Talk, listen, make plans, all in a quest for adventure. History and Mission Statment:
The idea for Role Up! came to me whilst playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. I can't remember the specifics, but as my friends took their turns I realised we were living an English teacher's dream: we were each taking it in turns to speak, we were using a range of grammar, and each piece of grammar would be used multiple times. For example:
- "What does the castle look like?"
- "What does the guard look like?"
- "What is the merchant doing?"
- "Who is the merchant talking to?"
..and we were all doing this for a fun, functional purpose (eg, to break into the castle and steal the crown jewels). It was then I decided to try and implement this type of game into my English lessons. I'm not the first to have this idea, but it is far from common - I only know of others who are doing the same through the occasional Internet connection I have made since. Being in such an empty field, although it has been at times difficult, has also had its advantages. I was able to trial various mechanics and ‘mini-sessions’ in my English lessons, testing a range of systems and storylines, until I found those that were most effective at teaching, easiest to understand, simplest to run and most popular with the children. During this process, I was able to take inspiration from a range of sources and develop my own ideas without ever feeling I should follow (or avoid copying) a front-runner. As such, I have developed Role Up! in such a way as to have the following core principles:
• It should be, primarily, fun. If teaching is boring, it can be more damaging than none at all
• It should be conducted in English. This can be graded - some sessions might allow student-student • L1 conversation, or L1 help from the teacher - but a fully-English session is the ideal
• It should have specific English-language targets, and be run by English teachers. Although the first two points are the most important 'ground rules', the third is the most important specific rule. It is here that Role Up! is differentiated from any other ordinary English-language RPG session; these are often organised by friend-or-family groups at no cost, or can be run by many people with RPG experience. Therefore, Role Up! must offer value through something language-teaching-specific, organised by people who know both teaching and gaming. For example, a puzzle might require knowledge of prepositions, or letter-writing skills. Key vocabulary should also be encountered and repeated often, and teaching should be baked into a 'homebrew' ruleset - answering generic English questions should offer an in-game reward, backed up by in-game mechanics. There are other technical details I could go into - (for example have settled upon using the Fate Accelerated Edition ruleset for the 9-14 age range, with other systems for other age groups) - but unless you have played a lot of these games before they may not mean much to you. If you would like to know more though - please get in touch!
