Inventor's Background

Carol Franks has travelled in more than 45 countries and has lived, worked or volunteered in Germany, Thailand, Colombia, Australia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and the US. As a journalist, she was a reporter for the Peterboro Examiner, the Kingston Whig-Standard, CHEX-TV, and CFRC-TV. She also worked for CBC and CTV networks. Before retiring, she was owner of the Painted Lady Inn in Kingston for ten years.

She holds a B.A. in history from Queen's University, Master of Science in broadcast journalism from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Applied Journalism from Ryerson University and a Diploma of Food and Beverage Management from George Brown College, Toronto.

Brainchild of Language Teacher

Scaling the Spanish Verb Wall with Verb It

When Carol Franks hit the verb Spanish wall, she reacted in a typically Canadian fashion. She invented a board game.

"I was studying Spanish three-hours-a-day in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, trying to get my Spanish up to speed in order to join a large volunteer group. Then, I hit the verb wall-- 100s of irregular Spanish verbs, dozens of verb endings and 14 different tenses," said Franks.

Franks answered the verb challenge by creating Verb It, a board game based on a race through Latin America that motivates players to learn those exasperating verbs. Other Canadians have invented Trivia Pursuit, Yahtzee, Balderdash, Scruples and Crokinole.

What started out as verb questions written on recipe cards has developed into a multi-layered board game that is being sold commerically. Franks is so confident about the future success of the game that she has registered Verb It as a trademark in both Canada and the United States

An experienced language teacher, Franks has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in Thailand, where she was a Canadian Peace Corps (CUSO) volunteer, Australia, Columbia, and most recently in Nicaragua.

"I think my classroom experience teaching English grammar and conversation has made Verb It teacher-friendly and my frustration as a Spanish student has made it student-friendly."

Currently Franks spends six months a year in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, where she has organized English classes for local hospitality workers. She volunteers three nights a week. In summer 2008, she undertook a fundraising campaign to raise money to buy textbooks for her students.

She plans to spend a percentage of the proceeds from board game sales to set up a permanent language school in SJDS. She now teaches in a hotel lobby with a small whiteboard.

Franks blogs about her experiences in Latin America particularly Guatemala and Nicaragua on TravBuddy.

Special Thanks

" I want to thank family members who helped get this board game to market. My mother Marguerite Franks, 88, a retired teacher, packaged up 6000 frogs and 1000 dice. My cousin Lenda Ducharme, also a retired teacher, co-manned the Verb It booth at the NYSAAFLT Conference in Buffalo. And my nephew Matthew Young took photos for the website and helped set up the Verb It Night at the Peterboro Library," said Franks.

"Special thanks also to Anne Morawetz, Karen McMullin, José Miguel García Ramírez, Bianca Bell and Chris Bocking for their help," added Franks.