Game category
English as people use it: apologise, refuse, be polite, pick the right tone.
Labels next to each game: learning and check means the game can be assigned either way; learning only means it runs only as learning. Who opens a game, and why speech is not assessed: how the games work.
"Sorry" is not enough — build a real apology. Students construct culturally appropriate English apologies from their components: acknowledgment, explanation, repair offer. They learn that apology formulas differ between languages and what English expects.
Draws on: Based on the cross-cultural speech act research of Israeli linguists Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (CCSARP project, 1984).
From gentle hint to firm demand — choose your step. Students learn to scale a complaint to the situation: a cold meal, a late delivery, a repeated problem. Each rung of the ladder is a different severity level with its own English formulas.
Draws on: Complaints form a severity scale with distinct linguistic realizations, mapped by Israeli researchers Olshtain and Weinbach (1993).
Put a conversation in order Assemble a coherent dialogue from lines that arrive out of order.
Israeli directness meets English diplomacy. Designed for Israeli learners: the game contrasts the direct "dugri" speech style with English indirectness, showing where honest directness reads as rudeness — and how to keep your meaning while changing the wrapping.
Draws on: Built on Tamar Katriel's landmark study of dugri speech in Israeli culture (Katriel 1986) and cross-cultural pragmatics.
Hints that grow only as much as you need them. The learner attempts a task alone first; if stuck, hints arrive step by step — from a gentle nudge to a worked example to an explicit rule. The system measures not just answers, but how little help the learner needs — a window into learning potential.
Draws on: Implements dynamic assessment within the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky; Lantolf & Poehner, 2006).
Bring English home — and home into English. Activities that connect English with the family's own languages and stories: words the family uses, traditions, recipes. The home language becomes an ally of English, not a competitor.
Draws on: Family language policy research shows that valuing the home language supports, not hinders, new language learning (Schwartz 2012, Oranim College).
Say no without burning the bridge. Students practice declining invitations, requests and offers politely in English: hedges, appreciation, alternatives. Direct translation of refusals from the home language often sounds rude — this game fixes that.
Draws on: Refusal strategies vary dramatically across cultures and are a documented source of pragmatic failure (Blum-Kulka, House & Kasper 1989).
Complete the mission — English is just the tool. Students get a real-world goal: plan a trip, resolve a mix-up, organize an event. Language emerges as a means to the end, exactly as in life outside the group.
Draws on: Task-based language teaching shows that goal-oriented tasks drive acquisition better than form-focused drills (Ellis 2009).
At home with Family, with a tutor, or in our Studio (in development).
