Recently, Jennifer blogged about this online game, FreeRice, which simultaneously tests your vocabulary and donates rice to the UN's World Food Program. I had to try it, of course, and it is addictive.
The way it works is, they show you a word and four choices for what it means. The more you get right, the more rice is donated (it's paid for by advertising on the site, but I didn't find the ads at all obtrusive).
It also gives you a rating for your vocabulary, which goes up and down as you get things right and wrong. Now that is addictive! I would see my number dip and have to play a little longer to get it back up! I got my vocabulary level up to 47, and couldn't get it higher (though I will keep trying, of course; addictive, remember). I donated a lot of rice! I don't even know how much; I've been watching the words, not the rice tally.
And here's something I don't say very often: what a lot of words I don't know! I have to learn to trust my instincts, too, when I don't know the answer right away: many times I would first think the answer was one thing, but then select another as more likely, only to find that my first guess was correct. Somehow I know more than I think I do. Isn't the brain mysterious?
I mostly knit, sometimes crochet or cross-stitch. I read, a lot. I love cats. I love hockey, especially my no-longer-local team, the Boston Bruins. Want more? Read on.
I have been playing the word rice game, too. I am only level 42, but the efforts to increase the level meant I donated a LOT of rice.
ReplyDeleteYup. Definitely addictive. I need to use more words in my daily life. The drawback is that I get blank looks from people who are not familiar with the words I use... ok with a peer, not so ok with above-peers... ;-)
Ooo, that's fun! Thanks for mentioning it.
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