What does ‘Into the Woods’ mean to you? Literally entering a forest? Going towards adventure and danger like Little Red Riding Hood? Mystery and transformation? Confusion or being lost?
Idioms like this have a wide range of literal and symbolic meanings, usually closely tied to cultural knowledge and nuances of language that sometimes no longer exist in common use. This makes idioms particularly difficult for second language learners.

This session presents an interactive, play-based exploration of how a tabletop game can support the acquisition of idioms.
Chinese idioms (chengyu) are compact linguistic units that encode metaphor, cultural knowledge, and historical narrative, making them particularly challenging for second-language learners when approached through memorisation alone. The game presented in this session was designed to address this difficulty by embedding idiom learning into rule-based interaction, negotiation, and physical manipulation of game components. Through Learning Mechanics – Game Mechanics (LMGM) mapping, specific learning goals were deliberately aligned with corresponding game mechanics.
The session begins with a short introduction outlining the research context, the pedagogical challenge of idiom acquisition, and the rationale behind using a tabletop game format. This is followed by a concise explanation of the game rules, sufficient for participants to begin playing without prior knowledge of Chinese or the specific idioms used. An optional informal pre-self-test invites participants to reflect briefly on their prior familiarity with Chinese idioms or comparable figurative expressions in other languages.
The core of the session is a 30-minute play period, during which participants engage directly with the game in small groups. Rather than focusing on explicit instruction, the session emphasises learning-through-play, allowing participants to experience how meaning-making, hypothesis testing, and peer discussion naturally emerge from gameplay. The facilitator will circulate to observe, answer procedural questions, and prompt reflection where appropriate, without interrupting the flow of play.

An optional informal post-self-test concludes the session, encouraging participants to reflect on what they have understood, remembered, or inferred through gameplay. The session closes with a brief discussion connecting participants’ experiences back to the LMGM framework and the findings of the underlying research, highlighting how game design decisions shaped learning opportunities.
Overall, this session offers both a practical demonstration of a research-informed learning game and a reflective space to consider how tabletop games can function as effective tools for language learning and game-based pedagogy.

Session Structure
· 7 min – Introduction: research background, game design, LMGM mapping
· 4 min – Game rules explanation
· 2 min – Informal pre-self-test (optional)
· 30 min – Gameplay
· 2 min – Informal post-self-test (optional)