Learn English With Games

This proverb tells us that playing has a lot of significance in our life, so why not start playing games to learn English? When we think of learning something new, the first thought that comes in our mind is a book. But have you ever imagined that learning something new could be achieved by playing games. Yes, playing and learning is such a useful combination that makes the children feel relaxed and comfortable. Instead of opting for the old formula of giving books to the children and forcing them to study hard, we could make them play interesting games which would enable them to play and learn at the same time. In this way, they would be able to improve their existing knowledge more easily while indulging in activities they love the most.

Now, let's discuss about the types of games which are helpful in improving English vocabulary and can help anyone in improving their speaking and listening skills.

1- Scrabble

It is one of the most popular word games which is played by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. It is usually recommended for children of age 8 years and above.

How to play?

It is usually played between two players. The game is played on a square board with a 15-by-15 grid of cells (individually known as "squares"). Before the start of the play, all the lettered tiles are shuffled. Now you can start playing the game by drawing seven tiles and placing them on your rack. With every turn, the players try to form an English word on the board by combining one of more lettered tiles. Each letter has a score (0 Points - Blank tile, 1 Point - A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T and U, 2 Points - D and G, 3 Points - B, C, M and P, 4 Points - F, H, V, W and Y, 5 Points - K, 8 Points - J and X, 10 Points - Q and Z) and at the end of the play the total score is calculated. The player, who scores more, wins the game.

Benefits

The game improves vocabulary and spelling.

2- Name, Place, Animal and Thing

This is one of the most loved games of all times and we all must have played this game in our childhood. It is a traditional Indian game which helps in improving vocabulary. All you need to start playing this game is just pen and paper.

How to play?

It can be played between n number of persons. All the players are given a paper and a pen. The players should draw the following four columns on their paper:

Name
Place
Animal
Thing

After the columns have been prepared, two people are chosen to be the caller and a reciter respectively. The caller says "Yes" and the reciter starts reciting English alphabets in his/her mind. After a certain period of time, the caller says "stop" and the reciter speaks the alphabet which he has in his/her mind. All the players (including the caller and the reciter) start writing name, place, animal and thing that starts with that particular alphabet. The player who finishes writing says "stop" and all the other players have to stop writing immediately. Points are allocated for each correct answer. This process is repeated a number of times. At the end of the game, the player with the maximum number of points wins the game.
Benefits

This game helps in improving vocabulary and helps in practicing nouns in alphabets.

Scattergories

It is a memory based game which enhances creative thinking. This is a game played by naming objects within a set of categories, given an initial letter, within a time limit. This game is played by players aged 12 and up.

How to play?

This game is played in a set of 3 rounds. Each player takes a folder with an answering pad and 3 category cards. One player rolls a 20-sided letter die start the game. The game starts with the letter that is obtained after rolling the die. The timer is started. The players stop when the timer stops. This continues for many rounds and at the end of the game, points is calculated.

Benefits

It enhances the vocabulary and social skills.

Learning Study Spanish Languages

Instead of starting with learning phrases you learn all the words that are used to make phrases. Words like to, go, from, and here. It makes sense because when you hear a phrase or sentence you will understand the individual words.

The course also needs an innovative approach to remembering the words you learn. When you click the words you want to learn you need to hear a native speaker say them. You also need to see the words phonetically spelled in English. This is very helpful for studying Spanish because even though Spanish uses the English alphabet the J and H sounds are, among other letters, reversed. You also want see the correct Spanish spelling. After you study the words its good to play a simple multiple-choice word game to test your memory. This is a very good idea because you immediately challenge yourself to remember the words. Learning a language is all about remembering the words. Another interesting idea is a virtual teacher so that when you play the multiple-choice game a teacher pop quizzes you on the words you get wrong.

A page where you can practice spelling either the phonetic or native spelling is handy. If you can spell the words it helps you remember how to say them.

To study Spanish grammar another page that explains the words and gives sentence examples of how to use the words is useful. I find that grammar is not really that important to communication. For example Spanish people say "house my" instead of "my house." Either way you will be understood, but it is still good to know how they speak.

Another feature that I have never seen on any other language learning method used to study Spanish is being able to choose the words you want to learn. If you already know a little Spanish you could make up a lesson of the words you want to learn and load them into a study page and play in the word game, the same as the pre-made lessons. It would be really helpful.

The lessons could be organized into word groups like family, food, body even sports. If a word has an opposite like "hot" you learn "cold" in the same lesson.

The words that you learn first will dramatically improve your chances of speaking and understanding the Spanish language quickly.

As with anything you choose to study it is your desire to learn that makes the results fast or slow. You have to bring that yourself.

The Easy Way to Learn a New Language

One of the best options is to use the Rosetta Stone language training program. This is by far the easiest and fastest way to learn a new language.

The reason that Rosetta Stone is the easy way to learn a new language is that it focuses on getting you speaking the new language as fast as possible. Most courses that are available tend to get bogged down in things like teaching you the rules of grammar, this actually slows down the learning process. A far better approach, and the one that Rosetta Stone uses, is to teach you the basics so that you can start using the language and then let you deal with things like proper grammar down the road. The result is that you will be able to have conversations at a much earlier stage.

Rosetta Stone starts off by building up a vocabulary of words. This is done by showing you pictures and then repeating the name of the item shown instead of giving you a list of words and their English translation like most programs do. In fact you will not find any English at all in the Rosetta Stone program. One of their philosophies is that you should be completely immersed in your new language. This will force you to become proficient at it quite quickly.

After building up your vocabulary you will move on to turning those words into sentences. Here again the focus is on being able to carry on conversations rather than on perfect grammar. This is so that you can start using your new language as soon as possible on the theory that the more you use it the better you will get at it. One of the best features of Rosetta Stone is that you will get to speak to a live instructor which will help to increase your confidence when having a conversation.

It is important to keep in mind if you are going to use Rosetta Stone that it is intended to help people to become conversational in a new language, it is not a comprehensive lesson plan. Therefore if you are expecting to become fluent using the program you will probably be disappointed, as you will clearly need further training, particularly on things like grammar. On the other hand if you need to be able to speak a language well enough to get by in a foreign country it is an ideal way to learn.