Introduction
Crossword puzzles are a good alternation in any lesson and kids are usually familiar with them. A brief presentation the history of crossword puzzle’s will be given in the first paragraph. The following is an overview of their usage opportunities in lessons. Finally, a short list of the web sites providing crossword generators.
History
The first known published crossword puzzle was created by a journalist named Arthur Wynne from Liverpool, and he is usually credited as the inventor of the popular word game. December 21, 1913 was the date and it appeared in a Sunday newspaper, the New York World. The first appearance of a crossword in a British publication was in Pearson's Magazine in February 1922, and the first Times crossword appeared on February 1, 1930 (Eliot, s.a.). There was an educational interest in crosswords as early as the 1920s. One of the earliest variants on the conventional crossword was the bilingual one in which the clues were in English and the answers in French (Little, 1986, 76).
Crosswords in the classroom
There are different types of crossword puzzles. Here is one classification:
1) American crossword – it includes solid areas of white squares. Usually, each answer is required to contain at least three letters.
2) Swedish crossword – the clues are contained in the cells which would normally be black in other countries. Arrows indicate in which direction the clues have to be answered.
3) Cross-figure – the numerical analogy of a crossword, in which the solutions to the clues are numbers instead of words. Clues are usually arithmetical expressions.
4) Number puzzle – each cell has a number between 1 and 26. The solver has to find out for which letter of the alphabet a number stands.
5) Free Crosswords – This is a special type that tries to be least restrictive. You can use all available cell types (e.g. clue cells, double clue cells, image cells, solution letter cells). You can mix answers that have a clue cell with answers that do not. Answers may contain characters as well as numbers (KrossWordPuzzle, s.a).
Crossword puzzles encourage logical thinking, correct spelling, and can motivate students to know factual information. Accordind to different studies students who use crossword puzzles show greater retention of facts, improved association of concepts, and increased levels of confidence. Solving the clues often requires the use of higher levels of cognition, including analysis, synthesis, and application of pre-existing knowledge. Most students see crossword puzzles as non-threatening, recreational challenges and not an activity associated with school work. The challenge of the puzzle drives the student's resolve toward completion. A major advantage of a crossword puzzle is that learners become active participants who must make decisions, solve problems, and react to the results of their choice, as opposed to being passive observers simply memorizing a list of terms. The crossword puzzle represents a unique way to inspire the students' interest in working with factual information from a course (Raines & Lynn, 2010).
Five benefits, which can accrue from using crosswords in the language class by Little (1986): 1) vocabulary building; 2) orthography; 3) morphology; 4) abbreviations; 5) general knowledge testing.
Crossword puzzle generators
1)http://www.theteacherscorner.net/printable-worksheets/make-your- own/crossword/crossword-puzzle-maker.php – 2-30 words, must have a clue, alpha-numeric characters, words can have up to 20 letters, clues may be up to 200 characters.
2) http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/create.html - Up to 20 words and hints, hints can be left blank.
3) http://edhelper.com/crossword.htm - Up to 50 words, PDF-version.
Conclusion
Crossword puzzles are useful in the language lesson. It gives pupils an opportunity to use their logical, critical thinking and they get immediate feedback. There are different kinds of crosswords for different kinds of lessons (word building, morphology, etc.). Pupils do not think that solving crosswords is learning and so they are not afraid to be wrong. This reduces stress in lessons.
References
Eliot, G. (sine anno). Brief History of Crossword Puzzles: This is a puzzling world.
[16.01.2011]
http://www.crosswordtournament.com/more/wynne.html
Little, J. (1986). What's a nine letter word for “a type of word Puzzle”? In TESL Canada
Journal. Vol 4, no 1, 76-81. [16.01.2011]
http://www.teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl/article/viewFile/499/330
KrossWordPuzzle/Crossword Types. (sine anno). [16.01.2011]
http://userbase.kde.org/KrossWordPuzzle/Crossword_Types
Raines, D., Lynn, C. (2010). An innovation to facilitate student engagement and learning:Crossword puzzles in the classroom. In Teaching and Learning in Nursing. Vol 5, Issue 2, 85-90.
