Sunday, April 12, 2015

Kodu and Teaching English (Kodu 和英語教學)

For those who've never heard of Kodu, it's a game-making program created by Microsoft.  It can be downloaded free from their website.我來介紹一下Kodu這個製作遊戲的軟體, 它昰微軟所製造, 可以在他們的網站上免費下載.

Using Kodu, kids can create games playable on their PC or Xbox 360, and they can also share these games with others online.  Our school's computer teacher, Kai-ho Chan, told me about it a month ago.  I was skeptical at first, but after playing with it for a few hours I began to see a lot of possibilities. 小朋友可以利用 Kodu, 在他們的電腦或昰 Xbox 360上設計遊戲, 也可以在網路上和朋友分享他們的遊戲. 我們學校的電腦老師詹凱賀在一個月前告訴我的, 一開始我抱持著懷疑的態度, 直到我自己玩了幾個小時後,  我開始看到許多的可能性.

One of the great things about Kodu - at least as far as English teachers are concerned - is that it's only available in English.  This means that English teachers can use Kodu to teach the language, while at the same time engaging the students in the creation of a game.  The programming language used in Kodu is quite simple, and should be accessible to students with a couple years' English under their belts. Kodu的其中一項優點值得美語老師重視, 那就是它只有英文版. 也就是說美語老師可以利用它來教美語, 讓孩子在設計遊戲的當中學英文, 它的程式語言相當簡單,一般學過兩年英文的孩子應該都可以勝任.

Those uncertain about the accuracy of this claim should really check out Kodu.  It takes a while to install, but after you do it should be obvious that this program has a lot of potential.  All you would need is a computer running a newer version of Windows.  Once kids get started with it, it's hard to get them to stop!對我的看法有疑慮者應該實際操作看看, 它需要花點時間下載, 但之後會發現這個軟體有許多的潛力. 你只需要有一部較新版的 Windows的電腦, 一旦孩子開始操作, 就很難叫他們停止.

Mr. Kai-ho Chan and I wrote a unit plan for Kodu, which has been entered into Microsoft's yearly e-learning competition.  I would love to link that unit plan to this post, but I want to wait until after the results are in.  I think we wrote a fairly strong unit plan this time, but of course there's no telling until the winners are chosen.  When the winners are chosen - which should be two weeks from now - I'll be sure to put that unit plan online.凱賀老師和我寫了一份 Kodu的課程計畫, 也以這份計畫參加微軟每年舉辦的電子學習比賽, 比賽結果出爐後, 我將很樂意把課程計畫與大家分享, 我覺得我們這次的課程設計很棒,  但昰所有結果都要等到最後才知道, 兩個星期後才會選出得獎者, 我會在那之後把教案放上網的.

Oh, and  teachers: enjoy the four-day weekend!  Happy New Year!  Happy 2013!  Chinese New Year is on the way! 給所有的老師們 : 2013新年快樂, 好好享受四天假期! 農曆年也快到了!

P.S - Going to Taipei next weekend.  Our school's computer teacher and I advance to the final round of Microsoft's "PiL Competition."  Wish us luck!

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