Lingual Lift Blocks

By Harvard University (Extension School)

Student Category

Year Award/Recognition

 

Skills and Ideas Taught: Players review the vocabulary they already know, learn new vocabulary, and learn to spot connections between different words. This not only increases their vocabulary, but also teaches them to substitute words they forget with the closest alternatives, and guess the correct meaning of new vocabulary by spotting similar aspects such as roots, suffixes, or in the case of Japanese, similar or identical kanji characters.

Goal or Challenge:Allow language students to learn and review vocabulary through how it relates to the other words they already know, without falling into the emotional pitfalls of rote learning.

Primary Audience:  Lower intermediate–advanced language learners.

Assessment Approach: Akin to Tetris, the objective is to avoid making errors as misplaced blocks bring the whole pile closer to the top. When one of the columns reaches the top of the screen, the game is over.

Description: Blocks is a game of synonyms and related vocabulary loosely inspired by the classic Tetris. Your objective is to place words that appear on the screen into one of three columns depending on their meaning and how they are related to the other words already on the playground. Currently, the game teaches Japanese and Russian.

Game Engine: ImpactJS

Operating System:  Windows

Platform:  Personal computer

Special Hardware:  None