Welcome to a new way of learning grammar
Many of us, young and old, think the English language is strange to say the least! What is the difference between a conjunction and a determiner? What is the difference between an adverb and an adjective? And don't get me started on the proper way to pronounce bass, live, or read! Every student feels the frustration as they start to understand a part of speech, just to be told in the next sentence that there are exceptions to that rule. Then, even more frustration when they learn there are exceptions to those rules also. Many students just give up, saying it's too hard, these are the same students that may play games like Pokémon or Magic the Gathering. Games that have thousands of rules, strategies, nuances that kids thrive in mastering and spend hours studying to gain an edge. Many English teachers would LOVE to have their students use a fraction of this brain power towards grammar. What if we are going about it all wrong?
Introducing Alchemy! A magical way of making grammar fun!
Players draw cards from piles on the game board to make their sentence better than their opponents. Players need to pick from the correct pile to make their sentence stronger. This involves knowing if they need an adjective, or a preposition, a conjunction, or a verb. Don't worry, this game is made for people that need a little help. There are helper cards for quick reference, and a detailed dictionary for the younger and less experienced players.
Now, the fun part of the game! Each card in Alchemy has a word on it, the card tells you if that word's meaning is a verb, pronoun, etc. There are also cards called Transmorphing cards, these change it to past tense, change the card's meaning, make it plural, etc. The further the word is from it's original meaning, the more points you get. Take the word knew, this could be changed to new, news, know, no, or nose. The name Rose could be changed to a flower, rise, rows, rowed, or road, just to name a few.
My goal of this game is to give those young people that don't like the traditional way grammar is taught another way to learn it in a fun way magical way.
If you have questions about how Alchemy can help you, or someone you know learn grammar, send us an email at: tony.vandeneinde@gmail.com or call us at 612-723-5908.