Practice and Improve Your English Vocabulary with Games (ゲームで語彙力を高めよう)

文章って単語を積み上げてできてるじゃない。複雑な一連の文章を作ったり理解するためには、たくさんの単語を学ばなきゃいけないのは言うまでもないよね。私自身も言語を学ぶ者として、教科書、単語本、辞書などのさまざまな昔ながらのリソースがその一翼を担ってきたわ。でもね、正直そういうのって役には立つ反面、楽しいものではなかったのよね。そこで、単語学習をより楽しくしたくって、当時私はボードゲームやウェブでできるゲームを利用してたの。そこで今回は私が心底楽しくてやってたゲームをこのブログにてシェアさせてもらいます。ぜひ読み進めてね！

Words are building blocks of a language. It goes without saying that for us to create and comprehend complex strings of sentences, we have to learn many words. As a language student myself, I had my share of going through many different traditional vocabulary resources like textbooks, vocabulary books and dictionaries. But to be completely honest, I didn’t find them very exciting despite being helpful. So to make things more fun I, turned to some board and browser games which were available to me back then. In today’s blog post, I would like to share with you vocabulary games I genuinely enjoyed playing. Scroll through to find out more!

1. Scrabble
Scrabble is a board word game played by two to four people. Players gain points by placing tiles, each having a single letter, onto a board divided into small squares. In a crossword fashion, these tiles must be placed either from left to right in rows or downward in columns to form words which are included in a dictionary or a lexicon. At the end of the game, the player who gets the highest score wins!

Mobile phone version: Available on Appstore and Google Play

Play online:

https://www.scrabblegames.info/play/scrabble-online

https://www.isc.ro/

Purchase the board game:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=scrabble&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

「Scrabble」は2～4人のプレイヤーで行うボードワードゲーム。プレイヤーは、文字が書かれたそれぞれのタイルを小さな正方形で区切られた場に置いてくことでポイントをゲットするの。クロスワードの要領で辞書 / 単語帳に掲載されてる単語にして、左から右方向、または上から下へ置く、っていうルールね。で、最終的にハイスコアをたたき出した人が勝ち、ってわけ。

2. Word Factory
Word Factory is a mind-boggling word game (similar to the more known board game Boggle) in which players shake up 25 letter cubes and make words out of adjoining letters. As quickly as possible, the players look for words that they hope their opponents wouldn’t find. The game also comes with an hourglass that sets the game’s time limit. The player who gets the most words the other players don’t have in their list wins the game.

Mobile phone version: Available on Google Play

Play online: (For Boggle)

https://www.puzzle-words.com/boggle-4×4/

Purchase the board game: (For Boggle)

https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=boggle&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

「Word Factory」は奇抜なワードゲーム（「Boggle」という良く知られた似たようなゲームがあるわ）で、それぞれに文字が書かれた25個の立方体をシェイクしてから隣り合った文字同士を組み合わせて単語をつくるの。できるだけ早く、相手が見つけてないであろう単語を探し出すの。タイムリミットがわかるように砂時計つきね。で、相手の見つけられなかった単語をたくさん見つけたプレーヤーが勝ちってわけ。

3. Text Twist
Text Twist is a browser word game created by GameHouse that tests a players’ mental and vocabulary skills. In this game, you have to make as many words as you can with the letters that you are given within a two-minute limit. In each round, there is a set number of words that must be found. Since there is a time limit, your ability to think of words fast is put to practice. An non-timed version can also be unlocked as the game advances. This version allows the player to practice. It might not seem that action-packed, but it’s definitely going to get you hooked!

Mobile phone version: Available on Appstore and Google Play
Play online:

https://www.mindgames.com/game/TextTwist+2

https://zone.msn.com/en/texttwist/

GameHouseというところが作ったブラウザでの単語ゲーム「Text Twist」、プレーヤーのメンタル面と単語スキルが試されるわ。プレーヤーは2分以内に与えられた文字を使ってできるかぎりの単語を作らなきゃいけないの。毎回、探さなきゃいけないワード数が与えられるのよ。タイムリミットがあるので単語をはやく考え出すスキルの向上が期待できるわ。ゲームをすすめてくと制限時間なしバージョンが解放されるよ。これが単語練習するのにちょうどいいんだな。アクション的な要素はないように見えるけど、やみつきになること間違いなし！

4. Bookworm
Bookworm is also a browser word-forming puzzle game created by PopCap Games. A player connects letters to form words from a grid of available letters. The letters get removed from the grid as they are formed into words. The remaining ones collapse to fill the empty spaces. Forming longer words or words which use less common letters gains the player more points while putting together shorter ones earns the player less.

Mobile phone version: Only available on Google Play
Play online:

https://kbhgames.com/game/bookworm-online

https://arcadespot.com/game/bookworm/

https://www.kibagames.com/Game/BookWorm

PopCap Gamesが提供する「Bookworm」もブラウザでの単語作成ゲーム。プレーヤーはグリッドに表示されてる文字をつなげて単語を作るの。作成された単語はグリッド上から削除されるの。残った文字は空になったスペース埋めるためになくなるわ。長い単語や難しい単語を作れば高い得点を獲得できて、短い単語なら点数が低い、ってわけ。

Playing games is indeed not just a way of killing time. It can also be a way for you to improve some skills! And that is a roundup of the games which helped me build and improve my vocabulary. These are just a couple of them but you may be able to find a lot more available online. I hope you find this post helpful. Have fun learning while playing!

ゲームするのって、ぜったい単なる暇つぶしじゃないよね。何かしらのスキルアップに役立てられるものよ。というわけで、これが私の単語力を高めてくれるのに役立ったゲームの総括ね。ちょっとだけしか紹介してないけど、オンラインでさらにたくさん見つけられるよね。今回のブログ、みんなに役立つといいな。さあゲームやってたのしく学んじゃおう！ 

-Teacher Marilou 🌼

Vocabulary:

1. goes without saying that (表現法)– a thing/something is obvious 　いうまでもなく
2. comprehend (動詞) – grasp mentally; understand　理解する
3. have (one’s) share (表現法) – to have a sufficient amount of something　相当の部分を担う
4. mind-boggling (形容詞)- overwhelming; startling　奇抜な、びっくりさせるような
5. adjoining (形容詞)- near, next to, or touching　隣の
6. hooked (形容詞)- enjoying something so much that you are unable to stop having it, watching it, doing it, etc.　夢中になって
7. collapse (動詞) – break down　崩壊する