In the face of Covid-19 and hybrid learning, afterschool activities at the Lycée Français de New York are being reinvented. Theater, chess, karate, visual arts, choir…the after school program offers online classes for every taste and age. In this context, James Charrel, Secondary Technology Integrator, leads a Minecraft club on Zoom every Friday.
Middle schoolers accepted the challenge from their coding club teacher James Charrel to create a virtual Lycée Français de New York through the video game Minecraft.
With over 120 million active players, Minecraft is one of the most popular games in the world. Since its introduction in 2009, it has been a huge hit: infinite worlds in which you can use simple bricks to create everything from a small wooden hut to the Empire State Building… Since then, Minecraft has come a long way. “The world of education has taken this program – which I no longer dare to call a game – and adapted it to many forms of activities,” explains M. Charrel. He chose this educational version to introduce the basics of Python coding.
Samuel, an eighth grader, has been a member of the club since September: “I’ve never programmed with Minecraft before and I think it helps with my basic skills in coding”. Currently, the students are working on building the Lycée virtually. The teacher came with this idea while the school was closed last spring. “It’s an opportunity for students to see their school, and even move around in it when it’s closed or less accessible,” he recalls.
In this “coding” mode, it is possible to build a 30-story high building with six lines of code. Cafeteria, classrooms, gymnasium, auditorium, nothing will be left to chance. “On Minecraft the building blocks are square, it’s very geometrical, we won’t be able to represent all the details like the notebooks, it’s not always easy to find the codes,” says Louis, a student in 6th grade. The construction will take a long time, but the result should be spectacular thanks to the students’ enthusiasm.
James Charrel has also been seduced by the e-sport version of Minecraft and offers another club on Monday afternoons. While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on live sports competitions, video game competitions are less affected by the crisis.
To this date, the Lycée team has already played two games against Al-Bayan Bilingual School in Kuwait in the Middle East, winning in front of almost 300 spectators! The concept: to grab the other team’s flag and bring it back to their home base.
“I occasionally watched e-sport competitions, I wanted to try. Thanks to this club, I’m learning teamwork and coordination, it’s amazing” enthused Darius, a 8th grade student. “This kind of game allows students to develop many skills: collaboration, communication and concentration,” says the teacher; essential skills for the 21st century. For 2021, the team plans to compete against other schools in the United States and in Spain
It’s not too late for Lycée students to participate in these clubs. Registration for after-school activities are open until Wednesday, January 20.
About the Author :
Adele has a master’s degree in scientific communication. She developed educational material for schools and museums and she had written more than 150 popularized articles. In 2017, she created a primary science club at the Lycée Francais de New York, then she joined the team of the afterschool department as assistant to the director.