Back to the classroomBehind the game
I wanted middle-school students to feel more at home with TOEFL vocabulary. My first idea involved word cards, little buildings, and a lot of wooden blocks. The online version turned out a little differently.
The idea in one turn
receipt
walletI put the receipt in my wallet.
Each accepted sentence moves the game forward.
From the first idea to the classroom
Each version helped me understand a little more about what learners needed.
The starting point
While I was preparing for the TOEFL, I'd memorize an everyday word, then still miss it when I heard it or hesitate when it was time to use it. Repeating the list wasn't much fun either. I wanted to help middle-school students get used to TOEFL vocabulary by actually playing with the words.
The physical prototype
I made vocabulary cards with cartoon illustrations and phrases that went with each word, then added wooden blocks. The letters in your word set your number of blocks: MAT meant M-A-T, so you got three. You could stack them into any little building you liked. I wanted the words to have somewhere to go after players learned them.
Learning from players
On your turn, you could make a sentence with your own word and play it safe, or connect your word to another player's and try to take one of their blocks. The sentence had to make sense, and a successful steal let you stack their block on your own. I added little defenses too: buried blocks were safe under a new block, two sticks could make a grab trickier, and a lucky number on the die could protect your building for a turn. When a tower fell, its owner switched to a new word card. At scoring time, you counted the other players' blocks on your building. People enjoyed the game, and our playtests showed me a gap: knowing what a word meant didn't always mean knowing how to pronounce it or use it naturally.
Finding a digital version
When I started moving the game online, I didn't want to draw a giant block tower on screen. Without the feel of stacking and grabbing real blocks, a digital tower lost the part that made it satisfying and felt too childish for the game I had in mind. I kept the heart of the idea: use a word in a sentence to move the game forward. I led the website's development with Codex as a helper. The classroom version now gives accepted sentences a visible payoff through Vocabulary Bingo, with feedback and pronunciation audio close at hand.
A peek at the first version
Before there was a website, there was a table full of word cards and wooden blocks. Here's how we played.
Pick a card
Each card had a word, a cartoon picture, and useful pairings. Draw MAT, and you get three blocks: one for each letter. Stack them into any shape you like.
Make a sentence
Use your own word in a sentence and you won't lose points. Bring another player's word into a successful sentence, and you can take one of their blocks for your building.
Protect your building
A new block covered the one underneath, making buried blocks safe from steals. Players also had two sticks for trickier grabs. If a player rolled your lucky number, your building was safe for that turn. If it toppled, you switched to a fresh word card.
How we kept score At the end of the game, you counted the other players' blocks on your building. More borrowed blocks meant more points.
The thinking behind the play
I want the game mechanics to give learners reasons to practise. Here is how the current activities connect to that teaching intention.
Clear goals & visible progress
Accepted sentences light the matching word squares. A row, column, or diagonal completes a Bingo line; a full card brings a new board.
The goal gives learners a reason to use vocabulary, while the board makes accepted practice attempts visible. Completing a line gives the round a smaller milestone to work toward.
Active use in context
Learners choose words from their shelf, then write or say a sentence that connects them. In the Chinese beginner mode, they assemble a sentence from word blocks.
The task asks learners to connect a word's meaning to its role in a sentence. Open writing leaves room to choose what to say, while word blocks offer a more guided starting point.
Formative feedback
Fast Check supports basic sentence practice. AI Language Check offers more detailed grammar and word-use feedback when available. Learners can revise and try again.
Feedback follows the learner's own attempt, so there is a sentence to reflect on and improve. Saved grammar mistakes can also become material for the end-of-round review.
Scaffolding & differentiation
Teachers choose vocabulary levels and class word lists. The Chinese learner page adds beginner word blocks, verb suggestions, tense guidance, and sentence patterns.
Different starting points need different amounts of support. These options are designed to help learners begin, with room to write more independently as they become ready.
Clues before and during practice
Word cards pair vocabulary with illustrations and pronunciation playback. Teachers can add their own vocabulary and generate matching artwork.
Images offer a clue to meaning, and audio gives learners a pronunciation model. Both are supports for producing a sentence, with the learner still deciding what to express.
Independent & social learning
Learners can play solo, take turns at a local classroom table, or load a teacher's chosen words through a shared classroom link.
Solo play leaves space to work through an attempt. A shared table gives a teacher a way to invite discussion and ask learners to explain a sentence together.
Still making, still learning
My next priority is more structured testing with students and teachers: watching where learners get stuck, checking the usefulness of feedback, and seeing what they remember later. Their experience will help shape the next version.