An Inside Look at Production and Kickstarter

In a previous post, I discussed the design aspect of VERBA and the decisions that went into the game play, rules, and layout of the cards. I wanted to spend a little bit of time, however, talking about the production side of things and the decisions (and costs) that go into that process because it’s probably the one thing that most people don’t think about when buying or playing a game; educational or otherwise.

Before talking about commercial printing, it’s worthwhile to note some of the decisions that also impact the total cost of a game. Artwork is huge part of most independent game designers’ budget. The going rate for a single art asset similar to a typical VERBA noun card is somewhere around $40 depending on the complexity of the image. If you were to multiply that by the 145 noun cards included in the VERBA Core Set, you’d be looking at a market rate of almost $6000. Thankfully we aren’t paying market rates, and we were able to refocus our energy from the Picturae project, but it’s important to understand that time has a value as well. We made a decision early on in the process that we wanted to separate VERBA from other language games by providing quality, full-color artwork to help establish meaning rather than providing endless piles of cards with simply words on them.

The world of commercial printing is very difficult for independent publishers. For the most part, you can’t get a quote for less than 500 copies of a game because of the amount of setup time it takes for a company to print. With board games, there are a lot of different parts, sizes, and shapes to consider and this only further increases the costs. Fortunately with card games, especially standard poker sized cards, it isn’t quite as bad.  

When it comes time to move from concept to production, there’s a lot to consider.

For example, the number of cards included with the game is one of the biggest factors. VERBA includes (as of right now) 195 playable cards; 50 sentence cards and 145 noun cards in each core set. With our current on-demand printer (that is, no minimum order), it is roughly 9 cents per card. Working out the math for printing, along with including shipping and other fees related to generation, it comes out to almost $20 to produce a single deck.

On top of that, for VERBA we use a simple hard plastic case to keep costs down. Ideally, I would love to have a quality two-part cardboard box, but in our current production setup it would add $6 or more to the cost under the current setup. Once you then add in credit card processing fees, shipping materials, and additional costs, suddenly the margin for any kind of “profit” (and I use that term loosely) is very small.

So why Kickstarter? What are the advantages?

Kickstarter has created an opportunity for independent and creative individuals to embrace their communities and, in a sense, provides a pre-sale+advertising platform with little financial risk. While ultimately almost 10% of the funds raised are taken by Kickstarter and their payment processing platform, the remaining funds are turned over to the creator of a project after a 14 day window and that seems to be a fair trade-off for access to the platform.

In the case of VERBA, bare minimum funding of the Kickstarter would allow us to order a production run of 1000 copies, possibly including upgraded packaging, and an additional ~25 noun cards. From a business perspective, it’d also allow us to move forward with development of additional languages (French, Chinese, and Ancient Greek are very much on the immediate radar) and it would allow us to continue to develop additional content for the existing languages.

Why does all of that hinge on the success of the Kickstarter? Simply put, content specialists (which we absolutely need for all languages) won’t work for free forever, and I wouldn’t want them to do so. If the Kickstarter fails, most likely is that we’ll continue to develop and expand the Latin version since that only requires time given the skill set of those of us who make up The Pericles Group.

Right now, things are trending in the wrong direction, despite over 800 downloads of the print and play file and thousands of page views:

In short, this is a call to arms to support not just VERBA, but other independent designers on sites like Kickstarter. Often the greatest innovation happens not from the large corporations, but rather on the individual level, not only in edu and in other spaces as well. If you see something that you think is neat, back it. Often you’ll get a great reward (in terms of games, it is usually a copy of the game itself) and you’ll know that you helped new and unique things come into being.

But more than anything, individuals creating things at this level absolutely need you to help share the enthusiasm. That enthusiasm fuels others to become excited and that's how these projects catch fire and spread. Independent individuals just don't have the resources for advertisement that a major corporation does because all of their time, money, and energy goes into creation of these works. Without support, these works don't get made.

Here’s what I’m backing currently (or have backed recently) on Kickstarter. I'm sharing this partially because I’m a part of the community that some of these designers work in, but also because I genuinely think that their ideas are good and deserve to be recognized. Check them out:

VERBA: A Design Manifesto

Overview and Influence

There’s a long string of wonderfully creative card games which have been popular with a mass audience. Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity both have great social mechanics based around wordplay and Dixit has absolutely incredible imagery. For quite some time we’ve wanted to create a language learning game which harnessed some of the best aspects of the rulesets from those types of games in way that scaffolded authentic learning.

As the collection of art assets which came out of the Picturae Kickstarter project began to grow, I started to create mock ups of a few different design and layout concepts while simultaneously building out a ruleset which would allow for the 1:1 play to learning objective ratio which forms the core of all of our game-based learning endeavors. I wanted a minimalistic design, simple enough rules so that anyone could jump right into a game, and a way to make use of the beautiful art assets we now had at our disposal.

“Untitled Latin Game” was born shortly after that.

What to Keep, What to Leave...

Creating a language building game is always a challenge because it’s on the one hand designed to help learners acquire language, but at the same time they need to have a certain level of familiarity with the language in order to begin play. Having settled on a “fill in the blank” mechanic using sentence cards and then a separate set of noun cards, finding that balance was going to be a challenge.

In order to make the sentence cards as comprehensible as possible to novice learners (the target audience for the Core set), I looked to word frequency lists generated by a number of digital humanities projects, common initial vocabulary from various textbooks, and to the Latin Best Practices “50 Most Important Verbs” list; ultimately using many verbs from the latter resource as a base to the sentences. One of the major concerns as well was to find a way to situated the sentences in the ancient world as much as possible while still preserving an opportunity for playfulness.

In order to ensure that the sentences players would form were ‘correct’, I also decided to include the prompt for the case required to the complete the form for the blank. In the first real play test with my classes, without that prompt there, I found the students reverted to using just the nominative far too frequently. This small element ensured a greater opportunity for reinforcing correct usage in a way which kept the flow of the game steady.

Speaking of cases, the noun cards also forced a bold (and possibly controversial in the Latin world) design choice -- to include only three cases (nominative, accusative, and ablative) on the cards. For starters, one thing that I didn’t want to happen was for the noun cards to become glorified flashcards for vocabulary or declension charts. I wanted the Latin word to take prominence and Steve’s artwork to stand out, occupying at least half of the card. Adding in a full declension chart would dominate the card and those three would provide the most flexibility for creating sentence cards now and in the future while preventing the novice learner from becoming overwhelmed. Again, the goal here is to scaffold correct usage and comprehensible output -- not to create a gamified declension chart.

Fonts and Layout

Fortunately the font choice was an easy one -- we have two main fonts used in CARD-tamen. It made perfect sense to embrace a continuity across the products and so the sentence cards received the all caps look of Trajan, while the noun cards received Trajan for the title and then the softer News Cycle for the various forms. I also wanted plenty of white space on the noun cards for the text to stand apart and, more importantly, for the artwork to really pop. For the sentence cards, the solid color background makes the font very readable and easily distinguishes between the two sets of cards.

The vertical orientation of the sentence cards was another difficult design choice. I felt it was odd to have two different orientations despite the fact that it would have been easier to lay out the sentence cards if they were orientated horizontally. I didn’t like the look of the noun cards in a horizontal format and so I quickly discarded that as a viable idea.

Scalability and Growth

Because the noun cards don’t scale with any kind of difficulty, the sentence cards became the focus for figuring out how to scale for learners at various proficiency levels. Fortunately this is where the game (and ruleset) really shines -- all of the difficulty is embedded right in the sentence cards. While Steve was working on the artwork, I took that time to experiment with advanced clauses on the purple cards. The result was an easy way to scaffold things like the ablative absolute and indirect statement (two clauses found frequently in Caesar and Vergil, for example).

The best part is that all of the noun cards from the Core set can be used with future expansions and the increased familiarity will only aid the student’s acquisition of the language.

Returning to case usage for a moment, this scalability of language in the purple allows for ample opportunity to work in dative and genitive usage without overwhelming the learners on the white noun cards. It also allows the learners to see that usage in context.

On the Name…

This was harder than it should have been. Naming things is difficult! I had picked out VERBA as an option early on but we continued to explore various options. After a few brainstorming sessions, I finally just designed a logo using the VERBA name, showed it to Steve and we agreed that it was the one to use. Future language versions will still keep the VERBA name (only the color of the sentence cards will change between language sets.)  

 

Gameplay in Class

Ultimately the rules required only minor changes after the first draft. For the “reading” of the cards, I decided the onus should be on the “judge” to use the correct forms and to read the sentence multiple times with each of the noun options. Hearing the sentence multiple times as well as “seeing” the various nouns all leads to greater opportunity for acquisition and transfer.

In the initial play testing sessions, I also observed a great deal of social learning happening within the groups. When one student didn’t know a word, he or she first turned to his or her peers and often received a response. Gameplay continued with little interruption.

I found that shorter sessions, 15-20 minutes in total, worked a lot better than a full class period. Regardless of the time, though, there hasn’t been a session where there wasn’t a roar of playful laughter and copious amounts of Latin being read and spoken aloud by the students. At least in my classes, they've found humor in a large number of areas where I wouldn't have expected them to. There's also a higher level of meta-reflection than I had anticipated -- often the judge will explain their thought process for picking one card over another which is fantastic for furthering language acquisition.

Closing

VERBA isn’t a replacement for a curriculum. It’s not an instructional device in of itself. It is, however, an engaging and (dare I say) fun way to provide additional opportunities for comprehensible input and output in a playful way where the learning objectives align perfectly with the learning objectives.

I think you're really going to enjoy VERBA, especially if you've read this far. Take a look, there's a free print-and-play file available on the TPG website and the professionally produced decks are available for immediate shipment.

If you have used VERBA already, I'd love to hear about how it has gone in the classroom and if you've created alternative rules to facilitate further play. Start a discussion on the Facebook Page or here in the comments.

Live "Turn-based" Episode in Class

At the end of last week, I decided to do something special with my Latin I students when they reached Operation LAPIS episode 2.3b (in the villa of M. Maecenas). This is always one of my favorite episodes for the students and it is one that becomes a memorable experience for them as well (often they'll still talk about it as juniors and seniors). I've written about this episode before but this time I ran it "live" in class as a turn-based RPG throw-back. The results were so powerful that I don't think I'll ever not do it this way again.

Setup and "rules" in class:

1. Using a Google Drawing, I imported a copy of the map for episode 2.3 and using simple smiley-face icons to represent the Recentii and the guards in the house, I "moved" them around in real time as the operative-teams controlled their Recentius. You can see the map here: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/164ul9w8CFV2F2rC39fO3WEiPxzJKj3Ys5n4ExZmzXX4/edit?usp=sharing
2. Using random.org to roll dice to determine order, we established the sequence in which the characters would move.
3. Operative teams were allowed to make one "action" per term (i.e., Bellator ambulat ad latrinam or Octaviana capit stolam.)
4. Operative teams were given two minutes to discuss what their action would be. When they were ready, one member of the team called out "Bellator movet!" and all the other groups would immediately fall silent and pay attention to the team whose turn it was to act. (This worked unbelievably well!)
5. One member of the team would say what they were planning to do while simultaneously posting it to the Edmodo thread for the episode.
6. Me (acting as the TSTT) would then post a response to their action. Some replies were on the fly, others came from stock descriptions provided for Agents in the Episode Guide (i.e., the room descriptions, etc).
7. As a class we would read the character's action and the TSTT reply together, checking for understanding.
8. Next team would then be on the clock to move.

Initial Thoughts:

• Engagement was through the roof. In between actions, I was walking around the classroom monitoring discussions. Through both periods that we ran this episode, there wasn't a single time when a single student was "off task." They were focused and plugged in. I attribute a great deal of this to the immersive qualities of the game-based learning environment. 
• Operative teams paid very close attention to what their allies were doing. When it was a team's time to move, the rest of the class was listening intently and looking for additional clues.
• There was an incredible amount of comprehensible Latin in both periods. This included the Latin that the students read, but also what they produced. Remember, output by one operative team became input for the three other teams. I'm becoming more and more convinced of the power that meaningful and relevant output by peers has on other students' ability to acquire more ability in the language. Hearing me speaking, reading things I've written is one thing -- it's something else entirely when it's done by a peer.
• Lots of repetitions with structures. It is so important to provide ample opportunity for modeling correct usage and for the students to see structures, words, and phrases repeated. Running the episode in this format, in class, with the limit of actions allowed for lots of practice with various structures even at this early stage in their Latin careers.
• The learning objectives for this episode (rooms and functions of a typical Roman villa) are now situated in context for the students. They were "moving" in and around the rooms, interacting with objects contained within. This experience becomes far more powerful for them and their ability to retain the information as opposed to simply reading about the rooms in a culture section of a typical textbook.
• I want to take a look at additional episodes throughout Operation LAPIS to see how I can replicate a similar experience at various other points throughout the year.

Transcript of the Episode:

(2.3.b)
>Vīlla of Marcus Maecēnās, Pompēiī, 79 CE<

tū in ātrium intrās. tū larārium dextrā vidēs. larārium est malīgnum. tū quoque lectum geniāle vidēs. ātrium est dēsertum. clāmōrem ē peristyliō in trīclīniō audīs.

Prompt: find the volūmen in vīllā of M. Maecēnās. You are free to explore any area of the house that you wish, but be on the lookout for Marcus and his guards.

Codex Link: http://lapis.practomime.com/index.php/104-hud023

Live Map: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/164ul9w8CFV2F2rC39fO3WEiPxzJKj3Ys5n4ExZmzXX4/edit?usp=sharing

Bellator said Oct 16, 2014: Bellator festinat clam to ad Locum V

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Bellator ambulat ad locum V (tablinum) sed conspicit (catches sight) custodem extra (outside of) ianuam. custos non videt Bellatorem. revenit ad Recentiōs in ātrium. 

Octaviana said Oct 16, 2014: Octaviana clam ambulat ad cubiculum. 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Octaviana ambulat ad cubiculum. in cubiculō est lectus. tunica et toga in lectō iacent. cista quoque est in cubiculō. cista est clausa. clāvem nōn habēs. aliquid nitidum sub lectō cēlat. 

Priscus said Oct 16, 2014: Priscus intrat in different cublicum, priscus quaerit est volumen 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Priscus ambulat ad alium cubulicum. in cubiculō est lectus. stolla in lectō iacet. 

Tulliana said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana ambulat ad peristylum et clam spectat around a column. 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana ambulat at peristylum. lūna in peristyliō lūcet. via est in mediō peristyliō. frutex in viā est. lūmen ē trīclīniō venit. clāmor ē trīclīniō venit. custōs in iānuā stat. custōs tē nōn vidēt. aliquid nitidum prope fruiticum latet. 

Bellator said Oct 16, 2014: Bellator ambulat clam to ad locum VII 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Bellator ambulat ad latrinam. in lātrīnā est multum stercoris. cavum est in mediā lātrīnā. aliquid nitidum prope cavum in lutō cēlat. 

Octaviana said Oct 16, 2014: Octaviana nitidum sub lecto capit. 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Octaviana quaerit sub lectō. sub lectō est rōbīginōsus gladius. Octaviana capit gladium robignosum. 

Priscus said Oct 16, 2014: priscus valde quaerit sub lecto et in cubiculo 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Priscus quaerit sub lectō. eheu! est nihil sub lectō in hōc cubiculō. 

Tulliana said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana ambulat ad fruticem et capit aliquid nitidum. 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana capit aliquid nitidum. ecce! est stola fulva! Tulliana ponit stollam in suō saccō. 

Bellator said Oct 16, 2014: Bellator quarit ad cavum for ad nitidum 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: in stercore Bellator invenit clavem! est sordidus. bellator capit clavem et ponit in suō saccō. 

Octaviana said Oct 16, 2014: Octaviana ambulat ad tablinum cum robiginosus gladius. 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Octaviana ambulat ad tablinum. habet gladium in suā manū. custōs videt Octavianam. custos nunc est iratus. custōs capit gladium ā Octavianā. dicit, "hic gladius est mihi! custos vocat alium custodem quī ducit Octavianam ad ianuam. 

Priscus said Oct 16, 2014: priscus clam intrat in another cubilicum 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: in cubiculō est lectus. tunica et toga in lectō iacent. cista quoque est in cubiculō. cista est clausa. clāvem nōn habēs 

Priscus said Oct 16, 2014: priscus capit tunicam 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Priscus capit tunicam et ponit tunicam in suō saccō. 

Tulliana said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana ambulat ad columnam prope tablinum. Tulliana videt custodem in ianua of tablinum 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana spectat custodem. custos ambulat in tablinō. via ad culinam est vacua! 

Tulliana said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana ambulat ad culinam et spectat in culina 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: Tulliana ambulat ad culinam. mēnsa est in mediā culīnā. in mēnsā est cēna optima. ecce! coquus est in sellā. coquus tamen in sellā dormit. prope coquum est mappa ōrnāta. litterae “SP” in mappā sunt. 

Octaviana said Oct 16, 2014: (two actions at once since their similar and so you dont need to type more) Octaviana atrium quaerit et Octaviana lararium quaerit. 

TSTT said Oct 16, 2014: In the corner of the atrium stands the Larārium.
larārium Marcī est malīgnum et antīquum. statua in larariō est frācta. statua lapidem in manū tenet. statua gladium in aliā manū tenet.

Octaviana quoque quaerit lectum genialis. lectus geniālis est in ātriō. lectus est līgneus et imāginem Iūnōnis habet. litterae ‘SP’ in lectō sunt. strāgulum in lectō iacet. aliquid nitidum sub pulvīnō cēlat. 

Bellator said Oct 16, 2014: (Also 2 actions) Bellator festinat clam to ad locum III. Bellator aperit cistam with the key. 

Tulliana said Oct 17, 2014: Tulliana clam intrat culina et vero tacite capit mappa 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Bellātor tenet clavem in manu et aperit cistam. *click* Bellator cistam inspectat. in cistā est rōbīginōsa galea. Bellator capit galeam et gerit in capite. 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014Tulliana capit mappam et ponit mappam in suo sacco. coquus movet sed non excitat se. coquus dormit adhuc (still). 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: custos exit ē tablinō et ambulat ad latrinum. tarde. (slowly.) 

Bellator said Oct 17, 2014: Bellator crepit clam to ad other locum III 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Bellator intrat cubiculum et videt pallium in lectō. 

Tulliana said Oct 17, 2014: Tulliana ambulat ad tablinum. 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Tulliana ambulat ad tablinum et circumspectat. The tablīnum is empty of people, but full of papers. 

tū in tablīnum intrās. tū mēnsam vidēs in tablīnō. stat mēnsa māgna in tablīnō. in mēnsā est lumen. in mēnsā est tabella. in mēnsā est lapis. in mēnsā est volūmen. 

in tablīnō quoque stat mēnsa parva. 

Priscus said Oct 17, 2014: Priscus clam intrus the final cubuiculum 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: cubiculum est vacuum. mane! (wait) est cera et stylus in cubiculō! 

Octaviana said Oct 17, 2014: Octaviana capit nitidus aliquid sub pulvino. 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Octaviana quaerit sub lectō et invenit (discovers) multam pecuniam! Octaviana nunc habet quinque (V) denarios! 

Bellator said Oct 17, 2014: Bellator capit pallium 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Bellātor capit pallium cinereum et gerit pallium in tergo. 

Tulliana said Oct 17, 2014: Tulliana quaerit volumen et tabella. 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Tulliana legit tabellam. tabella est negotium de equiis (about horses). Tulliana legit volumen. estne volumen verum? 

Link to the volumen: http://links.practomime.com/volumenrg 

Priscus said Oct 17, 2014: Priscus quaerit per cera et capit cera 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: est nihil in cerā. Priscus capit ceram et ponit in suo sacco. 

Octaviana said Oct 17, 2014: octaviana capit lapidem in staue manu 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Octaviana capit lapidem sed, ecce, non est lapidem. est aquila! Octaviana capit aquilam et ponit in suo sacco. 

Bellator said Oct 17, 2014: Bellator Ambulat to ad locum IV 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Bellator ambulat ad culinam sed coquus nunc surgit e sellā. Bellator currit ad tablinum et spectat at rimam quod Bellator amat rimās. 

Tulliana said Oct 17, 2014: Tuliana quaerit rimam in muro 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Priscus currit ad tablinum. Octaviana currit ad tablinum. 

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: Tulliana quaerit rimam et invenit volumen! Tulliana capit volumen! 

Link to volumen: http://links.practomime.com/volumenmarci

TSTT said Oct 17, 2014: quisque Recentius currit per villam et exit. tua persona revenit (returns) ad villam Sexti.

Thoughts on the ALIRA Exam

I just wanted to share my comments about the ALIRA Exam; we gave the exam to our Latin 1 and Latin 3 students today.

The exam is very short; the website says it has a 50 minute timer. Most of the Latin 1s were done in under 10 minutes, most of the Latin 3s were done in under 15. I'm a little concerned that there aren't enough tasks before it ends the exam in order to get a true sense of where the student is at. Most of my I2 and I3 scored students saw 12-14 questions, my I4 and 5s saw about 18. Those in the novice range saw fewer than 10.

The Latin sources used were indeed varied in context and in time. I do question the design choice to provide this weird papyrus background with a fake script font for the bulk of the passages. My students said it was distracting and I'd definitely agree. There's really no reason to create a faux-situated experience on an examination in that manner. You can see some examples of it here in the ALIRA sample test.

There was a big show-stopping bug which impacted a handful of students (I did email Language Testing International about it, hopefully I'll hear back soon) and invalidated their scores. I had a couple of solid Latin 3 students score N1 (and one even score BR - below the range). Interestingly enough, all four of them ended on the exact same question (about 13 questions in) and no one else saw that question in their rotation. I hope that the question can be fixed or removed as others take the exam.

In the end, many of my students walked away with a bolstered confidence level and affirmation that they were on the right track. My Latin 3s were, by in large, right where I thought they'd be knowing the students. Most were I2 and I3, a few I4 and 5.

The Latin 1s were the surprise of the bunch; except for 3 N1s (and I suspect a test error here, too), everyone was I1 or above with a large cluster at I3. In essence, ALIRA is telling me that our Latin 1 students are at the same place our Latin 3 students are in terms of ability to comprehend a text. I need some time to digest this data and think about how a few things may be impacting those scores; but my Latin 3s are really the last vestiges of my former life of reliance on a more grammar-translation-reading approach and the Latin 1s, in addition to having a lot more CI-type activities embedded in their daily instruction, also have the added benefit of 2 full years of refinement to Operation LAPIS aiding them as well.

Overall, though, I'm very pleased with the ALIRA exam, the time to administer it, and the information (if it is indeed accurate) that it provides. I'm not convinced it's a $10 test, however. That price needs to come down so that I (and others) can administer it program-wide each year.

In an effort for those of us using ALIRA to gauge where our students are at as a whole, I want to start compiling data for exams given this year. I created this Google Form for anyone who wants to contribute:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sx87t04SkDYByBWXKghbmXJHm5iAq3Xjc7Nuf_uvSVo/viewform

Names and schools won't be published (included that space, though, to help ensure that we're not getting false data), only raw numbers for proficiency at each course level.

If you have had experience with ALIRA, it would be great to share your thoughts, so please do!

An Example of the Classroom Flow of Operation LAPIS

I'm always asked what the flow of Operation LAPIS looks like in a typical classroom over a typical few days. Since I was adding a page for the equivalent of the teacher's guide, I figured that I would also post this here. Each episode has two parts (A and B), each mission has 3 episodes, and there are 28 missions across the entire curricula. LAPIS can be used as a stand-alone source or in conjunction with most popular textbook series. The generic example here is in a stand-alone setting.

Operation LAPIS

Day 1 - Start of a new Mission

• Post the new episode (part A) to the TSTT Interface
• Teams collaboratively read through the new immersion
• Students utilize VERBA and GRAMMATICA sections for new words and constructions
• Monitor the teams as they work their way through
• Review the immersion as a group, reviewing any new or unfamiliar constructions
• If necessary, a small amount of direct instruction based on the content GRAMMATICA section
• Hypothesize about potential cultural and historical information needed for the immersion
• Teams read the CULTURALIA section of the CODEX and use the comprehension questions in the ATTUNEMENT section as scaffolding for the immersion response
• Monitor the teams as they read and work on the comprehension questions

Day 1 - Outside of Class

• Teams collaborate on a response by their character in their team-specific areas
• Monitor discussions and intervene as necessary
• Lead Operative posts their character's action in the main TSTT thread
• Respond in-character as other NPCs, or continue telling the story as linking narrative
• Award denariī (if after Mission 3.3)

Day 2 - In class

• Read the in-character responses of each team as a group
• Make minor corrections to Latin that are common mistakes with the intention to not "over do" the correction. Instead of emphatically correcting every small bit, continually model correct usage in order to not interfere or impact the willingness to compose in the target language.
• Excellent opportunity to utilize circling techniques to ask questions about each character's actions in the TL
• KEY-TEXT reading:
• Project the KEY-TEXT on a whiteboard, play accompanying audio file and ask students to listen and follow along
• Each team collaboratively reads the KEY-TEXT for meaning
• Utilize roll-over tooltips and visual walkthrough if needed for new vocabulary or constructions
• Monitor the teams as they read
• Each team then collaboratively responds to the reading comprehension questions in the ATTUNEMENT section
• Monitor the teams as they respond in the TL
• Come back together as a group, review comprehension questions
• Another excellent opportunity for circling techniques to ask additional questions in the TL
• Post the new episode (part B) to the TSTT Interface
• Teams collaboratively read through the new immersion

Day 2 - Outside of Class

• Teams collaborate on a response by their character in their team-specific areas
• Monitor discussions and intervene as necessary
• Lead Operative posts their character's action in the main TSTT thread
• Respond in-character as other NPCs, or continue telling the story as linking narrative to next Episode
• Award denariī (if after Mission 3.3)

Day 3 - In class

• Read the in-character responses of each team as a group
• Make minor corrections to Latin that are common mistakes with the intention to not "over do" the correction. Instead of emphatically correcting every small bit, continually model correct usage in order to not interfere or impact the willingness to compose in the target language.
• Excellent opportunity to utilize circling techniques to ask questions about each character's actions in the TL
• Teams collaboratively work on remaining ATTUNEMENT exercises
• Monitor teams as they work through the exercises
• Teams collaborate on the memoratio for the episode in the TL
• Using memoratio questions in the ATTUNEMENT if needed
• Acts a closure activity for the episode

As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities for composition, speaking, listening, and reading in the target language. Because all of the content is situated inside of the narrative, it also affords a level of cultural competency that tends not to be seen in a traditional textbook driven classroom.