Word puzzles in a box

Puzzle solving has an inherent appeal to ESL students and is an active way of learning or revising vocabulary. Students associate word puzzles with recreation and can be less daunting as review tools or even as a test. By substituting a visual-spacial relationship between meaning and definition, puzzles engage more students with the materials and deepen their mastery of the English lexis. No wonder people have used word puzzles in the classrooms for many years!

There are many types of word puzzles for all ages including adults! I like the fact that I can have a number of different unique word puzzles created to printout on the same topic. So when we are studying a topic in English, say “Family and Friends”, I can print out six different sets then split the class into six groups and give them each a unique puzzle to solve.

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Recently, I decided to let the students (in their groups) create word puzzles themselves for their classmates to solve. I assign each group their “mission” and explain the kind of puzzle they should make online (you can download the instructions here). They have to send me the digital copy at the end of the lesson so I could produce enough copies for the rest of the class. During revision time, the group that created the puzzles take the center stage and discuss the answers.

Here are some word puzzles I use in my class.

Some of them sound complicated than they really are so don’t faint. If my students were able to do these, so can you! You will find the step-by-step guide how to create these word puzzles on the links provided.

1. Double-Puzzle

A double puzzle is a puzzle where students first need to unscramble clue words, then use letters from those clue words to decode the final word/phrase. The letters for the final phrase can be numbered, making the Double Puzzle slightly easier to solve.

2. Word Search

Word Search is a type of word puzzles that consists of the letters of words placed in a grid, which usually has a rectangular or square shape. The objective of this puzzle is to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box.

3. Crossword

Probably the most popular of all, a crossword is another word puzzles that normally takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white and black shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers.

4. Caesar Cipher

The Caesar cipher is one of the simplest forms of encryption and is named after Julius Caesar who used it to communicate with his army. Also known as a shift cipher,  each letter in the original alphabet (called the plaintext) is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions up or down the alphabet.

5. Cryptogram

A cryptogram is a type of puzzle that consists of a short piece of encrypted text where each letter is replaced by a different letter or number. You solve the cryptogram with a trial and error process, guessing the letters that have been replaced.

6. Polybius Square

A Polybius Square is a table that allows someone to translate letters into numbers. Each letter is then represented by its coordinates in the grid. In order to fit the 26 letters of the alphabet into the 25 spots created by the table, the letters i and j are usually combined. To encipher a message you replace each letter with the row and column in which it appears. To decipher a message you find the letter that intersects the specified row and column.

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Bonus!

The following links are lesson plans from Education World that provide an easy way to incorporate specific puzzles into your curriculum.

• The Wright Puzzle
• Puzzle Boxes for Any Subject
• Heartbreaking Puzzle
• Word-zles

And if you are looking for ready-to-use printable puzzles, Teacher Vision has got it all for you!

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What do you think about this activity? Let us know in the comments!

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Lesson Plan

Prepare in advance five to ten clues that will help students guess a puzzle word. The puzzle word can relate to any topic or subject they are studying. See an example below:

Puzzle Box: Can you guess what this is?

1. I am a common noun but I am very important.
2. I begin with the letter f.
3. If you do not have this, you may not be happy until you find out how to get it.
4. People in prison have lost it but want it badly.
5. It is something you can’t touch.
6. It is related to culture, religion, race, and speech.
7. It makes tyrants and dictators angry when people demand it.

Answer: freedom

Following is my approach to this activity, which you might adapt to your needs:

• Write the clues on the board or chart in the morning.
• Go over the clues with the class first thing in the morning. Share in advance how the process will work.
• Show the three prizes of the day.
• Give the students all day to consider what the puzzle word might be.
• At the end of the day, read the clues again.
• Pass out paper.
• Ask students to write the answer, or two or three guesses, on one side of the paper and their name on the other side.
• Instruct students to fold the paper in half one way and in half the other way so it takes the shape of a square.
• Collect the papers.
• Open up the papers one at a time.
• Identify by name any student who has the correct answer.
• Put all correct answers in a bag.
• Pull out three of the papers to determine the winners of the three prizes.
• Congratulate the entire class for a job well done; tell them they are all winners for trying.

Extension Activity Ideas

• Make a chart. Include the name of each child in the classroom. Put a checkmarks beside students’ names for each right response given each week. After ten weeks, identify the students with the most correct responses. Award special prizes to those with the most correct responses.
• Geography is a great subject for this Puzzle Box game. Give the children clues about a state, country, or special or famous places.
• You might run a puzzle game for a week. You could provide three clues on Monday and add a clue each subsequent day that week. Students could submit guesses at any time during the week. Collect answers at the end of each day, and keep them in an envelope with the day marked on the outside. At the end of the week, see how many people guessed the word at the end of each day.
• After you have done this activity with older students a few times, you might invite the students to create the puzzles.

Assessment

Ask students whether they would like to play the game again next week. I play it in three classrooms, and the students cannot wait for the next game!

Submitted By

Pauline Finlay, Holy Trinity Elementary School, Torbay, Newfoundland

Teachers have permission to copy this page for use in their classrooms.

4/12/2002

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