Imagination and creativity went into the design of cardboard arcade games by grade 6 Enriched French students.
As part of their “Eureka” unit, the boys had to design and construct working arcade games that their peers could play. The catch was that it all had to be done in French!
“The boys studied different inventors and inventions and focused on the steps they needed to create an invention – all while learning new French vocabulary,” said teacher Emma Porter. “They worked on posters and instructions for each of their games.”
Mrs. Porter introduced the class to a young boy from Los Angeles named Caine Monroy. At 9-years-old, Caine spent his summer creating an entire arcade from leftover auto-parts boxes at his dad’s shop. Slowly, he took over the front of the building and his designs became more and more complicated. Caine only had one customer that summer, a filmmaker named Nirvan, who was so inspired by the intricacy of Caine’s Arcade that he made a short film about it.
Since then, Caine has partnered with the Imagination Foundation to launch an annual Global Cardboard Challenge, which has encouraged more than 500,000 kids across 70 countries to engineer their own cardboard masterpieces – including our students!
“The challenge gave them a chance to become an inventor in their own right,” said Mrs. Porter.
When the arcade was complete, the grade 6 Core French class went by to test and play the various games.
Want to learn more about the inspiration for our students? Check out the Caine’s videos at www.cainesarcade.com.
Story by Nicolette Fleming
