Computer Writing and Research Lab | University of Texas at Austin

Free Rice

There's been lots of talk about "Free Rice" lately on my poetry listservs. Have you all been doing this?

You build your vocab by playing their vocab game; they donate the money from the on-screen advertisements to the United Nations World Food Program: www.freerice.com

I'm wondering about various classroom uses/studies of this concept. I think there's possible conversations here about civic engagement/engaged scholarship, about how "intellectual activity" and social action come together. The site makes a number of claims about this kind of thing: how can learning vocabulary help you in your life? How can learning vocab help you make a difference in the world? What connections are there between language and social change? These seem like fun conversations to have with undergrads and Free Rice provides a interesting, unusual entry into the conversation. (There's probably something interesting here about the role of games/use of the internet....)