COMPUTER LAB - QUANDARY
If you ever played an online text adventure game such as Zork or thumbed through a Choose Your Own Adventure book, you have had an interactive fiction experience. Unlike conventional fiction which is linear, interactive (or maze) fiction allows the reader to make choices which determine what happens next in the story. Because interactivity requires the active participation of the reader, it helps engage students in reading. Interactive stories are a great way to make reading fun for students, to introduce new vocabulary and syntactical structures and to hone reading accuracy. Quandary is free software that enables you to create web-based text adventure games. And if you really want to challenge your students and give them a chance to exercise their creativity, let them create their own games. The ESL Resource Center has a short, simple text adventure at http://eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/maze/vacation/vacation.htm.
Of course you can also use ready-made text adventures and the menu on the right contains some sample text adventures created with Quandary. The menu on the left lists other online adventures that you might find useful.
Get more information about Quandary and download it at http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php. If you have other recommendations or suggestions for using text adventures, please share them in the comment box below.
