Edelweiss: Game, Mindfulness and EFL
Can you smell the Spring approaching, can you see its brilliant colours? No? Is your March still grey and rainy? Well, don’t be sad, as I’ve got something that will not only brighten the mood of you and your students but also support mindful practices, help work on using English, and make you play yet another adorable – and relaxing – roleplaying game!
Edelweiss is an unusual game. The whole point of this game is to make you calm and relaxed. No monsters, no violence, no risk, (almost) no math – just a heartwarming story – writes its creator, Łukasz Kołodziej. And that’s why you can use the game to introduce some mindful activities, develop your students’ English and still have fun.
What is Edelweiss?
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Edelweiss is a role-playing game about wanderers exploring beautiful, calm land and experiencing all kinds of nice things. There is no danger, no monsters, no great risks – just a bunch of friends having fun together.
Imagine an idyllic world – soaring peaks, covered with sparkling snow, and deep, misty valleys. Flowered meadows alternate with ancient forests. Swift streams flow into crystal clear lakes. It is the land of primeval, untamed nature, dotted with tiny villages, roadside inns and hermitages. It simply invites you to spend some great time!
Character creation
You may choose to play a giant, a gnome or a human. Follow various paths in their lives – craftspeople, artists, mystics or scholars. Use the manual (I’ll share the details how to get it in a moment) and choose various aspects describing your new character and note all the details on the character sheet:
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Once your character (and a whole team) is ready, you can travel the world.
The rules
The most enjoyable part of the game is that it’s the player who decides what’s happening with their characters, where they’re going and what is their purpose. However, to make the process something more than a storytelling sessions, we need a chance – and what’s better than a roll of dice?
So, whenever it’s your turn, describe what your character is trying to achieve, choose 1-5 traits of your character that helps them to achieve their goal – and roll the die!
If the rolled number is equal to or lower than the number of traits used for the task – it’s the success (and needs to be described, of course).
If the rolled number is higher than the number of traits used for the task – it’s a failure (not a serious one, mind, it’s a relaxing game).
Now that we know the rules, let’s see…
How to play Edelweiss?
The whole idea of the game is to create a story by choosing a protagonist, determining what they are trying to achieve, and describing how they are managing to do that. That’s it! If you still don’t know what a short game looks like, the author is pretty helpful and shows us the ropes:
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How to use Edelweiss in the EFL classroom?
You may say: Well, it’s a simple game, but how am I really going to use it in the classroom? Can you imagine a bunch of kids imagining they are gnomes and giants?
Pffff, of course I can!
Individual classes
You can play the game solo, just like the one I wrote about some time ago, That Fateful Year (click here to read more). You can encourage your student to create a character and then prompt him to write some short journal entries. However, you may also create your own character and play together, only instead of writing – chat. Describe the adventures and roleplay the dialogues – it will be a great way to practise communication for those shy students who hate talking about themselves.
Group classes
The most interesting way of playing as a whole class is dividing students into groups and encouraging them to create their characters together (you will find more on the team creation in the manual). You may divide them into groups of giants, gnomes and humans, or maybe craftspeople, artists and scholars… but my favourite way is to divide them in random groups and ask them to create their own tiny villages. Why is it so fun? Because from the very beginning, they will have to communicate. They will have to create some obstacles and advantages together to make the story more interesting. They will have to go on compromise. The author explains that whenever there is a disagreement between the participants, the entire group should work together to find a solution that would be at least acceptable, if not favourable, for everyone. If you find yourself unable to make a choice, put it in fate’s hands and select one of the considered options randomly.
What’s more, you can prompt your students giving them general ideas for their adventures, for example:
- All of you have been invited to the Green Dragon Den to celebrate the first day of spring. How are you going to get there and what present are you going to prepare for the Green Dragon itself?
- Wood sprites have been particularly annoying this summer. How are you going to deal with them?
- There’s a new creature in the nearby forest. How are you going to check what that is?
As you can see, the prompts are the same for everyone, but each group will deal with the challenge differently. There’s no place for cheating in this game!
Mindfulness
As I’ve already mentioned, Edelweiss is perfect for introducing mindfulness practices in the classroom. Think about using some relaxing background music and explain that this is a game where truly – Nothing Bad Happens, it’s the safe space they can explore and have fun. Ask them to focus on the moment while describing their adventures and use all the senses – encourage them not only to mention the object they see, but also describe their smell, texture etc.
You may also practise some conscious breathing techniques so that your students get into the mood – maybe not from the first session, but later on you may simply say “Let’s practise various kinds of breathing that will help us travel to Edelweiss – e.g. calm and long breaths like birds soaring in the sky, short breaths of a squirrel climbing up the tree etc.”
What do I need to play the game
To play Edelweiss you will need a few sheets of paper, a few pencils, markers or crayons, and at least one six-sided die… and of course the manual. Where can you find it? Just click on the link (click!) and this will redirect you to the Skavenloft’s itch.io where you can download the game, character sheet, tools for creators and an extra booklet with extra rules and ideas which you can use while playing Edelweiss.
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Recommendations
I can happily recommend this game to both individual and group classes, in class and online – obviously the higher the level of linguistic proficiency, the better the game, however due to the whole idyllic atmosphere I’m sure it will bring a lot of fun for children, teens and adults.
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