Bush Whacker 2---- Start your safari!

I played Bush Whacker 2 three times. At each time, my progress was kept so I could continue to play this strategy game. A player can firstcustomize the character and enter the journey. He/she should whack bushes in a mysterious forest to find items like magic potion, agate and puzzle, which can be used to complete quests of other characters and solve puzzles to the next level. As the level increases, the reward and energy enhance accordingly.

The language learning objective are: 1) to enable students to explore and practice new vocabulary by themselves and 2) to improve the students’’ ability to retell a story logically. For the first objective, since a player will find and use more and more objects in his/her journey. Maybe many or some of them are new to him/her. In order to go through, he/she must be motivated to know the new words. For assessment, I could bring pictures, let the students discuss in groups and then check if they know what are the objects (on the screen or in the inventory) on pictures. After that, I might let them tell the function of those objects to make sure they could practice new vocabulary. For the second objective, because this strategy game is corresponded to a whole storyline, there are various tasks and communication to accomplish each day. A good competence of retelling will not only enhance the language skill but also the logical thinking. I could choose one particular field in one day, give students some time to prepare and group them for discussion.

Generally, Bush Whacker 2 is a great choice to be combined with language learning for beginner and/or intermediate-level ESL/EFLs, but it is not so suitable to complete the language learning objectives for advanced students.