About

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I work at Meiji University, teaching and researching the topic of ludic[1] approaches to education.

πŸ“‘ Curriculum Vitae

πŸ“¨ Contact

I am available for:

  • Workshops
  • Consultations
  • Game design collaborations
  • Event organizing
  • Training sessions
Social media Ludic Language Pedagogy Kotoba Miners
🐀 Twitter
πŸ“Ί YouTube
πŸ“Ή Twitch 		🌐 Journal
πŸ’¬ Discord 		πŸ’¬ Discord
πŸ’ Patreon

More details

πŸ§‘β€πŸ« Work and research

My research at Meiji University is centered on the application of games and play in language and literacy teaching contexts.

Currently teaching

Advanced Communicative English: Academic Writing Students are expected to write a term paper as well as follow the material in the course textbook. All communication is expected to be in English.

Student papers are limited to eight-page zines (example).

Advanced Communicative English: Content-based study This course is designed to improve students’ English communication skills. The focus of the class is the global phenomenon of gaming, eSports, and the language used in gaming communities. The course syllabus is available here.

ζ•™ι€ŠζΌ”ηΏ’: Doing things with games and play This class introduces students to the world of game design on both large (campus-wide games) and small (board and card games) of games and their design. Students partake in a β€œGame Day” where other students playtest their prototypes.

Example of students’ games:

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A post shared by James York (@cheapshot)

As part of my research and teaching, I started an open-access, open peer-reviewed journal with Jonathan deHaan. The journal is a place for teachers and researchers to publish their work on the use of games and play (Ludic) to teach language and literacy skills (Language) with a strong focus on what the teacher did (Pedagogy).

  • You can find out more about the journal here.

πŸ€” What is ludic?

I’m currently writing a paper on this word. You can see my thoughts here:

πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ Teaching Japanese

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Kotoba Miners is a Japanese language school that I created in Minecraft. However, we do not just use Minecraft. Recently, we have been playing other games such as Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and reading manga together like Yotsuba&! and others. The best way to join us is the Kotoba Miners Discord server here.

Some more info about Kotoba Miners:

  • I stream lessons on Twitch (sometimes).
  • If you’d like a private Japanese lesson with me, consider becoming a Patreon.
  • You can find an archive of recordings on my YouTube channel.

  1. I define ludic as β€œbeing playful,” which includes

    • playful objects
    • playful dispositions to teaching Learn more here
    β†©οΈŽ