27 February 2006 at 15.15
Using free Hangman games to teach languages
MFL teacher Joe Dale returns with the third in his series of blogs devoted to using ICT in language lessons. This time he's using a free Hangman game...
So here we are again looking at ways to integrate ICT into our language lessons. I hope you’ve found the first two blogs useful. Maybe you’ve tried out some of the suggestions and you’d like to leave a comment here about your experiences. That would be interesting to read and could encourage others to have a go themselves.
This week’s blog is about that traditional favourite hangman. It’s the game where the letters of a word or phrase are individually guessed to avoid the untimely death of a man whose only crime is his inability to spell. It has the double bonus of being simple fun as well as improving children’s learning at the same time.
In the classroom, the gallows-and-dashes classic has been used down the years as a reward for good work, a change of pace or a refresher. Children have always liked to pit their wits against each other and show their competitive spirit. Hangman is great for that, isn’t it?
Le Jeu du Pendu (translated as The Hangman’s Game) is a free multilingual version of the well-known game. The software works equally well on either an interactive whiteboard or installed individually on a computer suite. Teachers can create their own customised word lists or ‘dictionaries’ tailoured to the needs of their pupils and mapped to their department’s scheme of work. Le Jeu du Pendu allows well for differentiation in the game’s options.
You can for example: leave a clue for each phrase, set a time limit, provide the first and last letter of an expression and add your own picture prompt.
Le Jeu du Pendu supports word and sentence level work as the phrases you type in may include as many as thirty six characters each (including spaces). More impressive still for an MFL teacher is the fact that the interface is available in seven European languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Italian and Portuguese no less). So it’s up to you, if you want to play Le Jeu du Pendu, Hangman Spiel or El Juego del Ahorcado to name just three.
Using Le Jeu du Pendu in class
I use Le Jeu du Pendu to check pupils’ understanding of areas such as:
- gender (un stylo, une gomme, des crayons)
- adjectival agreements (mon frère est grand et mince, ma sœur est petite et grosse)
- verb conjugations (je suis, tu es, il est, elle est)
- prepositional phrases (le baladeur CD est sur le lit, le baladeur CD est à côté de la table).
This can be as a lesson starter or revision activity as part of a plenary. The pupils like the interactive version and playing against the computer poses a challenge for them.
The computer picks a word or phrase at random or chronologically from the list I’ve created and displays it as a series of dashes, representing letters. The pupils guess letters one at a time. To practise the sounds of the French alphabet, I may want them to say the letters out loud or ask them to write down their guesses on individual mini whiteboards which they can then hold up in the air.
I normally give the job of typing in the letters either on the onscreen keyboard or on the laptop to one of the pupils so they feel more in charge of their own learning. If the chosen letter is in the word or phrase selected then the computer will fill it in. However, if it does not contain that letter, a piece of the hangman's gallows appears automatically on the screen. If the gallows are completed before the word or phrase has been guessed, the poor victim comes to a sudden and predictable end accompanied by a snatch of the ‘Death March’. Very appropriate.
Conversely, if a pupil guesses the word or phrase before the gallows are completed, the game is won and he or she has the option to enter his or her name into a best scores table!
I organise the dictionaries into the different units that we cover so they are easy to find. Using the software’s editor, The Dictionaries Management Utility, it is easy to combine different dictionaries to revise a whole unit’s work. This is what you do:
Copy and paste your dictionary selections into a word-processing package such as Word
Highlight the whole list and then copy it.
Create a new dictionary in Le Jeu du Pendu and paste your selection back into the editor.
Downloading Le Jeu du Pendu
To download Le Jeu du Pendu, go to the TomCat Soft website. I would recommend downloading the Version complète as it includes many example dictionaries to get you started.
Download the file pendufull.exe on to your Desktop. Double click the file to open it and you will see a message asking you if you want to install the game. Click Yes and then follow the installation instructions.
Once installed, you need to double click on Le Jeu du Pendu shortcut on the desktop and then you will see a dialogue box asking you to select a language. Make a selection and then click Start. Hey presto, you’re done!
Now, consult the help files available in English and French to find out how to make your own lists and configure the game’s options. It’s very straightforward. Really. There’s no need to have any hang-ups at all. Infact I’d make a dash for it right now!
| Comments (6) |
| Many thanks much useful info Can you tell us something about videoconferencing - but in a way that won't send the IT department into a frenzy regarding firewalls, etc. Is Skype a possibility? Nick |
| Posted by: Nick Mair on 27 February 2006 at 17.42 |
Dear Nick, It would seem Ewan McIntosh as been ‘podcasting like crazy’ according to his site http://edu.blogs.com/ |
| Posted by: Joe Dale on 27 February 2006 at 21.46 |
| Videoconferencing I have used a dedicated system - which is fairly secure - but I know that desktop videoconferencing does tend to send ICT managers into a panic because of the security issues it raises. The best contact I know is Robert O'Dowd, who has written extensively about this subject. He is organising a EUROCALL conference on telecollaboration in Spain in May 2006: http://dfm.unileon.es/telecollaboration/index.html See Section 14.1.1 of Module 1.5 at the ICT for Language Teachers website: http://www.ict4lt.org This deals with videoconferencing and contains some useful links, including links to Robert O'Dowd's sites. We also briefly mention Skype - which is a useful tool but also tends to drive ICT managers mad because of some of the security problems it can cause. |
| Posted by: Graham Davies on 28 February 2006 at 08.56 |
| This hangman game looks like a useful tool. I have also had a chance to see a brief demo of the teacher's pet program which was mentioned recently. A big problem for me however is the downloading from the net. The way our college network is set up, it is impossible to download anything from the internet, however useful or free it may be. On the one hand, i can appreciate the network manager's caution, but filters are now so prescriptive that we often miss out on useful tools. |
| Posted by: Chris Graham on 28 February 2006 at 20.36 |
| Joe, I've just downloaded this game and it looks great, thanks ... but I can't figure out how to put a time limit on the game ... can you help? |
| Posted by: RParker on 07 March 2006 at 19.19 |
| Hi Ruth, Click on the Options icon on the main interface or press the F4 key on the keyboard to bring up the Options dialogue box. Make sure the ‘Play against time’ button is selected. Set the time limit by typing in the number of seconds you want each go to last. Easy! |
| Posted by: Joe Dale on 07 March 2006 at 20.08 |
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