Learning Language via Games

Learning a language can certainly be a challenging task. Thanks to the advent of the internet and online games, however, learning a language has become fun, exciting, and even more interactive! Reading games that make learning languages fun employ meaningful language in real contexts to help learners pick up the language with ease. They are a welcome break form the monotony of daily life and provide language practice skills in speaking, writing, listening and reading. The few reading games that I have listed below are great language learning tools for kids in the contemporary world. Irrespective of which language it is that your little one is trying to master, these games will help her strengthen her grasp over it.

Image Credit: John Morgan

Noun, verb, adjective, and …

The very popular Far Eastern game of “Name, place, animal, things” has been tweaked to bring to you - “Noun, Verb, and Adjective”. Draw three columns on a sheet of paper and name them Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives. Keep cut out letter cards from A-Z in a bowl and shuffle them well! A player chooses a random alphabet and displays it to the other players. She then turns down a sand clock while the players will have to write a noun, verb, and adjective each starting with the chosen letter. Keep a dictionary handy for the players to go through to clear any confusion. And you never know when kids may stumble upon a new word that they can learn and write! For every correct answer, the player gets 10 points. Play 10 rounds of the game before you decide the winner! This game will be a wonderful language tool for the kids to ‘reading’ and ‘executing’ parts of language learning.

Passing the parcel

When you are done with ‘Noun, Verb, and Adjective’, remove the papers and pens and start playing this game. This reading game requires more effort from the organizer so that the players can just reap the benefits once the game starts! Get a few dozens of index cards and write down several topics on them, like –

·         Noun starting with z

·         Things found in an igloo that begins with l

·         A science topic that begins with f

·         An American President whose name begins with g

·         An adjective that begins with p

·         Nouns starting with s

Give a little parcel to pass around among the kids to a player. As soon as the timer starts ticking, the player with the parcel picks up a card and solves it before passing the parcel to her neighbor. The parcel moves around till a player fails to reply within 5 seconds and is disqualified as a result. Then, the game resumes with the next player. It goes on till all the students are disqualified barring one.

As I am a homeschooling mom, and not a teacher, I always play these language and reading games with my daughter’s friends. Speaking from personal experiences, the kids accept my daughter’s pajama party invitations knowing they’ll get to play these games! If it’s a day party, I replace these games with cooking games that the girls equally love!