Dragon Legion

The Dragon Legion is a European network of gamers who run various activities all over Europe as volunteers. We are a non-profit organization and we are involve young people and offer them the opportunity of learning through games. Every year we are running several youth exchanges in which we bring young people from different countries together for a week of role playing . We are driven by our love of games and by the knowledge that we can have a very positive influence on the development of young people.
The role-playing activities hugely contribute to intercultural learning because they enable the youths from different countries to experience each other in challenging situations in which decisions need to be made. Unlike a workshop in which participants simply introduce their country and mostly reinforce stereotypes, the participants experience how their team members from other countries think, act, and make decisions. They experience each other's attitudes and values within discussions instead of being spoon fed information. Due to the simplicity of the game world (as opposed to the real world), the challenges and value discussions touch on essential basic questions of human society and the learners develop an understanding of international sensibilities and values as a whole.
However, we have also started to become more active in schools since we see countless opportunities in which role-playing can support learning. We are in the process of adding more schools to our network in order to support school exchanges and shared games in which we link the gaming activities between schools. We are open to any school that wants to join the network and are eager to discuss opportunities that arise for the schools.
When we run a school project there are various opportunities to focus on as learning goals:
Language Learning
Role-playing is extremely well suited for language learning because it motivates learners to fnd solutions in challenging situations that are mostly driven by dialogue. We have used these events before to train English skills by playing with students from two different non English speaking countries. However, other learning models are possible. For instance, it might be interesting for schools to visit each other and play in the language of the host country or even to use both languages at the same time, the frst language for everything the players describe in the game and the second language for the direct dialogue which is spoken by the character they play. Tis could be an interesting model for bringing learners of English and German or English and French together.
Employability
Role-playing can do a lot to help young people develop skills they need later on when entering the labor market. Tese games are based on teamwork and a group is only successful if the players manage to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each character and combine strengths in strategic ways. Strategy is a big part of these games and being able to make decisions based on probability and awareness of the situation is another learning outcome. Cooperating in an international setting and becoming aware of cultural differences and how they can be used to deliver better results is also part of the learning, as much as developing an international mindset, which is crucial for business in today's interconnected world.

Social Skills
Role-playing can train a number of soft skills such as empathy, but it is also very efficient training for social skills in general. We regularly use role-playing with groups of socially disadvantaged youths in Iceland with stunning results. Giving these youths a safe game environment in which they can try out things gives their self esteem a boost and changes their entire personality.
Communication Skills
Role-playing can also be used to train communication skills, for instance when it comes to resolving conflicts. It can be used to train debating skills or sales situations. It can also be used to train giving instructions and understanding instructions. There are also a number of other skills that are affected by role-playing.
Teaching School Subjects
Role-playing can be used to do the actual teaching that is done in school. However, the way of teaching is vastly different from the usual approach because the strength of role-playing games teach through experience that learners make in the different situations. For instance, in September 2018 we ran a game at a school in Germany in which we focused on history and politics. Our setting was ancient Rome at a time at which Caesar tried to change the political system and become Emperor. Half of the groups served the republic and were involved in missions to stop Caesar, the other half helped Caesar. Both sides had noble goals and experienced how their own views were skewed by the events unfolding around them. The setting was a memorable impression of the historic situation and events and the experience was a wonderful basis for discussing the political situation and understanding the complexity.
Invitation to all schools!

We are very open to welcome any school that wants to join this network of opportunity. When we get schools involved we deal with getting school funding through the Erasmus+ school grants. We also do a lot of the administrative work in order to minimize the workload for schools. In most cases it is possible to cover the costs for these events through grants so that no money is needed from the schools. We are currently building new networks and helping schools connect with each other. We provide game materials and game content and organize events. We find out what the individual needs of each school are and we try to accommodate them as much as we can by defining learning goals and developing a suitable event type and the right partner network.
Feel free to contact us to go over details and ideas, we would love to hear from you.
Contact:
-Bethany Goodwin
Point of contact for the Dragon Legion school program
Bethany.goodwin@dragon-legion.com

-Ras Pechuel
Manager of the Dragon Legion School Program
E-Mail: ras@dragon-legion.com