Satoshi Tajiri’s POKEMON has been making big waves in the techie world AGAIN. After the launch of Pokemon Go in the US last July 6, the new trend has been all-over the streets til this writing . This fandom has not been seen for a while since after Farmville, Candy Crush and Angry Birds went viral.
I have been a fan of Pokemon since I was in gradeschool. I remember my uncle’s gift to me, a POKEBALL, which kicked-off my interest in collecting these mythical creatures. After the released of Pokemon G an idea came into my mind. I want my classroom to be POKEMON-themed. From the CLASH-OF-CLANS to the new fad, the wild pocket monsters are now invading my classroom.
I started my first day of school with my Grade 9 class by introducing Pokemon. I asked them if they are familiar with the game or if they were playing it already. It is not yet released officially in China but some are familiar with the game. I told them about the history of Pokemon, which actually struck me as a Biology teacher. It all started with a hobby. A japanese boy, Satoshi, was fond of collecting insects and tadpoles and later on gave the idea of a game, which will also share the same interest of collecting creatures as him.
This curiosity about its origin also lead me to discover how Pokemon is used to introduce lessons, such as, Biomes and Evolution. The study of Biology was used in making these out-of-this-world creatures. Some also made a line of inheritance showing a tree of how such creatures evolve, same principle as how Charles Darwin studied and proposed his evolutionary theory.
After I discussed a brief history, I showed a short clip of the theme song of “Pokemon” cartoon animation and discussed the positive message of the song. I really like the line “…you teach me and I teach you…”. It implies two-way learning, which actually happens inside the classroom. It is not only the students that learns but it is a continuous learning experience for the teachers as well.
After engaging the students with the POKEMON fever, it is time for self-introduction. I divided the students into six groups, which later on will be the group for their POKEMON HUNT. In order to make it with the theme, I gave blank sheets of paper and asked the students to create their own POCKET MONSTERS. This pocket monster should represent theirselves, their interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes. Later on, they were asked to introduce theirselves to the class.
After the self-introduction, I made a tour of the school and let them get to know their subject teachers, coordinators and school staff. Of course, it is still Pokemon-inspired activity. I gave the school personnel cut-out of Pokemons during our breaktime. The objective of the game is to collect as many pokemon as they can by looking for their subject teachers, coordinators and school staff around the campus.
And to make the activity more exciting, a dare, a question or a subject-specific problem was asked to each groups before catching a pokemon. Some solved a mathematical problem, some identified the personnel’s position in the school and some even sing and dance in front of the other class. After the activity, each groups counted their pokemons and determine the winner of the game.
To sum it all up, it was a fun-filled learning experience for the Freshmen’s First Day in school. There might be some negative feedbacks on the game POKEMON GO but still we can turn this out to be enjoyable and use as a theme for the class.
MITCHEL AFRICA 