Gamification of learning is a great way to increase a student’s motivation and improve their results. The reason is simple – games help to maintain a stable and high interest in the subject. And there, the mechanisms of memorization and association are triggered. For example, have you noticed that you do not even need to learn the lyrics of a song you liked? It is remembered as if by itself after several listens.
Today we will talk about a whole section of games that are undeservedly forgotten – board games. If you prefer to play slots online, then there are also games in a board format. And we’ll tell you what board games can help boost your English skills, in case English is not your native language.
Scrabble
It would be extraordinary to talk about English language boosting board games without mentioning Scrabble.
Scrabble is a board game legend that combines straightforward rules with a very entertaining game. First, of course, we need the English version of the game.
- The difficulty of the rules: Low
- Strategy level: Medium
- Trains skills: Attention, vocabulary, making anagrams, finding the best strategy.
Rules
Players are given seven letter chips each. Players must place their chips on a 15×15 field in such a way as to form words in the manner of a crossword puzzle. That is, the terms can only be read vertically and horizontally.
Each letter has its value. And the less often it is used in words, the more points you get when you use it. For example, “A” or “C” is worth only 1 point, “F” is worth 4 points, and “Q” is worth 10 points. The points from all letters used are counted and recorded.
The game is played up to a certain number of points. Whoever is the first to reach – that’s the winner.
Benefits
Scrabble is great for vocabulary development in English. The more words you know, the higher your chances of winning. You can check the availability of the word in any English dictionary. Better, of course, use online dictionaries – for example, Oxford Dictionaries. The total allowed words are about 260,000 words.
If you don’t know the word your opponent posted, look up its meaning for a few minutes. That way, you can fill up your vocabulary during the game.
Once Upon A Time
The task of players in this game is to tell a fairy tale or a fantastic story using unique cards.
- The difficulty of rules: Low
- Strategy level: Low
- Trains skills: listening comprehension, sentence generation, language cohesion, storytelling, attentiveness, logic.
Rules
Each player has a set of cards with characters, locations, properties, and actions, as well as one ending card.
Players need to tell the tale using their cards. Therefore, each card must be necessary for advancing the story.
If your opponent in front of you stops talking, gets confused, or contradicts the story you’ve already told, you can intercept the move and start telling it yourself.
The game depends a lot on the “talkativeness” of the players. It is clear that in English, it will be challenging to compose a tale at first, but that’s only the first few games.
To pull time and come up with the next plot twist, you can add colorful descriptions, dialogues, or interesting little things to the tale. The tale will only benefit from this, and you will help even more from such training.
It is essential not only to tell the story yourself but also to listen to others. That’s why Once Upon A Time is great for people of about the same level of proficiency.
Benefits
Creating a story on the go allows you to develop beauty, coherence, and logic in your speech. You don’t just need to use your vocabulary to create a story, but you also need to connect the narrative to the cards you have on hand.
It would be best if you spoke as much as possible here. After all, too much pause will lead to a hijacking. And over time, quantity turns to quality and telling the story becomes more accessible. And you can speak fluent English about anything and as long as you want.
Sounds like a plan
“Sounds like a plan” is considered a party game, but it’s also great for boosting your English.
The task of the players is to give advice. And how much of that advice is on the point will determine how many points you get.
- The difficulty of the rules: Low
- Strategy level: Low
- Trains skills: reading, perception accuracy, thinking speed, logic.
Rules
Each player has cards from the “Advice” deck. Nearby there is a standard “To Do List” deck from which each participant pulls cards. Each turn is one action.
The goal of the game is to pick the advice from your cards that best fits the situation.
For example, you need “Plan a family reunion. The die indicates what type of advice is needed: the best, the worst, from the child or the grandmother. Each player then draws a card with advice on that score. The participant who draws the “To Do List” card ranks the players’ cards from the most relevant advice to no advice at all.
The game is fun, and a Pre-Intermediate level will suffice to participate. Unknown words can look up in the dictionary – the speed of the game is not affected. But this way, you can learn to correlate and filter the information in English quickly.
Benefits
In terms of English, the game is quite simple. After all, you only need to understand the meaning of a few written sentences correctly. Nevertheless, it allows you to expand your vocabulary and add to your asset of idioms and popular phrases.
Taboo
It is an excellent game in which you have to explain a word to your team without naming it or any other related terms.
- The difficulty of the rules: Low
- Strategy level: Low
- Trains skills: word descriptions, associations, thinking speed in English, using active and passive vocabulary.
The rules
It’s straightforward. You need to explain as many words as possible in one minute. The word itself, of course, can’t be named. But also can not call other words directly related to this word- they’re written in the block “Taboo.
For example, you need to explain the word “basketball.” The words “sport,” “basket,” “basketball,” and “ball” are not allowed. And now, make it up as you go along.
By the way, this is one of those games for which you can not even buy a unique deck of cards because you can make up your own words.
Benefits
It turns out that to explain in such a way, even the most specific word is not easy. Nevertheless, the game perfectly trains the skills of the instant use of vocabulary.
After all, in one minute, you need to explain as many words as possible. Literally in fractions of a second to figure out how to describe a particular word as intelligibly as possible “without taboos.
P.S. The game “Alias” is very similar to “Taboo” in meaning – they differ only in scoring and penalty system. So you can choose either of these two games if you wish.
Meta Title: The best but not so popular board games for the whole family
Meta Description: Let’s talk about good board games for groups of friends or family gatherings. You can not only relax with these games but also improve your knowledge of the English language.
