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3 Board Games to Help You Brush Up Your English | Learning While You Are Having Fun!
- Posted By blog-user
- 12/18/2021
Feeling Bored? Here Are 3 Fun Tabletop Games for You to Explore!
The long-awaited school holidays are finally here! I’m sure many of you are busy packing your luggage, excited to embark on memorable overseas trips. However, if you happen to have some spare time on your hands, be it when you are resting in the hotel room or just relaxing at home, why not indulge in some fun tabletop games to kill time and brush up on your English at the same time? In this blog entry, I would like to recommend 3 interesting and educational tabletop games that you could enjoy playing together with your family and friends.
1. Taboo
What is this game about?
Can you get your friends to say the word “snow” without mentioning the words “cold”, “flakes” and “winter”? That’s right! Taboo is a game that requires players to describe words in ways they never thought they could. Every card shows a main word, and below it lies a list of similar words (e.g. synonyms or words that are associated with the main word). As a player holds the card without looking at the words, his teammates would have to describe the main word to him without using any of the Taboo words in the list below. The team that manages to guess the most number of words wins!
For example, if the card’s main word is “candle”, the list of Taboo words may include “light”, “flame”, “fire”, “window” and “burn”. In other words, players are not allowed to describe the word as “something that has a flame” or “something that gives off light”.
Now, can you see how challenging this game could be? To take it up a notch, you could also consider setting a special rule where players must describe the word using COMPLETE SENTENCES. So what are you waiting for? Unleash your creativity with this stimulating and fun game!
What can you brush up on?
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Vocabulary -> You get to learn new words and discover new descriptive phrases.
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Sentence formation/ Expression -> You get to practise forming complete sentences to express different ideas.
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Creativity -> Unable to use generic words in your descriptions, you will be pushed to think of creative ways to describe a common word!
2. Scattergories
What is this game about?
Do you think your vocabulary bank is rich enough? Let this game tell you the answer. For every round, players will be given different categories, such as “found at the beach”, “on a menu” or “things you don’t want in the house”. Before the game begins, they will have to roll a die to decide on an alphabetical letter. Then, as soon as the timer starts, everyone will think of words that begin with that chosen letter AND fall into the respective categories.
For example, if the letter is “P”, players could come up with these words for the mentioned categories:
“Found at the beach” -> “Parasol”
“On a menu” -> “Pasta”
“Things you don’t want in the house” -> “Pests”
Take note that players will get to earn more points if they manage to come up with words that no other players wrote. Hence, everyone is encouraged to stretch their creativity and try to think of words that are more unusual!
What can you brush up on?
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Vocabulary -> You are not only motivated to explore more uncommon vocabulary, but you also get to learn new words from other players!
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Describing the world -> You can take the opportunity to think about things that you will find in different categories. For e.g., What do you see at a beach? What do you see at a concert?
3. Once Upon A Time
What is this game about?
Have you ever hoped that you could determine the events, characters and even the ending of a fairytale? Well, in this game, you will be able to! Once Upon a Time allows players to use the cards in their hands to tell a story that is absolutely unpredictable. Every player holds some cards that contain story elements, as well as a card that contains an ending. The game will then start with a narrator, who should try to use his cards to lead the story to the ending he holds. Of course, other players may try to stop the narrator from winning by using their own cards and ideas to steer the story towards other directions.
During the entire storytelling session, players could challenge themselves to tell the story using complete sentences, colourful vocabulary and various writing techniques, such as five-senses description, sentence starters and dialogue.
What can you brush up on?
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Plot development and story planning -> You get to practise plotting a story with different elements and characters presented.
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Sentence formation -> Learn to form complete and complex sentences as you are narrating a story.
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Creativity -> Tap on your creative juices to come up with interesting story ideas and events.
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Writing techniques -> Practise using the writing techniques you’ve learnt to tell a dynamic story effectively!
That’s all I have for you today. There are tons of board and card games out there that provide great entertainment and educational enrichment. The best part? Thanks to the tremendous amount of fun you will be having with your family and friends, you will be learning and improving your English without even realising it.
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