LESSON ON INVENTING A GAME

LEVEL: B1+
TIME: 2 lessons of approx 1 hour
LANGUAGE: Use of the Passive Voice (The game is played like this...etc), materials (wood, plastic, cardboard etc), dice, counters, turn, deal, 
TASK OBJECTIVE: To invent a game to be entered in the Young Inventors' Challenge

STAGE 1
Ask the students what games they enjoy playing. Ask them if they enjoy games like Monopoly, Snakes and Ladders, Noughts and Crosses etc. Ask them which electronic games they enjoy.
Ask them if they have ever invented a game and if they think they could.
Play the following Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-mLY65m334
STAGE 2
Tell the students to imagine that they have decided to enter the Young Inventor's Challenge and they are going to invent a new board game. The winner's game will be produced by a toy company and sold all over the world. After they have designed their game, they have to give a short presentation (5mins max) to introduce the game to the judges and explain how it is played.
Ask them what they think makes a good game. Write their suggestions on the board. Tell them they are going to see what advice the Head of Product Acquisition for Hasbro has to give. They can see if he mentions the same things they did.
Play the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA4c7fwui68

STAGE 3
Put the students into groups or pairs and give them time to discuss their ideas and put something down on paper. They do not have to actually make the game. Give them a time limit and remind them that they should try to communicate in English. It might help to tell them to imagine they all come from different countries so they have to use English. You can even give them different names if it helps. You can go round monitoring and helping with vocabulary.
STAGE 4
It can help if you invite an independent viewer to come in to be the judge.
Each pair or group must present their game to the class. Remind them what Mike Hirtle said about being brief. The rest of the class are free to ask questions and try to find fault with the others' games.
They will gain points for ORIGINALITY, INTEREST OF THE GAME and CLARITY OF THE PRESENTATION
The main objective is the ability to communicate in a real-life context and the students should not be penalised for language mistakes as long as they would achieve their objective in the world of business.