Choose Your Own Adventure
I want to talk a little about a language journey I’ve gone on with my senior class recently - We’ve been playing a Choose your Own Adventure (CYOA) board game called ‘House of Danger’, but in Japanese. It’s been going for few weeks now and I have to say, I think I’d say its been one of the most immersive, beginner-friendly Comprehensible Input approaches I’ve tried.
Before we start though, you do know the CYOA stories I’m talking about, right? The kids books with those out-of-this-world story lines. Who can forget the one where your uncle invites you on an expedition to the alps and you encounter an abominable snowman or the one where the CIA recruit two kid-detectives to solve the world’s oil crisis. Renowned for their rigged choices, where you die from just about anything, they were Big Mac and fries of the library when I was younger.
Anyway, we started a few weeks ago and it’s been an interesting endeavour in CI. BTW, if this all seems familiar, it’s because this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned this (see the blog post Story-Listening 1.5). The way the game works is, I basically facilitate the game at the front of the class, a kind of Dungeon Master if you will, and the students collectively play the role of unremarkable psychic detective Damian Peates (these types of games don’t typically name the protagonist, I just shoehorned one of mine into the story because it made the process easier).
Now, before we go too much further into the activity, indulge me a little exposition.
About 7 or 8 years ago, I set up something I called the ‘Wargaming Club’ at our high school. I proposed that it run during sport time and be a place for gamers and like-minded people to bond, play games and just have a great time. “Fair play Richard”, I hear you say, “start a club so you don’t have to sit on a bus with sweaty kids.” Well… you’re not entirely wrong, I think I was the envy of every other teacher (especially on hot days). The club became so popular at one point that we had to vet our recruits and when it was unceremoniously stopped one term due to timetabling, we had a slew of parent complaints and it was immediately restored within the same day. I’m telling you all this because everyone in my senior class spent a good 2-4 years in that club. Unfortunately though, when they entered their senior year they had to stop doing sport. Then in a cruel twist of fate, their choosing of Japanese meant I also couldn’t run the club for Sport, because I had a new class with them.
So there we were, a bunch of game enthusiasts without a home. That is, until they started asked about playing some games in Japanese.
A Story Game
The CYOA board game operates like a Gamebook (such as the Lone wolf or Fighting Fantasy series) or a simple version of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). What I mean by this is, as you read through the story, you are presented with choices which then lead to branching storylines - It might be determining which path your character takes, whether they interact with a particular object or what they say to a person they meet. It’s been interesting seeing the class make decisions for their character and seeing the the consequences play out. I’ve tried to make the experience as immersive as possible, building up a story with things like music, simple illustrations and pantomimes too. The CYOA board game has game elements too, you can collect objects, get clues and utilize some psychic abilities in your investigations. Many of the checks to see whether you are successful are determined by the roll of a dice, once again, a staple of most role-playing games (RPG).
In one of our last sessions, the students were left on a cliff-hanger, having just discovered a secret passage under a statue. They entered the tunnel and found themselves submerged in icy water. The tunnel continued deeper into the earth, with the water filling more and more of the tunnel. Eventually, it got to the point where there was only a couple of inches between the water and the tunnel roof. That is when I presented them with a decision:
Continue under water, turn to page 4
Go back the way you came, turn to page 27
Some standard patterns in Choice-Based Games from These Heterogenous Tasks
I painted such a bleak ‘picture’ for them. I had music for ambience on a YouTube tab, created atmosphere with my tone, detailed drawings to show the situation and gestures to act out what they did. So you can imagine my disappointment when they decided to continue on, even though it actually was the right decision. They did consider turning around though, but all things considered they made the full commitment to dive into the abyss. While we aren’t co-creating stories in the traditional sense like TPRS, it does offer students direction in their choices. And while I know there are skeleton scripts and stuff that you can use for TPRS to achieve a similar approach, the Gamebook is structured, so both teacher and student have a safety net and can’t really go off track. It feels very different to Story-Listening too, because the students know they can’t just be passive recipients of information, and it isn’t a summary waiting for them after the story, there might be a life or death situation. I feel like the gamification and investment in this kind of story has, as the students would put it, a different vibe.
The students know they are firmly in the drivers seat because their decisions have consequences, so while they have to pay close attention to the details and students tend to question what they hear. Having taught through both TPRS and Story-Listening, it’s been interesting comparing the different roles students play. While this is a simplification of some CI approaches, take a look at the fundamental differences in the activities:
Story-Listening is quite a passive approach, the teacher delivers a story and supplements it with different ways to be understood - there is no expectation of student output.
In TPRS, students have enormous control over the story, often dictating characters, locations and the entire story plot - students have a lot of output, as they join in with the circling and possibly rejoinders
With a Story Game, you deliver the story, supplement it with ways to be understood and students make all the meaningful decisions as the character - the students have have some output over choices, but they are limited to the options available.
Choice Consequences
Students know there are consequences to their decisions, so they are invested in their choices.
“Do we go into the hedge maze or explore the cemetery?”
“Come on, we’d die for sure in the cemetery.”
“What about this other path?”
“Yeah let’s just go check that out for now and we can always double-back.”
As mentioned, having a reason to be inquisitive about the story world you are creating with them, deepens their connection with the narrative. I’ve created a small Story Game below as an example and although the choices are simple, they get you to think beyond the surface question - Should you leave through the door or the window? Well how far is it to the ground from the window? Is the door locked? If it’s locked, could you break the door? The stairs are very dark, do you think they’re safe? what was that noise then? These are naturally flowing questions that stem from each scenario and I don’t think it matters if the student discuss the questions in their native language, because following along is a comprehension check in itself, and you can just reply or ask circling question in comprehensible L2. Also, can I just say how nice it was to not be the initiator of all the questions? Because I can never remember all the different ways to ‘circle’ in the heat of a moment and when I do, I can sometimes go a little over the top and bore the students. The whole process is almost like the inverse of TPRS but very much a natural part of most RPGs.
The students investigate what they need to know to move forward and when they ask questions about potential outcomes, they open up more opportunities for you to engage them with comprehensible messages. This doesn’t mean I stick strictly to a scripted responses though - you can improvise details about inconsequential things. Also, remember how I said the choices are usually pretty rigged in these stories? By allowing students to ask questions, interact and enquire, you can remove a lot of the unfairness that plagues these texts, by giving them the information needed so they can feel satisfied with the choices they make.
Anyone who has ever done TPRS with an unenthusiastic class, knows the feeling of floating a question then hearing dead air as you stand at the front of the class. The flipside to this is having one (and sometimes only one) overenthusiastic student is the only person who presents usually silly answers. The format of Gamebook avoids this and in a way, it provide regular comprehension checks, as students make informed choices about their character. I’ve found that presenting set choices in English or Japanese, like ‘if you want to go through the door, turn to page 4’ or ‘if you want to go through the window, turn to page 5’ sets the students off immediately, as they recap the facts about their impending decision. And as it turns out, the survival of their character and a burning question are powerful motivators for students. Students have meaningful control over an in-depth and engaging narrative and build experiences out of it. I’d argue that their are times when they are so deeply engrossed in the game that the input becomes optimal rather than just comprehensible.
Lived Language Experience
A side benefit of playing a Gamebook is all the memorable experiences. When you play games like D&D or any board game really, you create memories that you carry on forever. While TPRS stories can be fun, I personally have found that their silliness can make them difficult to recall, whether it be in follow-up games or simply getting the co-created story onto paper. My students are pretty invested in the character, so I’ve had to employ all sorts of nuanced grammatical structures in order to paint a proper picture for them. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that experiences they’ve been having in game have been memorable enough to then be used as a point of reference in our later lesson. Here are some examples off when moments have popped back up in class later on:
“Remember in the tunnel when I said the distance underwater from here to here. You knew it was a long way from the tunnel to the exit”
“In the pool house it only seemed like there were six rooms. What is the difference in meaning between seem and looks like?”
“Remember when you pressed the button, the statue moved. It was a kind of cause and effect response. This is the same idea.”
“Remember how the orb had two buttons, but we pressed the first button. You can add this to counters to give things order”
Japanese language teachers could probably guess exactly which grammar points I might have been doing a pop up explanation for, but the point is the students now have a frame of reference in their mind now which they can refer to later. Quite a few aspects of my language ability are connected to moments I experienced when I lived there. So, even though the students may not have lived in Japan, they can draw on a lived moment when they have heard something used correctly and understood what it meant.
Gamification of Stories
One of the highlights of a recent session was when a student had to pass a series of ‘checks’ to see if they could retrieve a sword from a statue in the garden (sorry, spoiler alert). This is something that is markedly different to traditional CYOA books, because they typically don’t have game elements, but some Gamebooks have full RPG systems. The House of Danger board game is a very beginner-friendly mix of the two. Anyway, when I drew the statue on the board and pointed out that it was carrying a sword, they immediate jumped on the chance to investigate the statue when it became a story option. One of the students had to make a series of difficult dice rolls in order to climb the statue and get the sword, and when he managed to make two back-to-back rolls, then class erupted! I know I have a pretty special class, but its hard to not get behind someone when they’re laying it all on the line.
This did get me thinking though, perhaps there could be some other kinetic ways to engage with story choice besides just dice rolls. The roll of a dice is one thing, but if the students had to say…shoot a zombie in the head, then this was represented by throwing a piece of paper in the bin. Or what if you spun a chocolate wheel to determine what item they find inside drawer, which can later be used to modify a dice roll, make passing a test easier or gain access to a unique story choice? What about reaching into a box and pulling out a random piece of paper to randomize your outcome? I linked a whole group based on this sort of approach in my other post, but there’s probably hundreds of little ways you can gamify a choice or outcome, generating a lot of excitement and engagement in whatever you’re doing.
Example Story Game
おきます。へや に います。あたま が いたい です。
「いたい～」と いいます。
へや は ちいさい です。
1. Look Around
へや を みます。へや に ちいさい テーブル が あります。テーブル に キャンドル が あります。へや に ちいさい まど が あります。ちいさい ドア も あります。
ドア を みます, go to 2.
まど を みます, go to 3.
2. Check the Door
ちいさい ドア に いきます。ドア が ふるい です。
「ふるい～」と いいます。
ドア が かけています。かぎ が ありません。
ドア を けります, go to 4.
まど を みます, go to 3.
3. Inspect the Window
ちいさい まど に いきます。まど に みます。
「くらい～」といいます。
にわ が あります.
まど を あけます, go to 5.
ドア に いきます, go to 2.
テーブル を みます, go to 12
4. Break the Door
ドア を おします。でも、ドア が あけません。いっしょけんめい に ドア を けります。そして、 ろうか に います。
ろうか の ひだり に いきます, go to 6.
ろうか の みぎ に いきます, go to 7.
5. Open the Window
まど を あけます。トレリス が あります。
「やばい～」と いいます。
まど から おります, go to 8.
ドア を みます, go to 2.
テーブル に さがします, go to 12
6. Left Down the Hallway
ゆっくり ひだり に いきます。おおきい ドア が あります。 ドア が あいています。 ききます。
コソコソコソ
へや に はいります, go to 9.
もどります, go to 7.
7. Right Down the Hallway
ゆっくり みぎ に いきます。しずか です。かいだん が あります。
かいだん を おります, go to 10.
もどります、, go to 6.
8. Climb Down the Trellis
まど から ゆっくり おります。にわ に います。うち が おおきい です。
うち の いりぐち に いきます。
にげます！
THE END
9. Enter the Room
おおきい ドア を すこし あけます。そして、みます。
へや が くらい です。ソファ と テーブル が あります。でも、ソファ と テーブル の うえ に シート が あります。
ききます。
コソコソコソ
へや に はいります, go to 11.
もどります, go to 7.
10. Go Down the Stairs
かいだん を おります。
ギシギシギシ
ドア が あります。ドア が かけていません。ドア を あけます。
うち の にわ に います。
にげます！
THE END
Oh, you weren’t looking for 11 or 12 were you? Why would you care what was in the drawer or inside the room… humans are such inquisitive creatures.
What Next?
Reflecting on the journey I’ve taken with CI so far, I think Story Games and Gamebooks could be a really fun way to navigate CI because of the structure and choice. The visuals and narrative structure of Story-Listening, coupled with the collaborative and circling elements of TPRS make for a strong combination. And while there are plenty of options at a CI teacher’s fingertips, I like the middle ground that it strikes - deeply engaging students to help them create their own compelling narrative, without the same pressure of full co-creation. Plus, who doesn’t like a game? And who knows, the replayability of a Story Game even make students want to go off and explore the other options themselves! The only problem once again, is the availability for ready to go resources.
This isn’t a plug or anything, but after I finish the House of Danger campaign with my class and about four other projects, I think I might finish off my own beginner level Gamebook that I started called ‘The Whitley’. Only the most avid reader (which I’m not sure I even have) will notice that many of my stories have been leading towards this book - Midnight Tales, The Story Pit/the epilogue of The Story Pit Digital Edition, The Petty Crimes: Shadows in the Dark and even the Dead Zone writing competition has a reference! I have something very special planned for it too, but the world will have to wait, there simply isn’t enough time in the day. A colleague of mine said I need a rich Japanese benefactor so I can quit my day job, if you know any hit me up.
