ESL lesson plan | C1 | Gamification and motivation in everyday life

Summary

This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers uses the concept of gamification to teach C1 students. This ESL class material explores how to use game psychology for motivation, making it a highly engaging English lesson on productivity and personal goals. This lesson engages C1 ESL students with the popular topic of gamification.

Activities begin with a warm-up discussion about personal goals and motivation. Students then watch a video about five real-world apps that gamify life, completing vocabulary and comprehension tasks.

The lesson includes a grammar focus on phrasal verbs for productivity and culminates in a creative group project where students design and present their own motivation app, followed by a writing assignment to market their creation.

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Activities

Students begin by discussing personal long-term goals, daily motivation strategies, and their experiences with habit-tracking apps and video games to activate schemata on the topic of gamification in a warm-up discussion.
Learners watch a video about five popular gamification apps. They complete a matching task with key vocabulary before watching and then fill in a table with details about each app's purpose and game mechanics.
The lesson focuses on phrasal verbs for productivity, such as 'level up' and 'tick off'. Students also complete a gap-fill exercise with advanced vocabulary like 'incentivize', 'committed', and 'visualize'.
In a creative final task, students work in groups to design their own motivation app. They brainstorm its features, quests, and rewards, then present their idea to the class using phrases learned in the lesson.

00:00 Whether you're trying to hack your fitness, learn a new language, or be a generally more productive person, you can mirror the psychology of video games as a tool to help you stay motivated and on task.

00:11 Today, let's take a look at five of our favorites. Formerly known as Habit RPG, Habitica is a fan favorite for a reason.

00:19 This all-around productivity booster keeps you on top of your to-do list by turning it into an epic quest.

00:26 When you check off a task or complete a project, you're rewarded with experience points and gold, just like you would be in a role playing game.

00:33 Forest is perfect if your goal is simply to not get distracted by all other temptations on your phone when you want to stay focused.

00:41 Plant a tree in the app. Your tree grows while you stay on task. But if you leave the app with time remaining, your tree dies.

00:49 Even if you aren't doing the tasks that you set out to do, at least you'll be scrolling on social media while you go green digitally, at least.

00:57 Duolingo is easily the most popular and arguably the best free language app.

01:02 Rote memory work is no way to learn a language, and Duolingo lessons are all framed around challenges and rewards so that you can level up.

01:10 Plus, the Owl mascot Duo is famously aggressive when it comes to sending you your daily reminders.

01:17 Buenos días, you bastard.

01:19 You could argue that humans already gamified fitness with the advent of sports, but if you're struggling to get yourself to the gym, you can incentivize yourself with Fitocracy.

01:31 Badges and achievements that are within reach for users of all fitness levels. It's motivating to visualize your progress in the app, and specific quests are another way to stay committed to your fitness goals.

01:41 Epic Win brings a true roleplaying feel to your boring old to-do list. Rather than just ticking off your chores and reminders, completing each one earns you XP to improve and develop your character in an ongoing quest to improve stats, gain riches and level up.

01:57 Now enough with the side quests and good luck on your main journey. Be sure to drop a comment below with your favorite ways to gamify everyday life.

02:06 And stay tuned to Lifehacker for more tips and tricks on how to do everything better.

Vocabulary focus

This lesson introduces key vocabulary related to gamification and productivity. Students learn and practice terms such as 'incentivize', 'quest', 'badge', 'level up', 'stay on task', 'tick off', and 'committed'. Further advanced vocabulary covered includes 'harness', 'leverage', 'intrinsic', 'extrinsic', 'reward', 'discipline', 'self-control', 'temptation', 'procrastination', 'flow state', 'accountability', 'milestone', and 'feedback loop'. The exercises encourage using these words in context to discuss motivation, goals, and the psychology of game design.

Grammar focus

The grammar section concentrates on phrasal verbs for productivity and goals. The lesson explicitly teaches and provides practice with verbs like 'check off / tick off' (to complete a task), 'set out to do' (to begin with a goal), 'level up' (to advance), and 'stay on' (to remain focused).