Learn English with a winter-themed world of Minecraft

Gormi’s Winter Wonderland is designed to encourage children aged eight and above to learn English by solving puzzles and completing tasks which are focussed on real-life communication skills. In-game challenges encourage students to practise a range of new language skills that focus on new words, words in new forms, spelling, word formation, visual clues and critical thinking skills.

The game has been developed by the same Cambridge experts who produce the world’s leading range of English language learning and assessment products.

Gormi, a character from 2021’s award-winning Adventures in English with Cambridge - Episode 1, now takes centre stage in this new adventure. Players are tasked with helping Gormi prepare for a winter party and progress through the game by solving challenges and puzzles along the way.

Alex Martin, Product Manager at Cambridge, said: ‘We wanted to create a compelling English language learning experience and Minecraft was the perfect platform, because it’s loved by millions of children all over the world. Gormi’s Winter Wonderland presents in-game challenges that encourage children to improve their English by learning relevant language and using real-life communication skills. Players are encouraged to process the meaning of the language they encounter and then use it to progress through the game. It’s a really fun experience that I’m sure will resonate with children and parents all over the world.’

Players are free to explore and complete the puzzles in any order they like, with hints provided in ‘weather reports’ that can be found all around the igloo. They are encouraged to persevere and try an activity more than once in order to succeed.

Alex says that children shouldn’t focus too much on their mistakes: ‘When learning languages it’s very easy to get hung up on mistakes, but this is a necessary component of language learning. That’s why throughout the game players are encouraged to try again if they fail a challenge.’

Find out more through our blog post, or visit our Adventures in English pages.