“In November I participated in the training course “Game Time“ held in Velbert, Germany and I want to thank Shokkin Group for this great opportunity!
The aim of the project was to discuss games as educational tools and to create a set of educational games on social issues. I must say that the project was organized very professionally and on a very good level. The trainers were keeping a perfect balance of fun and working, in my opinion. The program was very intensive: we were learning and working a lot, but on the other hand we always had time to spend with each other or rest. In the beginning of the project, enough time was spent on ice breaking and team building activities, which let us get to know each other and build a very safe and productive atmosphere, which was very important. Thanks to our amazing trainers for that!
At the end of the project we had 5 educational games created by participants in a small groups. I had never created a game by myself before and it was a great experience! I enjoyed working in a team a lot, as we were all complementing each other and the game we created turned out to be beyond all my expectations! I am very proud of us and it is a great feeling: to realize that everything is possible if we have a desire. By that I mean that we created a whole game with a lot of learning aspects as well as fun, out of nothing! It was just us and our brains and it is amazing how much we can actually do using our creativity! It was also interesting to see and test the games created by the other groups.
I have already written about professionalism of organizers and trainers, but also want to mention that the group of participants was great as well! Of course they were all fun and interesting people, but most importantly, everybody was really motivated and interested in the topic, as most of the participants were connected to youth and education. We had a great group and a great time!
Thanks to the training course I developed new skills and competences, learned new tools and methods which I will use later on and met some cool people! The project gave me a lot of positive emotions and energy as well! Thank you for the opportunity and I wish everybody to have experience in a project with the same quality as this one had!”
Liza Galkina
Participant in “Game Time”
and Shokkin member
“Before coming to Germany, I was a bit afraid there would be troubles with transports because we had to travel a lot across the country. However, the hosting organization did a wonderful job, everything was carefully planned and we didn’t encounter any problem. This training was the first time in which I had the opportunity to speak only English and evade from the everyday Estonian speaking language environment. I just had to warm up a bit during the first days, but overall I felt at ease with my English and actually I think I improved my knowledge.
Speaking about the training course in general, I was happy to find out that it was very carefully structured. Our activities were accurately planned and trainers dedicated the right amount of time both to seminars and to practical activities. Overall, this course was very funny and informative, and sometimes I didn’t even notice how quickly time flew (of course, at the end of the day, I was very tired! ☺).
Training in this group was very nice. The trainers did a good job making us play many ice breaking games, energizers and games to get familiar with each other. I particularly enjoyed the multicultural night, in which everybody had to introduce his/her own country. Also, we had enough opportunities to spend time together at evenings (playing board games, speaking, sharing our experiences). I met a new friend there and we still chat on FB. We thought about new ways of collaboration, like meeting in other projects (if they will be suitable for both) and maybe writing a project about a job shadowing.
To conclude, this training course was a very rewarding experience. I learnt a lot, and I think that for youth workers it is fundamental to know about game-based learning, because games are very useful in non formal education. Playing games helps youngsters to get more and more knowledge and develop their own competences that broaden what they usually learn at school. I also wrote a review (kind of tool box) of all the games we played during the training course to use them to work with youngsters and I am sure I will make the best out of this experience. Thank you! ☺”
Jevgenia Špiljova
Participant in “Game Time”
and Shokkin member