Video Games for the English Classroom

After our point counter point presentation last week I got to thinking about the use of video games in my own classroom. I began to do a little searching on the internet of types of games for the English classroom, and most of what I found was for the ESL student. Although I do not know of many games at this point, I do not see a problem with using them if they are available. I am always trying to think of creative ways to teach the material, and if video games get the students interested then why not implement them. A couple of weeks ago we took our kids to the computer lab to take the STAR reading test. After they were done the students went to freerice.com to wait for the other students to complete the test. On the site there was a game where the kids had to pick what the definition of a word was, and if they were correct 10 grains of rice appeared on the screen for donation. The kids got really into it and kept calling me over to see how much rice was in their bowls. They didn't even realize they were expanding their vocabulary at the same time! Hopefully through research I can find some more interactive sites and games so that I can expand my instruction.