Teacher’s Notes Crossword Puzzle Type of activity: pair work Focus: speaking (controlled), definitions, classroom language Level: pre-intermediate – intermediate Time: 20 minutes Preparation: Make a copy of students’ worksheets, one for each student.; one copy of the set of flashcards (see below), magnets Procedure 1. Tell the students that they are going to learn how to give definitions in English. Put the flashcards on the board in random order and ask the students to put them into groups to make the beginnings of definitions. Ask individual students to come to the board to rearrange the flashcards. It’s a place where … It’s a time when … It’s a person who … It’s something that … Optional: If you choose not to use the flashcards, you can write the parts of the definitions on the board. 2. Write on the board the following words: holiday, dentist, beach, pencil. Ask the students to match the words with the beginnings of definitions which can be used to explain those words. Ask one person to come to the board and rearrange the flashcards. 3. Ask the students to work in pairs and complete the definitions of the given words. Check a few answers. Optional: You can change the words suggested in point 2 into different ones, for example those you are teaching at the moment, as long as there is one example of each kind (a person, a place, a thing, etc.) 2
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4. Tell the students that they are going to do a crossword puzzle in pairs. Explain that there are different words on each handout. Ask them to start by writing the definitions they have on their handouts (in the spaces provided below the crossword). 5. Ask the students to work in pairs. The students have to fill in the missing word based on the definitions provided by their partner. Optional: In order to provide some variation to the regular pair work, you can divide the class into Group A (e.g. all students sitting on the right) and Group B (e.g. all students sitting on the left) for the first part of the activity, that is writing the definitions. Later, match students into pairs of A and B students. This will require a change in the seating arrangement, which the students may enjoy. Also, in this way you can avoid cheating while the students write their definitions and, finally, if a student has any problems with the task, they may easily ask the person next to them. Idea for fast finishers: 1) ask students to write a few definitions in their notebooks; 2) tell student to play a guessing game – one person defines a word and the other has to guess (limit the choice of word to one category, e.g., holiday, classroom, school, or any vocabulary set that you have introduced/practised recently). 6. Finish the activity by asking individual students about some of the definitions they have written. 7. Homework suggestion: write 5 definitions of words in your notebook (the words have to be different from those in the crossword puzzle). 1
C A N 4 3 W E E K E N D V L E E N 5 I T 6 S W I M M I N G P O O L U G M P A 5 U C C E S S T J 9 R P O T A T O 10 11 M U B B I O L O G Y 12 C A R R O 14 H A I R D R E S S E R N U R S E D U K E A Y 15 R E G Y K G 16 C T O U R G U I D E F U H A A A 17 M S U M M E R 18 M T D I A R Y A R
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