Ooh there! There are sometimes overly complicated words in Augustin’s stories! Do not panic. The best thing is to organize yourself like Augustin and his friends. Every good scientist needs to write often, whether it is to keep a memory of a great idea or to gather information about the remains that he or she finds and even to go back on learned words. The Word Hunt is a game that will allow children to do as archaeologists do.
Ready for the Word Hunt? Let us get technical!

Playing the Word Hunt game

What is the Word Hunt game? It is simple. You notice a word that you don’t understand in Augustin’s adventures or in any other book, you write it down on your bookmark, notebook or notepad and later look it up in a dictionary to find out what it means.

Well, isn’t that funny? Oh, yes, you do! Under the condition that you play it in Augustin’s style. Before you start gathering material for your hunt, you should previously decide whether you want to play with some friends or alone.

Word Hunt with friends

The equipment

For the Game Master

• a block of mini repositionable bookmarks
• the novel Panic at the castle. Three archaeological adventures of Augustin (in french only for the moment) or any other book where you have spotted words to define
• the list of identified words to be defined (use Augustin’s bookmark to be downloaded below or any other paper support)
• the rules of the game

For the game

• 3 to 5 players
• a scorecard
  Download Augustin’s World score sheet (english version)
• an hourglass or a stopwatch
• an object (held in the hand) used as a “microphone” (cork, small stick, box, etc.). See the photo below.

For each player

• a paper dictionary or if there are not enough paper dictionaries, go to the nearest library to borrow at least one. In the worst case, you can use the electronic dictionary www.wiktionary.org but it’s not as much fun.
• a pencil
• an archaeologist’s card for each participant so that he or she can record the word to be searched for and keep his or her scores and the reference of the book used
  Download the Augustin’s Worlds archaeologist’s card (english version)

Technique – preparation of the game

Before the game session itself

1. Read Augustin’s adventures, another novel or a documentary book and identify words that are unknown, complicated, or interesting to know.
2. Put a mini bookmark of your choice in the corresponding place.
3. Among the words found, copy 10 words on the list of words to be defined (to be kept secret), noting, for each word, the number of the page where you found it in the book (where you put the bookmark). You should also copy the definition of this word (the one in your dictionary) on this listing.
4. Prepare the 10 words, written roughly on a sheet of A4 paper (one word per sheet)

During the session – The rules of the game

1. Gather the players, each with their own paper dictionary, pencil, and notebook. Prepare the scorecard with the names of the players.
2. Place the microphone in the center of the circle formed by the players.
3. Take a word randomly from the A4 sheets.
4. Show it to the players by leaving it visible during the game (place it or attach it in a place that is easy for everyone to see).
5. Start the stopwatch or hourglass.
6. Each player must look up the word in their own dictionary.
7. The first one who finds it picks the microphone. Then he or she speaks. The Game Master suspends the stopwatch or hourglass.
   1. The player with the microphone reads the definition from his or her dictionary.
   2. He or she gets 1 point if he or she found the right word. This point is marked on the scorecard. Other players note the word on their scorecard.
8. If he or she has made a mistake, the Game Master restarts the clock or the hourglass for the remaining players. The player who made a mistake must wait until the next turn to play again.
9. If no player has found the right word, the Game Master reads the definition of his listing himself and does not give any points to the players.
10. Then, the Game Master opens the novel at the page of the written word and reads the passage aloud.
11. The Game Master moves on to the next word. The game continues in point 2.

Solo Word Hunt

The equipment

• a block of mini repositionable bookmarks
• the novel Panic at the castle. Three archaeological adventures of Augustin (in french only for the moment) or any other book where you have spotted words to define
• the list of identified words to be defined (use the Augustin bookmark to be downloaded below or any other paper support)
• the rules of the game
• a scorecard
  • Download the Augustin’s World scorecard (english version)
• an hourglass or a stopwatch
• a paper dictionary and if you don’t have one, go to the nearest library to borrow one or, at worst, use the electronic dictionary www.wiktionary.org but it’s not as much fun.
• a pencil
• an archaeologist’s card so that you can record the word you are looking for and keep your scores and the reference of the book used
  • Download the Augustin’s World archaeologist’s card (english version)

Technique – preparation of the game

Before the game session itself

1. Read Augustin’s adventures, another novel or a resource book and identify unknown, complicated, or interesting words to know.
2. Put a mini bookmark in the color of your choice in the corresponding place.
3. Among the words you have found, copy 10 words on the list of words to be defined, noting the number of the page where you found it in the book, where you put the mini bookmark.

During the session – The rules of the game

1. Take your paper dictionary, pencil, notepad, and scorecard.
2. Take a random word out of your listing.
3. Start the stopwatch or the hourglass.
4. Look up the word in your dictionary.
5. Suspend the stopwatch or the hourglass as soon as you think you have found the right word.
6. Read the definition to make sure it is the right word and if it is, write down how long it took you to find the word. If it is not the right word, restart the timer or hourglass until you find the right word.
7. Continue with the next word.
8. Compare the times you got: are there any words where you went faster than others? Did you improve your duration score?

The final word

Once Augustin has recopied his little list of words, he likes to take a few minutes to reread the passage where he saw the words he did not understand.

Not only did he enjoy his reading more, but he was able to explain all these learned words to his friends, family and sometimes even to his teachers. In fact, you can see how he deals with the turkey story in “Panique au château”!

When he has a blackout, Augustin takes his notebook out of his pocket or jacket, like the grown-ups. Imagine the effect that can produce his notebook and book brimming with colorful bookmarks! Too stylish! Have fun!

The variants

Whether you are with your friends or alone, you can renew the game with ten more words by applying one of the suggested variants or by changing players. Enough to renew the pleasure of endless word hunting.

Variant 1, with friends

You can have the players read the passage aloud. The word will be given clockwise to each player in turn for each new word.

Variant 2, with friends

With a single paper dictionary, the Game Master challenges the players to give a word to one of the players. Instead of a dot, the Game Master notes how long it took the player to find the definition of the mystery word.
Then he passes the dictionary to the next player clockwise and gives him or her a new word.
The player with the shortest duration will be the winning player.

Variant 3, with friends and alone

Write the words on small pieces of paper that you mix in a container (box, bowl, basket, etc.). When you start the game, everyone takes a paper without looking at it. You are the one who gives the “Top!“ to get everyone looking at his or her word to find at the same time. The game runs from point 5 to point 11.
If you are playing solo, you pick the words randomly.

Tips

To help you remember all these learned words, write them down in a notebook that you will keep in a safe place, or in a directory in which you will place them, as in the dictionary, in alphabetical order. Download the image of Augustin to paste on the cover by clicking on the link below. You can ask your friends to do the same.
Download the cover of your Word Hunting notebook (english version)

Choosing your writing tools: the writing material

The choice of a writing material is important (large notebook, small notebook, notepad, bookmark, etc.).

• Will it be used to make drawings? You should choose a notebook with at least one blank page like the workbooks.
• Do you always want to carry it with you to take notes? You will have to choose a notebook that fits in your pocket.
• Do you want to write down words or the names of objects you want to study? You can choose a notebook or a notebook with an alphabetical index. This will not only allow you to organize your words, but also to find them easily.
• What is important is that you like your writing material because it will become your friend.

Of course, you can also choose several different supports that you will use according to your desires.

Your choice of writing tools: your writing tool

It is up to you to decide whether you prefer to write in pencil or pen with all possible variations (color, thickness, etc.).
The important thing is that you enjoy taking your writing tool to prepare for your Word Hunt.

Choosing your writing tools: tools for finding words and pages

Basic: you need to get repositionable notes and a bookmark to write on.
Repositionable notes are very practical tools with pretty colors. There are quite different shapes and sizes. It is up to you to choose what will be most convenient for you so as not to hinder your reading, everything by allowing you to easily find the words in the identified pages.

Do not forget your Augustin bookmark to write down the words you find. Download the file by clicking on the link to print your favorite hero:
Download the bookmark pdf file of Augustin’s World (english version)

To find out more about ArkéoTopia, an alternative approach to archaeology, please take a look at our corporate video and our actions on our Website.