The eTwinning action is an initiative of the European Commission that aims to encourage European schools to collaborate by providing the necessary online tools, networking services, and support. Therefore, teachers registered in the eTwinning action are enabled to form partnerships and develop collaborative, pedagogical school projects in any subject area.
In the school year 2016/17, students from Public Secondary School in Miłomłyn took part in two eTwinning projects based on “Pokémon Go”: Let’s Go English and Pokémon Go - Cultural Hunting. In Let’s Go English, students prepared short presentations on which landmark in a given city should be made into a Pokéstop and/or Pokégym. In order for a Pokéstop to be created, students had to prepare photos, a short description (in both languages), and geolocation of their monument/POIs and add them to Google Maps via the LG initiative. .
At first, we brainstormed all the interesting locations in our town. After we had over twenty possible monuments, we divided them among all participating students so that each had at least two POIs. Pupils had to individually gather information on their assigned location. This included taking pictures of their location; researching its history, including written and oral testimonies; and measuring its geolocation using a smartphone app. Also, they had to provide information on what Pokémon should spawn there (based on the terrain, climate etc.). Our eTwinning partners had to do similar tasks in their towns and the students were encouraged to communicate over the Internet and share their experiences in the project. After they had gathered all of the necessary materials, we added them to a shared Google maps document, prepared posters advertising their landmarks, which included custom-made maps and driving directions in a form of a qr code. These were given to Niantic with a request to implement the landmarks into the game. As a result, in October 2017, new Pokéstops and Pokégyms, along with pictures and descriptions prepared by the students, appeared in “Pokémon Go”.
The main goal of the project was to encourage students to get to know and take pride in their own city. During the project, students learned about places of interest in their community as well as their cultural heritage by developing the capacity to describe locations and objects of cultural and/or historical interest. The project’s success is mainly based on the students’ interests in the process of learning a foreign language through various, often unconventional, media. Students took part in a series of tasks which not only proved to be academically useful but also taught them how to use a number of modern appliances, computer programs and mobile apps. Thanks to the involvement of partners from foreign countries, my students were full of enthusiasm and motivated to compete. Those that took part in the project got better results than their colleagues, especially in the field of foreign languages. For me, the greatest success of the project was their increased interest in the independent acquirement of new skills. They currently continue to take part in the Local Guide initiative, in which they add reviews, pictures, and extra information to the local landmarks, companies, and events via the mobile app.
This and other stories will be presented in a book"100 Games to Use in the Classroom & Beyond", available soon.
