Sample Activity

This activity provides students with several opportunies for exploration and implementing their knowledge to real life situtaions. Additionally, they are able to observe what they have learned in authentic experiences.

CONTEXT

Students in an intermediate US English class are learning about how to make and respond to requests. Requests (+/- power, +/- solidarity, +/- severity +/- politeness) can be made in multiple ways

Imperative requests
1. Are statements
2. Always include please at the end of this statement to avoid sounding rude
3. The only time this doesn’t include please is if the speaker has power over the listener
4. Examples: “Hand me that paper, please.” “Take your shoes off, please.”
“Can you / could you / will you / would you…” requests
1. Are questions
2. Are more polite and can be used with friends or in the workplace
3. “Can/could/will/would” + “you” (+ please) + verb phrase
“Would you mind…?” requests
1. Very polite
2. Is a question
3. Can be used with strangers or those with more power
4. “Would you mind” + verb phrase

IPIC CHART

Knowledge - LWBAT identify, and take notes of, player-directed requests as they appear within conversations, missions, and quests in the game Sunrise Village, produce 2-3 types of requests with correct structure and vocabulary, produce 1-2 types of acceptances and 1-2 types of refusals with correct structure and vocabulary

Analysis - LWBAT determine what type of request and/or response would be the best choice in different game-related contexts based on a variety of pragmatic dimensions such as +/- power, +/- solidarity, +/- severity +/- politeness.

Subjectivity - LWBAT explain why they chose which types of requests in which contexts

Awareness - LWBAT evaluate the response of their partner when asking a request to see if their request was pragmatically correct

RESEARCH INFORMED

In this activity, we use games to teach the pragmatics of requests, acceptances, and refusals. Online games like life simulations, adventure games, and interactive film games can allow students to analyze speech choices on a pragmatic level, make pragmatic choices, receive immediate feedback, and learn pragmatics in life-like contexts and low-stakes environments (Franke, 2009) (Tang and Taguchi, 2020).

Students will have homework before class/in-class before activity, watch the first part of the video (0:00 to 6:00)

ACTIVITY

Students play in Sunrise Village in pairs for 20-30 minutes, during this time, one student controls the character while the other takes notes.

Notes should focus on quests/requests/orders. When a quest/order is given, note down the elements of the quest/request. When a request is made, note down what was said.

After 20-30 minutes, the class will come back together and each pair will share one thing they made a note of. The teacher will help facilitate a short discussion on trends noticed/common phrases/whether they align with the previous lecture/lesson on requests.
- Questions the teacher can ask:
  - What were some requests you all noticed? (write requests on the board)
  - What patterns or common phrases do we see with these requests? What words stand out to you? What are the differences we notice?
  - Together, let’s use these patterns to write a request as a class. (ask what their request should be about and how to form it based on patterns noticed).
After sharing, pairs will then write 2-5 requests using their notes from the orders/quest.

EXAMPLE:

Order - 2 water, 8 beans, 13 wheat
Request - “Hello farmer, I need two water, 8 beans, and 13 wheat. Could you please find some for me? I will pay you for it!”

Students will come back together as a class and each pair will share one request they wrote, and the class will have an opportunity to discuss if they think it needs editing.

Screenshot 2024-03-18 at 10.15.50 PM.png

THEN

Show the second half of the video in class:
- English Speaking Lesson (Making Requests In English!) (6:35 to 7:30)
- Ask students what their favorite acceptances were and write them on the board.
- Play this video next: How to Refuse a Request in English (politely and rudely)
- Ask students what refusals were their favorite and write them on the board.
After sharing, pairs will then ask their partner the request they wrote down. The partner will then reply with an acceptance/refusal.
- Example:
  - Request: “Hello farmer, I need two water, 8 beans, and 13 wheat. Could you please find some for me? I will pay you for it!”
    - Acceptance: “Of course! I will go get those for you now.
    - Refusal: “I’m sorry, I don’t have those items right now. Maybe later I can help.”
Ask students about the responses they gave and write them on the board. Have the class as a whole decide in which circumstances one would use each response.
Homework - Take notes of at least 3 requests you notice in your life outside of class. It can be a request made by you, someone you know, or even a character in a book or on TV. Write down the request, the context, and anything you think is noteworthy or important.

WORKSHEET

FEEDBACK:

Students will receive a grade based on the grammatical correctness of requests they suggest and the knowledge of in what circumstances certain requests can be made. Be sure to give comments on their worksheet of what they did correctly/incorrectly

RUBRIC:

Screenshot 2024-03-18 at 10.31.29 PM.png

RESOURCES:

Franke, M. (2009). Signal to act: Game theory in pragmatics. University of Amsterdam.
Tang, X., & Taguchi, N. (2020). Designing and Using a Scenario-Based Digital Game to Teach Chinese Formulaic Expressions. CALICO Journal, 37(1), 1–22