Contents
=> “Animal Transformations” - a word game
=> “Letter Ladders” - word games
=> “Advanced Letter Ladders” - word games
=> Halloween Photos from California
=> Your Writing Wanted for CD-ROM Textbook Project
=> In the Next Issues

These short and easy word games take no materials and no preparation.

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“Animal Transformations” - a word game
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STEP 1:
How many 3-letter animal/creature words can you think of? Brainstorm a list on the board with the class.

Here’s a list to check against, maybe to introduce a few more:

ape, bee, bat, bug, dog, cat, cub (baby bear or lion), cow, cur (a mongrel dog), elk (a large deer), eel (a snakelike fish), ewe (a female sheep, pronounced like “you”), fly, fox, hen, hog (a pig), owl, pig, rat

STEP 2:
The transformation. Can you turn a cat into a dog? A bee into a pig? Here’s how the game works. Take any word, like

CAT

Students–as a class, individually, in pairs–can change one letter of the word but must produce a new word. For instance.

CAT
HAT

The goal is to turn cat into dog. So eventually, we’re gonna need the letters D-O-G. So let’s continue, from HAT to

HOT

That gives us an O.

HOG
DOG

We changed a cat into a dog in only five moves! Try transforming other 3-letter animals.

Variations:
1. See who can complete the transformations with the fewest moves.
2. See who can complete the transformations in the shortest time.

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“Letter Ladders” - a word game
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But there are still other ways to play the above word game. We don’t have to use animals; we can use any words. This game we’ll call Letter Ladders.

We can still make transformations–a box into a man for instance. But we can also begin with any 3-letter word and see who can make the longest letter ladder. How many words can you make by changing one letter at a time–without ever repeating a word? Let’s see…

box
bob
bib
bit
hit
hat

…. and on an on. The team with the longest Letter Ladder wins.

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“Advanced Letter Ladders” - a word game
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Will Letter Ladders work with four letters? Sometimes. But it’s difficult. Teachers can put several starting words on the board and let students choose which one they want to build a letter ladder out of. And why not allow them to use their dictionaries?

Let’s try one… How far can you take the word “mean.”

If you get stuck, check this…

mean
bean
bran
brat
beat
boat
boot
book
took
tool
fool
foot
moot
moat
meat… etc.

It’s harder!

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Halloween Photos from California
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Monday evening, the 31st of October was Halloween. Check out the 5 new photos of decorated suburban houses and trick-or-treaters at Kevin’s house in Saratoga.

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Your Writing Wanted
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As a project for the English Language Office in Russia, I am putting together a CD-ROM of materials for use in the classroom. I would like to incorporate the writing and thinking of real real folk–Russians, yes, but not only Russians. And not only teachers. Students are welcome.

I can use poems, articles, essays, memories of America, songs–anything really. Specifically, at the moment I’m looking for material on these subjects: Teenage life, Food, Higher Education, and Asian Influences on America/Russia.

Writers will be fully credited, receive copies of the CD-ROM. The CD will be distributed throught the Russian Federation, and, we hope, beyond.

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In the next couple issues
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Yard Sales
The Russian Festival in Saratoga California
Mashina Vremeni in San Francisco
Little Lists

Copyright 2005 by Kevin McCaughey and I.M. Poosheesty