BabelAR

BabelAR is a multilingual puzzle adventure in Augmented Reality (AR). In this mobile AR game, children work together in small teams (2-4 people), alone or with parents to achieve a common goal together. Thanks to their linguistic knowledge, they must make the little creature Babelar find its way home. Cooperation is key here. Augmented Reality (AR), a relatively new technology, strengthens the pupils’ connection to the game world and the main character. The interface switches seamlessly from game to camera, making the children move, crawl on their knees and walk around.

The game teaches children between 7 and 12 the value of the languages they speak (or do not speak) and strengthens language and cultural awareness. What patterns exist in my language and in that of another language? What are the similarities and differences? In addition to a great playing experience, the game is also a didactic tool that helps to positively introduce other languages and cultures and the multilingual needs of children (e.g. children with a migration background) into the classroom. The needs of teachers - more knowledge of and tools for multilingual education, integration of migrant languages and less language separation - are addressed with the game and toolkit, which consists of digital handbook, didactic videos and an online quiz in chatbot format. The game can currently be played free of charge in 14 languages: Arabic, Basque, Dutch, English, French, Frisian, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. BabelAR is part of the VirtuLApp toolkit and was developed with the support of Fryske Akademy, Trinity College Dublin, Mercator and The University of the Basque Country and was co financed by Erasmus+ and Luca School Of Arts Ghent.