Mrs. T and I were watching the season finale of America's Most Smartest Model last night when a commercial for My Word Coach aired. Mrs. T's eyes lit up. English is her second language and she's been in a learning slump the last couple of years. The Word Coach caught her attention as something easy and fun she could do on the side. I tucked her reaction into my memory thinking Word Coach might make a nice little Christmas gift.
Then just this morning on National Public Radio I listened to a story about the website FreeRice.com . It's a free vocabulary building website based on a program designed by a guy to help his son's performance on the SAT. Turns out it's become hugely popular not just among high school students, but also folks studying English as a second language. Moreover, with every word you answer correctly, the site donates 20 grains of rice to the UN's World Food Programme.
When I got to work this morning I logged on to check it out. It's pretty neat, albeit humbling. The site ranks your vocabulary level on a scale from 1-50. Your level fluctuates as you hit or miss. It remembers your highest level reached and your current level. I played for a few minutes and decided to play until I earned 1,000 grains of rice. I figured at that point I could share my score with others so we could compare. It's a lot of fun, only problem now is that I'm back to square one for Mrs. T's Christmas present.
So without further ado, my current vocab level at 1,000 grains of rice was 39 with a highest level of 42. Play for yourself at FreeRice.com and let me know how you fared.
I played that site for a while. My highest was 39, but I can't remember how long I did it. I'll go play again.
Posted by: S. Reed | December 17, 2007 at 03:47 PM
After 1000 grains, I had a vocab level of 40, with a highest level of 43. I think I only saw one word repeated from the last time I played.
Posted by: S. Reed | December 17, 2007 at 04:07 PM
I played to 1,000 again this morning and scored 39/40. Them words is tough!
Posted by: Rowdy Theologian | December 18, 2007 at 07:51 AM
At 1000 grains, I had 47 with a highest of 48, but I had some lucky guesses. Some very hard words there.
I think I'll rest on my laurels.
Your site is linked from Unrepentant Marxist.
Posted by: George | January 21, 2008 at 01:57 PM