It’s an all-too-familiar battle for some parents — getting their kids to stop playing video games and do their homework. But in one classroom at St. Louis University, video games are just another learning tool, like textbooks or worksheets. The course, Intensive Italian for Gamers, is a hybrid of traditional instruction and in-class video gaming. The preliminary results are promising, with students in the class scoring higher on their finals than those in traditional Italian classes at SLU.

The course, now in its second year, is the brainchild of SLU Professor Simone Bregni. Bregni’s love for video games goes way back — to 1975, when he discovered the classic Atari game "Pong." “If you watch 'Stranger Things,' those kids going into the arcades? I was playing all of those games,” said Bregni, who was born and raised in Italy.