought you’d be interested in this one. Today we’re talking about gamification.
Lorin: Nice! What’s that then?
Jacob: In short, it means adding elements of games to environments and activities that are not directly related to games. We are seeing more and more organizations use this strategy to motivate people, whether they’re clients, employees or students. In practice, it can be an app that has features like a point system with trophies and leaderboards to encourage competition among its users.
Lorin: I know what you mean. It’s strangely satisfying to get a badge on an app, even though you are fully aware it doesn’t mean anything.
Jacob: Exactly. This type of thing gives you a dopamine shot, making you feel good about yourself.
Lorin: So when my fitness app nudges me to beat my target for the week, that’s gamification?
Jacob: Yes, fitness is a very good example of gamification. Most fitness apps use gamification strategies to get their users to do more exercise – using their app, of course. So you often get things like badges and leaderboards with the fastest times and streaks.
Lorin: A streak is when you are rewarded for doing something regularly, right?
Jacob: That’s it. Streaks encourages users to interact with the app on a regular basis. For example, my chess app also tells me how many days in a row I’ve done their puzzle. I’m now on day 37 and feeling very proud of myself! It’s a very common gamification strategy. But back to fitness: some apps take gamification a bit further. Have you ever heard of the game 'Zombies, Run!'?
Lorin: No, but I can imagine what it is. You have to keep running to stay away from the zombies, is that it?
Jacob: Yes! How’s that for motivation?!
Lorin: I’ll definitely give it a go. But I’m guessing that’s not the only area where we’re seeing an increase in gamification, right?
Jacob: Not at all. Gamification is all around us these days. Another field where it’s taking over is education. Gamification can make learning much more fun and interesting. Research shows that around half of Gen Zs spend over 5 hours a day on their phones, and many schools have given up trying to compete with phones and are now creating apps to gamify the learning experience.
Lorin: If you can't beat them, join them, right?
Jacob: Exactly. And it works: recent studies show that those who learn through a gamified experience tend to score higher in exams than those who don’t.
Part 2
Lorin: Oh, I know another example of gamification in education: I use a language app to learn Spanish. It’s also got rewards like badges for streaks and things like that.
Jacob: There you go. If done well, gamification can really motivate users to learn faster by setting small and achievable goals. That’s one of the main ideas behind gamification. So in your example, learning a language might seem very challenging, but when the app sets smaller goals and rewards you for completing them, it makes the whole experience much easier and fun.
Lorin: ¡Sí, claro!
Jacob: (chuckles) and then we have gamification at work, where it can be a bit controversial.
Lorin: What do you mean?
Jacob: So, for example, an Amazon employee who worked in a warehouse preparing orders described an example of gamification in a blog post: they could challenge another worker to a ‘dragon race’ on their work screens - the speed of their dragons depends on how fast they work.
Lorin: What’s the matter there? It seems a fun way to get some work done…
Jacob: Maybe, but in a recent book called ‘You’ve Been Played’, author Adrian Hon – who was one of the people who created ‘Zombie’s, Run!’, by the way – criticizes how gamification is being used by companies to increase productivity. So they are just making employees work harder and faster with gamified distractions, rather than offering ‘real’ rewards like a bonus for completing tasks on time.
Lorin: I see what you mean. So, gamification at work can be fun, but it shouldn’t replace other types of motivation factors, like a decent salary.
Jacob: True. And one final field where we’re seeing a lot of gamification: in marketing and sales. Basically, using games to get people to engage more with a company’s website or to buy more products and services. It’s hard to think of an industry that isn’t making use of gamification techniques. Even fast-food chains are gamified these days.
Lorin: Oh, yeah, like McDonald's with their Monopoly game.
Jacob: That’s it. KFC also offers mobile gaming to engage customers, and Starbucks has a rewards app, to mention two more examples. Gamification can not only motivate clients to interact more with a company through an app, for example, it also increases customer loyalty and provides valuable information about customer behavior to the companies.
Lorin: True. But why do we always fall for it then? Why do we love to play a game so much?
Jacob: Well, humans are competitive by nature, and then there’s the dopamine element we talked about earlier. But in psychological terms, it all comes down to behaviorism.
Lorin: What, like training dogs?!
Jacob: It’s not that different if you think of it: in all these examples what you have is someone encouraging a certain behavior by offering a reward every time an action is done.
Lorin: So what can we do if we want to avoid getting caught in these games?
Jacob: Well, that’s really hard because, as we said, gamification is literally everywhere, but the good news is that just by understanding a bit better how it works and the effect it has on us, we’re already in a better position to avoid being played.
Lorin: Well, I think we’ll wrap up here then. I’ve got to log on to my Spanish app to make sure I keep my daily streak!
Jacob: (chuckles) Well, I guess it’s adios amigos then! Did I say that right?
Lorin: (chuckles) Not bad at all, Jacob! Oh, nearly forgot: don’t miss our next episode, folks. We’ll be talking about parasocial relationships. You might be in one and not even know!
Jacob: Looking forward to that then.
Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/podcast-gamification. Accessed on June 24, 2024. © 2008–2024 LinguaHouse.com. All rights reserved.
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