Hi. I'm designing some board games for my Chinese students, ostensibly for teaching English but really just because I'd rather play games all day than have proper classes.

Chinese kids as a rule don't play board games. A Chinese friend explained that this was because the Chinese family unit isn't conducive to Monopoly and shit, so it's a very niche activity here. So I can steal ideas from wherever.

Right now I've got them playing something that's like a mix of Sorcerer's Cave (a dungeon crawl where you pull map tiles randomly) and Scrabble, in which they have to spell words using letters they collect as treasure in order to defeat monsters as they progress. They love it, and it lets them practice a little spelling and vocabulary.
Looking for more ideas. Any thoughts anyone has on using games to practice language would be great. Also, suggestions for good games (with minimal written instructions on cards, etcetera) I can steal shit from.
Thinking of basically replacing the quests in Shadows over Camelot with various word puzzles or something for my next one.