dorks and dragons and language acquisition

Christopher Yap

Internet Engineering Laboratory

October 10th, 2013

*Dorks & Dragons& the true meaning of Roleplay 1

What’s on the Agenda?D&D: What is it?

Roleplay

Activity3

*D&D: What is it?

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D&D: What is it?

5

D&D: What is it?

6

D&D: What is it?

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D&D: What is it?

Video Games Go home,

You’re Insane

Probability

Imagination

Roleplay

D&D

Childhood Play 8

D&D: ImaginationThe game is limited by two factors:

Game Rules

Player Imagination

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D&D: Probability (1)Outcomes within the game are determined through numerical statistics and dice rolls

“d20”The most

often used die in D&D

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D&D: Probability (2)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57547697-1/ancient-d20-die-emerges-from-the-ashes-of-time/

304~30 BC!

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D&D: Probability (3)

Difficulty

Check

FAIL!

VRESULT

Difficulty

Check

Success!V

RESULT

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Let’s give it a try…“The treasure chest appears to be

locked tightly. You don’t have the key to open the lock, but you think you

may be able to break the lock open.

Maybe…”

Would anyone like to attempt to break the chest

open?13

References/文献Yap, C. “On the Nature and Causes of the Loneliness of Nerds”. 455th Annual Conference on Stochatic Dorkocracies, Proceedings. 1998.

Schrute, D. K. et al. “Why don’t I have a girlfriend?”. Dunder-Mifflin Publishing. London. 4th ed. 2009.

Miyamoto, M. “The Book of the Five Rings”. (translation from Japanese by Victor

Harris), London: Allison and Busby, 1974.

Ackbar, A. “It’s a Trap!” Bull’s Hit Bros. New York. 1988.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYO1j2Vhztc

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*ROLEPLAY

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Real Life

D&D Worl

d

Real Life

Roleplay (1)ROLEPLAY IS A VERY POWERFUL AGENT!

Roleplay is the heart of D&D 16

Roleplay (2)-Roleplay is pretending to be someone else-

RP

Drama

Voice Acting

Gestures

Facial Expressions

Dialect

Creativity

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Roleplay (3)• Roleplay is an essential

element for D&D

• But more importantly,

• Roleplay is an EXTREMELY HELPFUL tool for LANGUAGE ACQUISITION!

Question: How many people in here are trying to get

better at a language?18

RP

Drama

Voice Acting

Gestures

Facial Expressions

Dialect

Creativity

Roleplay (4)-Roleplay is pretending to be someone else-

• Learning a foreign language is like becoming another person

• Assuming a different point of view also helps with expressing yourself in your own language

• CONTEXT IS KEY!19

Let’s give it a try… (Part 1)

“You know the rules, Mr. Potter. No students are

allowed through this door on Sundays. Unless you feel you have legitimate business in the 食堂 , I strongly suggest you

move along…”

ATTEMPT TO GET PAST SNAPE!

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Let’s give it a try… (Part 2)

In Groups: ATTEMPT TO GET A DEADLINE EXTENSION FROM YOUR PROFESSOR!

You’ve got 5 minutes to discuss the

best excuse.

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*Now that you have the power…

Let’s play a game

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“Communication Breakdown”Animal

Cute

Mid-sized

Black and

White

Chinese

Eats Bambo

o

Popular

Kung Fu

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“Communication Breakdown”Person

NAIST

Biology Kyoto

Nobel

Cute

JapanKung

Fu

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“Communication Breakdown”Food

Popular

Tasty Not Tasty

Stinky

Beans

JapanHealth

y

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“Communication Breakdown”YOU NEED:• Roleplaying Skills

We’ll give you:• One Mystery Envelope per group (DO NOT OPEN

YET)

Here’s what’s happening:1.As much as possible, get in a circle.2.Decide the first person (whose birthday is

coming up next); from there go in clockwise order

3.Person picks a SECRET WORD from the envelope. That will be the word you must explain in context

4.Once other group members correctly guess the word, move on to the next player

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“Communication Breakdown” Pt 2YOU NEED:• Roleplaying Skills• Pen and Pencil

We’ll give you:• One deck of cards (please shuffle thoroughly)• Some note paper

Here’s what’s happening:1.Same procedure as before, BUT this time pick a

secret word AND a card from the top of the deck

2.Depending on the CARD SUIT (Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, or Clubs) you will have to adhere to some restriction… 27

“Communication Breakdown” Pt 2Must

Explain with

words; NO GESTURES

Must Draw a Picture;

NO WORDS

Gestures only; NO WORDS

Draw again -OR-

Explain in voice of Opposite Gender

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In Summary…Today we learned about:

• Dungeons & Dragons

• Roleplay (in terms of D&D and Language Acquisition)

• Context

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