IRA Effective Literacy Websites #6: Free Rice

Figure 1: Screenshot of https://freerice.com/

I have known of Free Rice (https://freerice.com/) for years. It is a free website that offers a fun and educational way to solve a global problem. Millions of people around the world struggle with hunger and over the years I have used and promoted the website to help confront the issue. Its potential to promote literacy went over my head until I recently Googled “websites that promote literacy” and it appeared. After exploring the site more, I see exactly how it does that.

The premise behind the site is that guests play a game and the equivalent of ten grains of rice will be go to The World Food Programme (https://www.wfp.org/), the leading humanitarian organization that committed to ending world hinger by delivering food assistance in over 80 countries around the world. The organization purchases the food and materials and then is repaid through the funds made from advertising through the website. Theoretically, guests could earn money for the organization by just watching the ads however, the game makes it more fun and ensures that visitors stay on the website longer and return multiple times.

In addition to the charity aspect of the website, it promotes literacy by offering categories in the game such as grammar, vocabulary, and literature at five levels of difficulty ranging from easiest to hardest. There are many other categories such as science, math, art, and social studies. The questions are multiple choice. The correct answers are given so you can learn from your mistake and get correct the next time it comes around, ultimately earning more food for the hungry.

Figure 2: Game categories offered on https://freerice.com/

One of the features of the website is that you can set up an account and continue games where you left off, keep track of the record amounts of rice earned in a day, and collect badges for special achievements including amount of time spent playing, consecutive number of days played, and consecutive correct answers. There is also a leaderboard keeping track of high scoring players around the world. Another feature gives players the opportunity to play in groups and challenge other groups. Teachers could have classes or small groups play. The words from the vocabulary category could be turned into a spelling test or vocabulary test and the game could be a means of studying. Teachers can also simply show the website to students and suggest that they play with it when they finish assignments early or any time because any extra reading stimulates the mind. Freerice.com is a fun and socially conscious website to use in and out of the classroom.

Figure 3:Advertisements generate funds to purchase the rice earned by guests of https://freerice.com/