TAMBA Internet

An unknown alien life form who landed on earth today has had to learn the English language to get by in a range of social situations… Don’t panic, it’s just the plot of Academy Island – a new social media game by TAMBA designed to help learners improve their English language ability.

Academy Island is a free educational game aimed at English language learners. It’s available from the University of Cambridge ESOL Examination’s (Cambridge ESOL) official Facebook page – which currently has over 120,000 fans.

Players of Academy Island progress through different difficulty levels by helping the alien use English in a range of situations such as shopping in a bakery and visiting places such as an art gallery and library.

“Educational computer games can be a really good way of exposing learners to the English language and this has been the driving force behind Academy Island,” explains Cambridge ESOL’s Digital Manager Lorna Pedersen. She continues “We’ve worked with experts to create an environment which encourages learners to improve their key language skills in a progressive but fun way.”

A team of language experts from Cambridge ESOL who work on the actual exam papers came up with the questions and tasks to ensure they were pitched at an appropriate level for learners of English. They worked closely with TAMBA – an award-winning digital marketing agency who specialise in social media games. Players who take on the Academy Island challenge can post their scores on a global leader board through their Facebook profile.

Kay Hammond, CEO of TAMBA, said: “We were delighted to win this brief as edugaming is often overlooked. Gamifying the learning experience increases emotional investment, helping the player acquire knowledge almost subconsciously through interaction with the game environment”.

Try the game for yourself here.