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One really underrated fact in my opinion is that playing is a huge part of learning. According to Ang and Zaphiris, playing games is “a vital educational function for any creature capable of learning” (2006, p. 2).

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Digital based language learning is  “the design and use of a diverse array of digital games for the purpose of learning or teaching a second or foreign language (L2)” (Cornillie, Thorne & Desmet, 2012)

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1. Synthetic immersive environments (SIE) - games specifically designed for foreign language learning (Sykes, Oskoz, & Thorne, 2008).

2. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) - games developed by "companies who know how to build effective, engaging, entertaining games; using them relieves teachers of the need to become game developers and programmers in order to use games in the classroom” (Van Eck, 2009)

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I absolutely love this site! With its colourful layout and interactive games, I would completely recommend this SIE to beginners.

After learning your basic vocabulary, playing these games is a good way of testing your knowledge on numbers, common verbs, forming questions and the like.

Some games involve matching the word to the corresponding picture, (every active and visual learner's dream) while also

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Okay so this may be a little biased, since Pokémon was my childhood... I think this is a good example of a COTS game if you're feeling confident in your ability and skills. Focusing on the gaming aspect. ___ I plan to do this while I'm on Co-op in France as a way of keeping my level of Spanish up.
To be able to play these games, you need to already be pretty competent in your target language. It's also preferable if you're familiar with the game as well. Rather than it being specifically for language learning, you are immersed in the language and you get a chance to test out your reading skills. The best part is if you ever get stuck, just look up a walkthrough on Youtube - also helps with your listening skills.