Open source Spanish learning game: what should students be master to to win?

It's been a little bit since I've posted on the spanish language online game I (and a few other folks in my PLN) have begun to design. Since this is a masters thesis project, there is a good deal of writing and research standing in the way of the actual design.

In this post I'd like to tackle the standards players will have to meet in order to "win". Since we are effectively backwards designing an experience that builds proficiency for beginners, we must design what "proficiency" goals might look like.

To "win", learners must become proficient at some finite tasks. The one's I've chosen are:

1.Each student will be able to comprehend a oral passage in Spanish by answering questions about it.
2.Each student will be able to re-tell a simple story by sequencing events in Spanish from memory.
3.Each student will be able to comprehend a written passage in Spanish by answering questions about it.
4.Each student will write a paragraph in Spanish.

These learning goals are communicative and reasonable for a beginner to attain.

Next, the smaller objectives (think levels in traditional video games) are based on the U.K.'s foreign language frameworks for oracy and literacy for year 6 (5th graders in the U.S.). In case you teach outside the U.K. (like me), here there are:

Oracy Standards - Year 6 Language for All
Source: DCSF 2005
O 6.1
-listen attentively, re-tell and discuss the main ideas of a story, song or passage
-students will be able to agree or disagree with statements made about a spoken passage.
O 6.2
-recite a short piece of narrative either from memory or by reading aloud from text.
-develop a sketch, role-play or presentation and perform to the class or an assembly.
O 6.3
-re-tell using familiar language a sequence of events from a spoken passage, containing complex sentences.
-understand and express reasons.
-understand the gist of spoken passages containing complex sentences eg descriptions, information, instructions.
O 6.4
-participate in simple conversations on familiar topics.
-describe incidents or tell stories from their own experience, in an audible voice.

Literacy - Year 6 Language for All
Source: DCSF 2005
L 6.1
-read and respond to eg an extract from a story, an email message or song.
-give true or false responses to statements about a written passage
-read descriptions of people in the school or class and identify who they are.
L 6.2
-read for enjoyment an e-mail message, short story or simple text from the internet.
-read and understand the gist of a familiar news story or simple magazine article.
L 6.3
-use punctuation to make a sentence to make sense
-listen carefully to a model, e.g. a video recording, recorded story or song, and re-constitute a sentence or paragraph using text cards.
L 6.4
-apply most words correctly
-construct a short text, e.g. create a powerpoint presentation to tell a short story or give a description.

A common problem in language programs in today's schools are that they lack sufficient practice time, relevancy, and results. Games do two things that solve these problems. They create challenging standards or objectives players must attain and they frequently assess whether or not players meet these objectives. In games with good narratives, these objectives and standards are building blocks towards an ultimate goal. Players are unable to achieve the larger goal at the beginning of the game, but because they want to win, they spend ample time to gain the required skills and knowledge.

The literacy and oracy standards listed above comprise the objectives learners must master to move on in the game.

Layered on top of these standards, we need to come up with a narrative. I've been a sucker for mysteries recently, especially since they create an essential information gap for the learners. Let me know what you think.

And please share with folks you think would be interested.

Image via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/liferfe/ / CC BY-SA 2.0