Kinjugo
‘IELTS Preposition Safecracker’ is a digital game, available for Android and iOS, which is designed to support learning for the IELTS test.
Kinjugo
Kinjugo was founded by Lander Hawes, and Kelvin Liew, who've have been best friends since university. Multiple decades of experience in ESL, graphic design and app development are behind this engaging and highly replayable game!
Kinjugo is free to download on Android and iOS
The Game
Kinjugo is an educational game designed around 450 gap fill sentences, with a phrasal verb as the target language. The sentences are divided into five IELTS speaking topics, three difficulty levels, and thirty grammar points. Phrasal verbs are taught deductively, while vocabulary and grammar points are taught inductively through repetition. The game includes a review function that analyzes errors by topic, preposition, and grammar point.
The game targets common reasons why students fail the IELTS test on their first attempt, such as insufficient topic vocabulary, inadequate use of 'less common and idiomatic items,' and grammar formation errors. Kinjugo is designed as a kinaesthetic lesson activity that activates the kinaesthetic learning style through touch-screen gameplay.
The game represents the founders' belief that educational games are an untapped resource that can supplement traditional learning strategies effectively. Kinjugo offers transformational learning strategies for vocabulary acquisition.
Moreover, the founders of Kinjugo aim to create a suite of games that enable English language teachers and students to access some of the learning benefits offered by education technology.
The gameplay
The premise of the gameplay is that the user is a burglar trying to break into a classic safe by rotating the safe dial to find the correct number combination. However, instead of numbers on the dial there are 12 prepositions, and the user selects the preposition to insert into the gap after each verb, to form the full phrasal verb. The user is given a choice of three time limits: 1 minute, 2 minutes or 3 minutes, and have to complete a given number of sentences within this time to score and earn rewards.
Kinjugo is free to download on Android and iOS
