Parents

umanationflag

The Educational and Developmental Benefits of Being in UMA:

No fancy pictures or distractions, just the straight facts.

There are many educational and developmental benefits to joining a Club Penguin army, especially UMA. In fact, several of our soldiers are home schooled and being in UMA is considered part of their education and social skills/communications/language arts and other personal development. The UMA chat is a vital tool for development and growth of our soldiers to be applied in real life.

Being able to socialize effectively with people around you is a necessary life skill and participating in UMA chat is a great way to observe, learn, and practice the social rules of conversation and relating to other people in an appropriate manner. Our chat consists of many people from around the world who come together and express themselves, sharing ideas and perspectives. We learn from one another that it’s ok to be different, think differently, believe differently and that people from other cultures are great people too. It’s also a place where our soldiers find that they share common interests and beliefs from other kids around the world. Furthermore, being in our chat breaks down those uncomfortable barriers of not knowing how to act and behave in front of others we do not know or being too shy to talk with others, especially those who are “different” from who we are. Friendships are established between all people in UMA chat, no matter where you live.

In UMA chat, soldiers learn a lot of information about the world around them, political, recreational, educational, cultural, etc. They openly discuss various topics and share their views based on the information obtained. They discuss current issues from around the world as well as historical ones and analyze them for discussion. Contributing in a healthy debate and discussion is important to everyone’s growth as a person in society and a valuable life skill to have, and through the UMA chat, they learn from others how to engage in debate and discussions.

Now we know that our chat isn’t as safe as Club Penguin is, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe. There are constantly moderators and owners on chat, who ban anyone who will ruin your child’s experience in UMA. Bullying, swearing, advertising unsafe sites, being inappropriate and many other things are all against UMA rules. If anyone breaks a rule they will be banned for a suitable amount of time. As well as these moderators and owners who keep our chat safe, we have a Discord bot which moderates our chat 24/7. Even if no moderators or owners were on, people would still be punished for breaking the rules, as this bot detects anything against our rules and bans the person who broke it. Our chat isn’t as safe as Club Penguin, but it sure is the next best thing.

Proper grammar is a big benefit of the UMA Chat and Site. I know so many UMA individuals that joined UMA barely knowing how to spell or type and are now great at spelling, vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, and are also speedy in their typing skills. It’s a fantastic way to practice spelling and punctuation while having fun! With regards to typing skills, UMA leader Cobra types unbelievably fast compared to his classmates in real life. His classmates type 10-30wpm, but Cobra has been timed to 120wpm–even faster than his own teacher! Many UMA soldiers typing and computer skills are more advanced than most of their classmates not in CP armies. So typing skills are also developed and constantly practiced while participating in UMA.

Reading is extremely important to our soldier’s Language Arts skills too and while participating in our chat, they are constantly reading very quickly to stay in the conversation and learn things they might not know or be in a discussion. Reading the UMA site is also great practice and exposure to proper grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, essay writing structure, reporting, and others. All while having fun!

Good writing skills are also learned and practiced in UMA. If the soldier is a high-ranking individual, they have the privilege to post their writings on our site. Of course, proper grammar and sentence structure as well as essay writing skills are encouraged and practiced. These posts vary from entertainment to factual reporting, fiction to non fiction and even biographies or autobiographies and involve various types of writing such as narrative, descriptive, exposition, and persuasive writing.

UMA soldiers also learn political structure and protocol. CP armies are highly organized groups of individuals who work towards a common goal. Within these groups are complex political systems and ranks. These can mimic real life and give participants an understanding of political systems world-wide and how they work, the different levels of status and duties/responsibilities of each. Following the chain of command and following directions are a valuable skill to have in UMA. Without it, we could not function as a solid, strong army. These skills are valuable in real life for the future as well as kids grow up, become more responsible, get jobs/careers.

UMA also teaches and responsibility. Within our army we have well established ranks. Soldiers earn promotions by doing various good things for UMA and work their way up the ladder, just like the corporate ladder in real life. UMA practices positive reinforcement as a means of rewarding, encouraging, and motivating people to improve themselves and be a better game player, since this is a game. Soldiers start out as a member at the low ranks and earn their way to being a moderator, or “mod.” Mods moderate, guard, oversee the chat, making sure everyone is following our child-friendly rules and being appropriate, as well as mediating any arguments that happen and answering questions. Mods work very hard to earn the rank of owner in the chat. Owners are the highest you can go, the most prestigious and the have lots of responsibilities as for guarding the chat and making sure things run smoothly and child-friendly. Both mods and owners have the power to “kick” someone as a warning for breaking a rule, or the option to ban that individual with the consequences being determined by the action involved. So there’s a lot of observation and decision-making that occurs while being a mod or an owner as well as those ranks reflect the duties you must perform within the army itself. Of course the higher up you are in rank, the more people look up to you and you must set a good example, be a role model for the other troops, so behavior must be appropriate and kind at all times.

Soldiers also learn and apply leadership qualities in UMA by participating in our chat. They learn from observing the leaders, how they behave, think, act, and interact, react, organize, discipline, etc. As soldiers in UMA grow with the army and actively participate over time, they see what qualities they must develop for being a good leader of a group of peers. These skills are also valuable in real life.

Teamwork is key. We may not be an athletic team, but we are a close team that works very hard together to attain a common goal, just as a sports team does. Everyone has their responsibilities and learns to work with various personality types successfully. They don’t have to like every individual in the army, if fact, they may have conflict with some personality types, but a valuable skill applied to real life is the skill to get along with one another effectively under any circumstance or situation.

UMA is also a great place to learn and express good sportsmanship. Our soldiers learn that bragging, boasting, or being arrogant is not a valued trait or behavior. They learn that playing fairly and feeling good about the effort they put into the battle or event, and having fun is what matters. UMA encourages the practice of good sportsmanship and to get along with one another and be civil when conflicts arise or people don’t get along with one another. Again, these are favorable life skills.

Being in UMA is not only fun and rewarding, it’s educational with learning the world around us and learning/practicing language arts and socializing skills, leadership skills, as well as responsibility, teamwork, and sportsmanship. All of these are important life skills that are important for our soldiers to develop for use in real life situations and becoming productive members of our society.

If you would like to take a look at our moderated and safe chat, please click HERE. You may contact one of our leaders there if you have any further questions about UMA, and we hope that you trust us with keeping your child safe when online.