Test Your Vocabulary and Feed the Hungry with FreeRice
October 26, 2007
Vocabulate so others might masticate. Or something. Play FreeRice, a fun online vocabulary game, where a healthy vocabulary means healthy food donated to starving people. For every word you define correctly, the United Nations World Food Program will donate 10 grains of rice. If you’re a bookish person, you can easily accumulate a Chinese take-out container’s worth of rice in a couple minutes.
FreeRice is designed to be fun for all vocabulary levels, and adjusts depending on which words you get right and wrong, so don’t be afraid if you don’t know what “coarctation” means (it means narrowing, apparently). According to the site, there are 50 levels in all, though folks rarely get past level 48.
FYI, there are small logos from sponsors on the page, but they aren’t intrusive, and since they’re footing the bill for the rice, you probably won’t mind.
You’ll definitely want to send your English students here before their next vocabulary test or during SAT season. Got the hankering for a master’s degree? GRE words abound on FreeRice. And since it’s for a good cause, you won’t feel guilty for spending your entire planning period trying to raise your level. –BILL FERRIS
