Why Gamification in Sanskrit?
Living in the ever changing world of technology, the technological advances have no longer remained a matter of wonder. Each and every sector has adapted itself to the technological changes and even the education sector is no exception for this. What's new for many of us is the Sanskrit language evolving in EdTech. Sanskrit, which until a few days ago was about to be declared a dead language, has now entered the tech-world and has become a vital subject for EdTech. While different platforms are trying to induce online or offline Sanskrit learning using technology at its best, Little Guru seems to be doing a remarkable and differentiating job for Sanskrit. In contrast to all the conventional modes of teaching it has introduced gamification to Sanskrit learning.
Now a question that hits most of the people’s brains is, ‘is gamification really necessary?’ or ‘why gamification for learning a language like Sanskrit?’ We will definitely get the answer to these questions if we observe around. A mother who tries to feed her 5 year old engages him in a mobile game to ease the task. Go to a restaurant with friends and once your kid starts irritating you, all you will do is hand him the mobile and let him play what he wants. This is not only about the kids. Download a game on your mother’s phone, teach her how to play and she will spend hours playing it. Gamification causes stress free learning, hence, is suitable to the modern lifestyle too, where after a tiring working schedule, one can enjoy playing Sanskrit games. So we all definitely agree that all age groups enjoy spending time on online games. Coming back to gamification and Sanskrit, the name of the language itself sounds to many. Or many presume that learning the language is too complicated, requires a lot of memorizing and many other presumptions. And due to these learning barriers one keeps postponing the learning of this language in spite of knowing its benefits. But if we add Sanskrit content to a gamified format one will definitely spend hours playing the Sanskrit game and learn the language at ease.
Introducing gamification to Sanskrit will help overcome a lot of other barriers and perceptions.
Let’s look at some of them:
The new generation often gets this feeling when they hear of Sanskrit. But when one starts learning Sanskrit through games, he gets engaged and addicted to the gamified learning and develops interest for the language too. So, the perception that Sanskrit is ancient and boring gets converted to the positive thought that though it's an ancient language, it can be interesting learning it in a gamified format. These formats are best at retaining one’s attention and keeping one engaged in learning.
Things are never born cool, we are supposed to make them cool and gamification is one of the efforts to bring the language into the cool world. If one gets to learn Sanskrit through gaming elements will make one forget the perception that Sanskrit is not a cool language.
This is the most common barrier in learning Sanskrit language. In gamified formats, the topic gets divided in a number of steps and each step of the topic is a game move. With each move one learns each step of the topic and by the time one completes the game, all the steps required to learn a part of the specific topic are learnt. Through different gamified formats containing audios and visuals, one gets to learn and practice both at the same time and the language will no longer seem to be difficult or tough. A simplified gamified format is the best solution to solve the complexity of a subject.
Sanskrit is a beautiful and important language and is the base of our whole culture. A lot of mysteries are hidden in Sanskrit literature and to know about one has to learn the language first. In order to make the language easy, interesting and acceptable for the next generation, gamification is the key!
