Welcome to our VOX Cultural Digest, Issue N.16!
Learning a language is not just about memorising vocabulary words and grammar rules. It’s also important to enjoy the process of learning.
That’s why our team has come up with some alternative ways of learning languages such as using games to make the process of learning a language entertaining.
Why games?
- they are a great tool for reinforcing in-context vocabulary learning, one of the best ways to learn new vocabulary, especially in a language you are unfamiliar with.
- competitive aspect: when you play a game, you put a lot of energy into it because it feels like it’s more than just something you’re doing – and that’s in part thanks to its immersive nature.
- boosts creativity: especially for games that involve time-sensitive actions, thinking quickly and efficiently is necessary because there will be times when you can’t think of a way to describe something and you’ll need to come up with another strategy.
- learning from mistakes: a successful learner takes the time to reflect on their mistakes and learn from them.
Have a look at the series of interactive games for you to play with your friends or family, where you can learn new words in context, practice your pronunciation, and have a good time doing it!
Tabu
The beauty of the game is that you’re not allowed to use certain words to describe the word given, so it forces you to think outside the box.
You’ll need two teams, consisting of 2 people each. Each team will need a mini timer to the time limit for explaining the words. So, each team takes turns. One person needs to make their teammate guess the word without saying a word with a taboo word.
Tabu: in German, French and Italian, or download the app which has more languages available: Apple Store or Google Play.
Who/What am I?
This is a great game for beginners, its goal is to guess what or who you are. So this is also a great way to practise asking questions in your target language.
Each player prepares a card for their opponent, who has to guess what it is. The categories are names, animals, objects and professions.
Everybody then sticks their card on their front – without looking at the text inside. The goal is to find out what’s written on it through questions.
Scrabble
Another great game to help you learn a language is Scrabble. We believe you are already quite familiar with it so here are the links for Scrabble in different languages: in German, in French and in Italian.
Thank you for taking the time to read this issue of the VOX Cultural Digest.
Have fun playing and learning new languages!
