Holiday Gift Ideas—Games, Part 2

Today’s recommendation is also for high school students. My Word Coach is another game for college bound high school students, though you need not wait until junior/senior year to start it. This game is designed primarily to build the player’s vocabulary. There are both DS and Wii versions, though the DS version is $20 cheaper. The games were released in 2007 and have multiple save slots, allowing for more than one player. My Word Coach players take a placement test to determine their level and are then given a daily point goal. Correct answers in the training games award points. When the goal is reached, players are encouraged to wait and play the next day. Here are the training games in My Word Coach:

* Missing Letter –provide the missing letter in a given word.
* Split Decision – match a word to correct definition in shortest possible time.
* Word Shuffle – match definition with the right word (multiple words and definitions).
* Pasta Letters – spell the scrambled word (definition given as clue).
* Block Letters – select blocks to spell words from the chalkboard list (Tetris-like game).
* Safecracker – spell the mystery word faster than the computer opponent (definition given)

This game won’t help much if purchased right before the SAT; however, with weeks of daily work, usually only 15-20 minutes a day, the benefits are more than worth the purchase. I recommend the DS version because use of the stylus in spelling games uses muscle memory to reinforce the learning. The more ways we learn something, the more sense we use to learn it, the more deeply the knowledge is absorbed.