Summary
Explore Nintendo's distinct approach to the video game market, focusing on its profitable hardware, exclusive first-party titles, and brand expansion. This B2-level lesson enhances understanding of business strategies in the gaming industry through video comprehension, vocabulary building (e.g., first-party titles, recoup investment, iterate), and grammar exercises focusing on comparatives/superlatives and the passive voice. Students will also engage in discussions and creative tasks related to game design.
Activities
Students begin by reflecting on their personal gaming experiences and discussing factors influencing game and console purchases, setting the stage for understanding Nintendo's unique market position.
Vocabulary is introduced through context-guessing and matching exercises, focusing on terms crucial to the gaming and business sectors like handheld console, hybrid device, and fiscal year.
A video analysis of Nintendo's business model helps students develop listening comprehension, followed by exercises on comparative language and functional phrases for explaining strategy.
Grammar practice centers on the passive voice, with students transforming active sentences, and a creative task involves designing a game, applying new vocabulary and concepts.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson introduces key vocabulary from the gaming and business world, such as at a loss, recoup investment, handheld console, hybrid device, first-party titles, iterate, expose the brand, fiscal year, state of the art, and nuanced gameplay. Students learn to use these terms to discuss business strategies, product development, and market positioning within the entertainment technology sector.
Grammar focus
The primary grammar points are comparative and superlative adjectives and the passive voice. Students practice forming and using comparatives to contrast Nintendo with its rivals (e.g., "cheaper," "most successful"). The passive voice is explored for its use in business contexts when the action is more important than the agent (e.g., "The Game Boy was launched").
