I recently came across the age old question of "What do I buy the person who has everything?" It's a struggle me and my sister always face when prepping for Christmas, Mother's Day, or our mom's birthday. My mom is the type of person to just go get whatever it is she wants instead of waiting for someone to buy it for her or putting it on a list. So we usually have to get pretty creative. This year, I think I hit the jackpot with Scrabble: Edición en Español. 

I guess I should put a disclaimer here: No one in my family is fluent in Spanish.

So why buy a Spanish version of a familiar game?

Well, exactly that! It's a familiar game we all know and love. My family loves playing Scrabble and we are super competitive, especially with three writers in the family who have a large vocabularies. However, when it comes to Spanish, the playing field is quickly leveled.

You may be asking 'Why Spanish?'

Most of my family is learning the language right now either as a part of a college curriculum or just because they want to. We are constantly looking for ways to practice that aren't just clicking buttons on Duolingo. When going to buy this game, I remembered how my teacher in high school used to use multi-player games to encourage us to grow our vocabulary. It was a pretty effective tactic as even students that were generally disinterested in the class would practice and learn more words just to outdo their friends and classmates. The other key element to this was that the games were always something we all found familiar and already knew the rules of. We didn't have to focus on setting up the game or explaining how to play it, we could just get straight to the point.

Now when my family plays, it often dissolves into a group effort rather than a competition. We'll pair up or all work together to try and create words whenever someone gets stuck. We also like to keep a dictionary on hand in case an unfamiliar word pops up, and someone wants to know its translation.

Games like this can be a fun and engaging way to practice language skills. By combining something familiar with something less familiar, you can create a less stressful learning space. The goal isn't getting things right or wrong; it's about learning through fun.

It also doesn't have to be in another language. Using games to practice vocabulary in English is just as useful.