Collage of languages grammatical games, with the project title HE Gilt Games in Language Learning in white text and a black box at the bottom right of the image

HE GILT! - Higher Education Games in Language Teaching Department of Languages, Cultures and Film

HE GILT! Games in Language Teaching, Higher Education

We offer:

  • Specialist-led, hands-on game workshops for language teaching, both in person in your institution and online
  • A supportive forum in our workshops and on Facebook to exchange ideas about games and gaming in MFL teaching

The HE GILT! network uses workshops to disseminate both practical game ideas and a practice of applied gaming for language learning in the Higher Education, secondary and informal sectors.

The idea of game workshops was born in November 2022, when Dorit Fellner-Whitgreave (University of Manchester) and Hanna Magedera (University of Liverpool) felt the need to exchange in-person ideas for games for language teaching after a slight overdose of online activities during the lockdowns.

Workshops have been delivered at several HE institutions in the United Kingdom where both analogue and online games are explained and then tried out and evaluated right away by attendees.

At each workshop, the participants are encouraged to share ideas about games that they themselves have successfully deployed in the classroom and to contribute new ideas for playing or modifying existing games.

Handouts incorporating the unique insights from each seminar are distributed amongst participants in both hard and soft copy so that they can easily adapt games to their language and their learners’ needs and continue to reflect on gaming practice. The handout is in English, with some games in German, French, and Mandarin Chinese.

We do not email out handouts to participants who have not attended workshops, because in our experience it is only games that have been experienced first-hand in groups that actually go on to be used in the foreign language classroom environment.

Our applied gaming practice personalises game ideas for different levels from A1 to C2 according to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), and both Latin-script and non-Latin script.

We welcome your ideas and offers to try out games old and new!

If you have any questions or would like to host us to deliver a workshop at your institution, please email the organisers Hanna Magedera hofhansl@liverpool.ac.uk and Dorit Fellner-Whitgreave dorit.fellner@manchester.ac.uk

Upcoming Events

The use of Escape Rooms in the language classroom: unlock the four language skills, namely reading, writing, speaking and listening, while fostering team skills and collaboration - March 2025, University of Manchester, final details to be confirmed. 

Past Events

6 September 2024, Online Workshop via the platform SpatialChat, University of Liverpool, 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., University of Liverpool, supported by the DAAD German Academic Exchange Service

14 June 2024, Online Workshop via the platform SpatialChat, University of Liverpool, accessible for all

16 April 2024, King’s College London (closed event)

7 November 2023, University of Nottingham, “Ahead of the Game”

1 November 2023, University of Liverpool, “More than just a spiel”

28 April 2023, University of Manchester, “More than just a spiel”

2 November 2022, University of Liverpool, inauguration of “More than just a spiel”

In cooperation with CTELL Centre for Teaching Excellence in Language Learning at the University of Liverpool and DAAD UK.

Back to: Centre for Teaching Excellence in Language Learning