Knoword

As far back as February 2011 we informed on Knoword, an online vocabulary game based on definitions.

The players is given the definition of a word and the first letter of the given word. The player has one minute to work out the word the definition refers to.

To help the player, a colour code is activated automatically as he/she types the letters of the word, the green colour indicating that the chosen letter is correct, whereas the pink colour shows that it is wrong.

If the players don't know the answer, he/she should press the x-shaped skip button.

The game is geared to intermediate-to-advanced students.

British Council Verb Machine

The Verb Machine is an online game that we can find in the site of the British Council. It will be specially useful to language learners who are unfamiliar with the names of the English tenses and with concepts like active or passive (voice), continuous or simple, and perfect.

As you can see from the screenshot below, there are three options we can choose from to play. The practice mode gives us examples of the different tenses, voice, continuous and perfect mode by just clicking the coloured buttons at the top. It's a kind of theoretical background through examples.

In the tense game, the machines gives you a tense or verb form and an example sentence. You have to press the right coloured buttons at the top to match the verb form.

In the sentence game, you have to press the buttons to make the right verb form, but the machine only shows you a sentence.

Free rice: Vocabulary online game

Free Rice is an online vocabulary game where students have to find the right definition or synonym of the given word.

For each correct answer, the site donates 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to third-world countries.

This is the description Free Rice makes of their project: 

"Free Rice is a non-profit website that is owned by and supports the United Nations World Food Programme. Free Rice has two goals:

• Provide education to everyone for free.
• Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the generosity of the sponsors who advertise on this site."

There are sixty levels of difficulty and you can choose the subject to answer the questions about.

Phrasal verb online game

In late January Macmillan Dictionaries launched this Phrasal Verbs Game One.

Players have 90 seconds to answer as many questions as possible on English phrasal verbs. The questions are all multiple choice, and players have to find a synonym or antonym for the verbs provided.

The only downside of the game is the difficulty, quite high in my opinion, which makes it more suitable for advanced rather than intermediate students.

Grammar Gamble

Grammar Gamble is an English grammar test that helps learners consolidate their grasp of grammar by playing a fun online game.

Simply log in, answer 10 questions and build the highest score you can.

At each question you can bet some of your 'money' on the answer. If you choose the right option, you win your money back! If you choose wrong, you lose it!

Grammar Gamble is aimed at English learners at a Básico level, although all learners will enjoy it.

Gunpowder plot interactive game

On 5th November Guy Fawkes is celebrated in Britain. Learn about the history of the Gunpowder plot through this BBC interactive game.

CSI web adventurers

The CSI Web Adventure is an online game which will put you in the shoes of a rookie crime scene investigator. You will need the help of fellow CSI agents.

There are three levels of difficulty, beginner, intermediate and advanced, and you can play as a guest or register to save your game.

The CSI Web Adventure is fun to play and it may help you to develop your reading skills and your crime-related and science-related vocabulary.

H/T to Free Technology for Teachers.

Irregular verb wheel

Irregular verb wheel is one of the latest additions to the online MacMillan Dictionary.

It is an addictive online game where students of all levels but especially those in the lower ones, Básico 1 and Básico 2, may put their grasp of irregular verbs to the test.

You have to answer five different questions about each verb with a time limit of two minutes.

The only drawback of the game is that there are no audio files, so students who want to work on the pronunciation of irregular verbs, which are often mispronounced, will have to type in the irregular verb in the search box of the online MacMillan Dictionary or use the great online pronunciation dictionary howjsay, which we dealt with on this entry of the blog.

Wordmaster

Wordmaster is a BCC vocabulary game that I discovered through My English Scrapbook. It is suitable for learners of all levels, as  Wordmaster has three levels of difficulty: easy, medium and difficult.

In each game, we are given 10 questions and a time limit of 89 seconds to answer each question. If we are at a loss for an answer, we can resort to the definition as a hint.

To wrap it all, we can listen to the example sentence at the end.

Online vocabulary game

A few weeks ago Heidi Hyte from ESL Trail published information about a vocabulary online game, Lemons for Literacy.

Students who are interested can play and practise vocabulary while taking part in a good cause. Lemons for Literacy can be accessed online here.

8 letters in search of a word

8 letters in search of a word is an interesting vocabulary game. The aim of the game is to gain points by creating words from the selection of eight letters given to you on the screen.

Longer words give more points. Add letters to a word by clicking on the letters or using the keyboard, the click the 'submit' button or press 'enter' when you've made a complete word to get the points.

The Big Challenge

The Big Challenge means fun. The Big Challenge  means competition. The Big Challenge puts our English skills to the test.

Básico 1 and Básico 2 students will greatly benefit from this website which prepares ESO students in Spain for the big day on 10 May 2012, although learners of all levels can give the site a try and will really enjoy it.

There are four different levels of difficulty, and three modes within each level (training, normal, fast). Each test consists of 21 questions which include grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

H/T to Ani Anievas.

Word Vine -an online game on collocations

Enjoy Word Vine, an online vocabulary game I have discovered through EFL Classroom.

In Word Vine, the challenge is collocations. You have to combine a set of words in such a way that they make sense.

The game lets you know whether your collocations are right or wrong thanks to a colour code. They also keep a record of the time it takes you to come up with the right answer.

Adjective game

Lowe level students (Básico 1 and Básico 2) can greatly benefit from the Sheppardsoftware site.

They will find in the language/art section of the site a number of online games which will help them in the process of consolidating basic grammar principles.

The main grammar areas that are dealt with in the section are adjectives, nouns, verbs, punctuation and capitalization.

The way the games are played is self-explanatory and those students wishing to try their hand at them will get the hang of it straightaway.

By clicking on the picture below you will be directed to the adjective game.

Students of all levels and ages will also enjoy the Sheppardsoftware site, as they will find at their disposal a collection of online games  of varying difficulty comprising areas like history, health, science, maths, and so on.

Driver Seat Game

A few weeks ago Digital Play informed about Driver Seat game  in their blog. This is what they said on their blog post.

Driving games can be fun and useful for practising directions, but most driving games are not suitable for class because they are too fast. Driver Seat game by the insurance company Liberty Mutual, however is different. It’s the first ‘senior driving simulator’ aimed at raising awareness of what it’s like to drive a car as you get older.

If you can play with a friend, Driver Seat game will allow you to practise street directions in English. Visit the Digital Play blog and you'll get detailed instructions on how to play.

If you are going to play on your own, Driver Seat game will allow you to develop your reading skills.

Virtual Farm

Virtual Farm is an online game which will give you the opportunity to find out all about farming and the environment. Two of our farmers, Sally and David, are ready to show you around the virtual farm.

There are lots of fun things to do on this walk, with lots of fascinating facts about farms and the animals and plants that live on them, which you can read about or listen to.

You can visit many different parts of the farm, meet the animals and look at the machinery. You can even go pond dipping!

Stop disasters

Stop Disasters is a game designed for students to learn about natural disasters, disaster prevention, and city design.

There are five game scenarios that you can play. You can plan to prepare for hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, and tsunamis. The scenarios are set in geographically accurate contexts of Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean.

You can learn more about these natural phenomena through BBC's animated guides.

H/T to Free Technology for Teachers.

Vocabulary games

Arcademic is a site with lots of games for American primary and secondary students.

Most of these games dealt with calculations and maths, but there is also a section for language games, where we can find six games which focus on vocabulary and sentence structure.

The games are good fun for language learners of all levels, because they test our mental reflexes and wits in a competitive atmosphere. From a linguistic point of view, however, lower level students (Básico 1 and Básico 2) will find them more challenging, as they have to revise (or learn!) basic vocabulary and sentence structures.

I hope you enjoy them.

Wheel of fortune in English

Try your hand at playing The Wheel of Fortune in English. It is not easy but neither is the game in our own language.

I hope you enjoy it.

H/T to DDeubel.

Fling the teacher

Fling the teacher is an online game that I have learnt through David Deubel.

In this game you have to correctly answer 15 general knowledge questions to fling the teacher. You have a time limit to answer each question, but be careful, because if you make a mistake you will have to start from scratch.

Really good fun for everybody!