Minecraft and Cambridge Team Up to Teach English in New Adventure

Minecraft and Cambridge Assessment English have teamed up to release Adventures in English, a premium story-driven map that helps teach gamers the English language.


Published: January 18, 2022 4:01 PM /

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Minecraft Adventures in English cover

Minecraft and Cambridge Assessment English have teamed up to release Adventures in English, a premium story-driven map that helps teach gamers the English language.

The last few weeks have been pretty good for Minecraft. The game has reached over a trillion views on YouTube and it recently celebrated the new year by giving away free content to players such as the Axolotl Islands map. Of course, Mojang is still releasing premium content on the game's Marketplace -- and one of the newest additions aims to teach gamers English with an entertaining experience.

Minecraft Adventures in English Actually Looks Pretty Fun

Minecraft Adventures in English is a new premium adventure created by Cambridge Assessment English, a department of the University of Cambridge that creates English-language qualification exams and teaching materials.

"Harnessing the hugely-popular and engaging world of Minecraft for language learning results in authentic, narrative-driven language practice which engages imagination, curiosity, and episodic memory," said Cambridge Assessment English Senior Product Owner Alex Martin."

"It works by seamlessly integrating world-class teaching approaches with immersive gameplay," explained developer Catarina Bell. "We have been careful not to replicate standard classroom activities in a virtual space, nor to lean heavily into pure gameplay. Instead, the adventure is interwoven with opportunities to practice English in a multitude of ways."

This new adventure may be arriving at the perfect time for parents -- the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has forced school closures in many parts of the United States. While some school districts are opening back up (or never closed in the first place), others remain closed or are considering closing for a period of time. This release builds on the offerings made available through the Marketplace's free educational section.

Of course, this new map isn't solely for kids -- there are plenty of adults who'd like to learn English as well, I'm sure. While educational games tend to be focused on kids (such as Spywatch Lex). there are a fair number of educational games available for adults, too.

Adventures in English was first released in May 2021, but it appears to have been exclusive to Minecraft: Education Edition at the time. Today's release brings this new map to the Marketplace and makes it widely available. You can buy Minecraft Adventures in English on the Minecraft Marketplace for 830 Minecraft coins, roughly the equivalent of $5. Of course, you'll also need to buy Minecraft Bedrock Edition to play it.

What do you think of Adventures in English? What's your favorite educational game? Let us know in the comments below!

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Learn more about Minecraft
Game Page Minecraft
Developer
Mojang
Publisher
Xbox Game Studios
Release Date
May 17, 2009 (Calendar)
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