Boggle®
This commercially sold game can easily be modified to use with languages other than English. In the commercial version 16 dice are rolled to determine which letters will be used for any given game. As language teachers, we can pick the letters we want to use based on our students’ vocabulary and ability.
The letters are placed in a 4x4 grid on the board. The objective is find as many words as possible in the grid by connecting the letters in order horizontally, vertically or diagonally and write them on a sheet of paper. To form the words, the lettered boxes must touch each other on edges or corners. Words must contain a minimum of three (3) letters. No lettered box may be used more than once within a single word. The longer the word, the more value it has. It is permissible to use several forms of words if they appear in the grid.
At the end of a specified time, three minutes for example, all players stop writing. Player #1 begins to read the list written down on his/her own paper. If any other player has the same word, the word is eliminated and no points will be awarded. This is a great rule to prevent copying. After Player #1 finishes reading and crossing off duplicated words, Player #2 does the same, then Player #3, etc.
Scoring:
3-4 letter word that no other player has receives 1 point
5 letter word that no other player has receives 2 points
6 letter word that no other player has receives 4 points
7 letter word that no other player has receives 6 points
8 letter word that no other player has receives 8 points
9 letter word that no other player has receives 10 points
This activity lends itself to allowing teams of two, especially if time is limited or students have a wide variety of language competency. See the next page for examples of grids prepared ahead of time. English examples are used.
See the next page for examples.
