Telling The Time

1. Introduction

This is a mini game to learn and practice on the topic of time in English. Students can interact with the clock to change the time and there is also a mini-game that involves matching a time phrase with the clock.

The first display shows an analog clock showing the time - 9 o'clock initially - and the lower pane shows the matching time phrase. You can change the time on the watch by moving the hands or by clicking the arrow at the bottom. When you change the time on the watch, the time phrase below will be updated. Moving the hour hand changes the time really quickly, but the minute hand is slower. Only times 5 minutes apart can be displayed, and thus the hands of the watch will align to the nearest 5 minutes.

On the second screen there is a mini game. A text pane in the middle shows a time phrase, e.g. 3 o'clock. Then 3 clocks are shown above; different times each. To play the game you have to click on the clock that matches the time phrase. This repeats about 20 times with increasingly precise times shown. To complete the game, you must choose the correct clock each time. If you make a mistake, the game is lost and you have to start over.

While playing the game, a cat is shown at the bottom left of the screen, with a bridge in front of her. When you guess the clock, the cat moves across the bridge to the other side of the screen. But if you do it wrong, then the cat falls and comes back to the beginning. There is nothing remarkable about the cat; it's just meant to be a visual progressive aid. There is also a score box on the bottom right. Points are awarded based on how fast you choose the correct meter. If you take too long, then no points are awarded.

Time phrases, namely:

Half past, quarter past, quarter to, five past/to, ten past/to, twenty past/to, twenty-five past/to.

They were chosen because they are key phrases used to tell the time. I didn't use a more precise time, such as 2 minutes past, as this might make the game too complicated. The five-minute gap is really enough for most situations. Alternative words, such as twelve thirty or eight forty-five have been avoided to keep things simple.

The purpose of this game is to practice, or discover and learn by yourself, telling time in English. The target audience is low-level English learners. The first screen is intended to represent the target language, while the mini-game on the second screen is a means of practicing and re-implementing the language.