Israel is a fairly small country. Standing 153 at the world ranking, Israel is even smaller than Taiwan. So we don’t have a lot of opportunities to a road trip, but we do know how to enjoy our car drive. We talk, we eat, we listen to music and we – kids and adults alike – play games. Most of the games we play on the road, with no cards, dice, paper sheet or even a pencil, are games of words and letters. They are not only a great way to spend time, but also an enjoyable way to practice Hebrew.

One such game is to enumerate 22 items in alphabetic order. To play the game you first choose a theme, and then make a list of 22 items that belong to this theme, each starting with another letter of the Aleph Bet. Themes can be movies, singers, countries, spices, ailments, clothes, songs, politicians, etc. For example, if we choose animals as our theme, each passenger has to come up with an animal name on his or her turn. The first name should start with the letter א, the second with the letter ב, and so on. The list eventually should something like this:

אַרְיֵה (Lion)

בַּרְוָז (Duck)

גָּמָל (Camel)

דְּבוֹרָה (Bee)

הִיפּוֹפּוֹטָם (Hippo)

And so on, until the final letter ת.

 

Another list for example can be of vegetables and fruits:

אֲבַטִּיח (Watermelon)

בָּנָנָה (Banana)

גֶּזֶר (Carrot)

דְּלַעַת (Pumpkin)

And so on, until the final letter ת.

Be aware: it’s extremely difficult to find nouns starting with letters ה, ו and ז.

 

Another fun game is to create a dialog in which every passenger makes a sentence. In this game not the nouns, but the all sentences should be by Alphabetic order. In order to make a dialog the sentences must be related to each other so they will create a flowing conversation. This game is much more challenging than the first one, but the amusement is respectively higher. For example:

Passenger 1: אתמול קיבלתי מכתב

(I received a letter yesterday)

Passenger 2: במכתב היה כתוב שעליי להגיע לירושלים

(In which it said I should go to Jerusalem)

Passenger 1: ‘גדול!’, חשבתי לעצמי, ‘אני אוהב את ירושלים’

(Great!, I thought, I love Jerusalem)

Passenger 2: דוד שמע שאני נוסע לירושלים והחליט גם להצטרף

(David heard I’m going and decided to join me)

And so on, until the final letter ת.

 

Don’t wait until your next road trip to play these games. Try them at home with family and friends. Hope you enjoy them 🙂

 

Keep Calm and Learn Hebrew

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