Post Covid: The Integration of Board Games Back into Teaching and Learning Modes in Classrooms

The poetry genre was part of the Literature Component which was introduced into the Malaysian English Language Secondary School Syllabus.Studying literature can be challenging for ESL learners, more so during online learning.With post covid and the opening of schools, interesting modes of delivery need to, and can be incorporated into the teaching and learning of literature, in face-to-face classroom sessions.In order to fill the gap for an interactive, engaging and fun way to teach literary texts (poems), the researchers had designed a board game five years before the Covid pandemic.The board game became a tool to facilitate learning the poetry selections before the Covid period.Feedback from students and teachers then, showed that the majority of the students and teachers responded positively to such an innovation.The objective of this study is to revisit board games post-covid and assess if these are effective and well received by students after purely online teaching and learning.A survey was carried out among students in two schools, whereby this innovation was found to be well received and an effective tool for teaching and learning of poetry, after online classes.Hence, with post-covid, innovations which are not digital or technologically driven, can and should be integrated into classroom teaching and learning modes, where possible.The authors suggest a combination of methodsdigital and non-digital means, while being able to meet in face-to-face situations in classrooms, in the teaching and learning curriculum in schools.Hence, the case for the integration of board games, into the post-Covid era.