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A language exposure experience in Melbourne

By Jess McCulloch  @jessmcculloch

This is a program under development. The aim is to expose the community to a variety of the languages and language groups that exist in Melbourne by creating a playful experience that requires small teams of players to come into contact with various languages to solve riddles, get clues, and stop a subversive underground force from taking over the city. This experience will encourage participants to build awareness of and respect for the linguistically rich aspect of Melbourne.

Small teams will have to work against the clock or against another force to save the city or a function of the city from a dark force of some description. This dark force has an army of its own and has encoded messages for that army in different languages all around the city. The teams have to intercept these messages, do something with them (match them with other messages, translate them, rewrite them) in order to know what the dark force is doing, then plot how to overcome it.

Teams could be made up of adults and children from any background, of any persuasion. Cultural institutions such as the SLV and Immigration Museum could be information portals where things are hidden as well as meeting places, underground planning sessions etc.

Ideally, a ‘head’ or notable person from each community that uses whatever languages are involved would be a gatekeeper of some description, someone who holds information that participants need to access. A resource group from each community could be created, consisting of a cross section of each group – some senior citizens, business people, and youth.

From a language learning perspective – participants will have to

  1. listen to different languages and compare them
  2. read different languages and compare written forms
  3. Translate key words and sentences – some of which can be found on things that already exist in the city
  4. Be exposed to different clusters of people who use various languages – where they are situated in Melbourne and why they are situated in that particular place
  5. Players could possible even choose to focus on a certain group of languages and follow the story based on that group

The overall experience could be day long, or a couple of days, and be played as a game. It could be stretched further to require some preparation and some sort of follow up such as an event where further information is shared, either in reflection of the experience, or as part of the game play.

This experience would work in well with any multicultural aspect City of Melbourne has, or any of the institutions mentioned above.It could be narrowed to focus on a particular language group – such as Asian languages, to tie in with an upcoming exhibition etc.

Ideally, students would actually be brought in to help build the experience, as could senior members of the community. So, building it for others could actually be part of the project, that way it is truly owned by many. People could volunteer to become ‘The Underground’ in order to build it, or then be the dark force. That would of course involve teaching about the concepts – narrative, game design,  geo-locative technology, as well as other technologies – so a ‘course’ of sorts for those wanting it.

An experience that would be owned by those who create it, provide opportunities for all participants to gain new skills in regards to technology, as well as important exposure to and engagement in multi-lingual and multi-cultural Melbourne.