The Sunnyside Boggle Team hard at work.
A lot of teens are still struggling with their vocabulary and it’s having some serious effects on their test scores. According to the Daily News, reading scores for third to eighth graders dropped 27 points, from 69% in the 2008-2009 school year to only 42%. Obviously, parents and teachers are looking for ways to get their teens interested in words, but it seems Vikki Terrile might have found the answer in a family board game.
Terrile, the Coordinator of Young Adult Services at the Queens Library, started a Teen Boggle Tournament for Queens as a way to get kids working on their vocabulary. Though Terrile was afraid at first that she might have to trick the kids into playing, she now has 6 library branches that are ready and more than willing to compete.
Over the last month, the teens at the Sunnyside Library have spent one day a week practicing afterschool. Abigail Goldberg, who is the senior librarian at the Sunnyside Library and the team’s coordinator, has seen drastic improvement from each of the seven players. She’s even learned some things herself.
“The teens spelled ‘Lan.’ I insisted Lan was not a word. They were sure it was,” Goldberg said. “We looked it up and they were right! It is ‘Local Area Network.’ This taught me that I should always refer to the dictionary, too, because some of the teens know words better than I do!”
From helping with their college applications to becoming more confident, you can hear below about the Boggle effect.
Sanya Goswami, 14
Sanya Goswami, 14 by shannon.carlin
Tahmina Hussain, 15
Tahmina Hussain by shannon.carlin
Tenzin Thinley, 14
Tenzin Thinley by shannon.carlin
Mari Aucapina, 15
This is GREAT! I often work with my 5 year old to update her vocabulary but it is nice to know that as she gets older, she can work on her verbal and typing skill via blogging sites. I just hope they are age appropriate…
When I taught English in South Korea, we used to play Boggle. That’s great that they are doing this in such a proactive way.
This is a great idea, and fun too! Not only is it good for expanding vocabulary, but it also seems like a good way to bring kids into the library.
This is a wonderful idea. Our schools need to develop more of these creative programs to really get kids learning!
LOL
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This is such a brilliant idea. I can’t wait to tell other teachers about it so they can use it in their classroom!