The fantasy fair

The fantasy fair is a light game created for the young Middle School children I did a workshop in remedial English with. With little to no mastery of the language at all, it would prove fairly unproductive to try and have them just sit and write.

The Fantasy fair establishes an imaginary world where any character of fiction just goes shopping, meet people and make friends. The question to each pupil was: how can you describe yourself, what makes yourself unique. It was a means to get them to use their skills in English, however small in some cases, and get them self-confidence.

The game can play in a number of sessions, depending on the level of the participants (though I would recommend 2-4 hours). Each hour can be devoted to a different theme: introducing yourself, expressing your opinion, interrogating another character, talking about your day, etc. A specific segment was called "this is why I am the best", a hook to let them be more assertive and proactive in their expression.

In the same organization, with high-school students, I used the same frame to do a bit more elaborate exercices such as

- An exercice on the immigration on Ellis Island (inspired by my own game "Tales of Ellis Island", see description in "other games"

- A discussion on the perception of female stereotypes in society