Bericht auf Englisch
Echoes of playing – yes, that’s learning: the sound resonates and changes. We had this experience after attending this seminar. The seminar location was predestined for the new experiences: the Ludoteca in Braga started with 40 games and after 7 years offers its visitors more than 180 games. Membership is not necessary. It offers a meeting place for everyone and two people make sure that you can get information and borrow games. Game events are not only held on site, but also in hospitals, prisons or even for sales staff of games.
Of course, as „real“ teachers, we had an eye on expanding our competencies: digital literacy as well as personal and social competence, learning competence and finally professional competence. Ultimately, this also promotes the skills of the learners.
Particularly impressive for the deepening of teaching expertise was not only the quantity, but also the variety of games: old board games such as Crokinole, which has been around for over 150 years, and many new games were presented.
We explored a lot of games such as skull and learned more about bluffing, but also how to strategically expand the garden (Gardens), how to cope with a multidimensional pile of spheres (Dimension) or how to behave in the pandemic (Pandemic). We also roamed the USA with self-built train routes (ticket to ride).
All games promote interaction and communication as well, but also encourage the learner to apply their goals and strategies – whether alone or in a team. To what extent does this support the learning process? Getting to know other cultures, dealing with these cultures and intercultural exchange are promoted, emotions are addressed, such as dealing with sensitivities, sharing joy and learning from each other. Clearly: personal and social competence as well as learning competence.
What about professional competence? We would like to mention the games dixit and pictures as examples: Both are also used in the board game meeting. Perhaps this is an approach to align the lessons with these games and, if necessary, to link with digital approaches.
Digital literacy
First, we would like to give an overview of digital tools: Flippity, Genially, Nearpod, and Actionbound. In the table you can find possibilities for the use of the games, to which we will be happy to give a short introduction if you are interested:
Yes, we spent interesting days, learned a lot and got the ticket to integrate games in students´ learning journey. We are especially grateful for cultural exchange. We got to know the Portuguese, their very community-oriented way of life and the sea a little better.
Jasna,Ulrike und Marc, 2026
