Reading Comprehension Games for High School

Reading doesn't have to be boring.

Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills for high school students. Without reading comprehension skills, it is impossible to effectively study most subjects. But while the importance of reading comprehension is obvious, the means for learning it are not so clear. If your students have trouble with reading comprehension, use games to make learning the skill fun and interesting.

1 Trivia

Trivia games involve asking students questions about what they read. The student with the highest score wins the game. One type of trivia game is single-player, multiple-choice trivia. In this game, you ask a question about the material students were assigned to read, and offer several possibilities for answers. The students write their answers down on a piece of paper. After you collect the answer sheets, you reveal the correct answer. Another type of trivia game is team trivia. In team trivia, the class is divided into teams, and every team must agree on an answer to the question.

2 Crosswords

Crosswords can improve a student's reading comprehension skills because they force her to read the text carefully to find out what the clues refer to. If your students are reading popular material, you might be able to find crossword puzzles online. If your students are reading more obscure material, you might have to build a crossword yourself. Use online crossword generation software to help build the puzzle.

3 Video Games

Online video games are interactive and engaging teaching tools. One type of video game for reading comprehension is a vocabulary building game. Some of these games involve matching words with images. With others, you identify the names of objects in an image. These games strengthen reading comprehension skills by increasing the player's vocabulary, thereby increasing her ability to understand what is written. Role playing games that involve completing quests can also be helpful. In these games, information from the book is needed to complete the objective. Popular books sometimes have websites with these kinds of games on them.

4 Interactive Story Games

An interactive story is a cross between a story and a game. When you read an interactive story online, you can click on the picture and play mini-games based on the story. One type of mini-game involves completing tasks on each page of the interactive story before you move on to the next page. In this type of game, you must complete the tasks to finish the story. Another type of game is a bonus game. It is usually an interactive feature you can play on each page of the book, such as moving a character around the screen.

Based in St. John's, Canada, Andrew Button has been writing since 2008, covering politics, business and finance. He has contributed to newspapers and online magazines, including "The Evening Telegram" and cbc.ca. Button is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Memorial University in St. John's.

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