Crosswords

Crossword Puzzles: Perfect for vocabulary review

Rules:

Choose vocabulary that you want to review. This will usually be based on a theme – for example, Halloween, weather, feelings, etc.

You can also use your hints to focus on a particular language target. For example, relative pronouns ‘Someone who fixes teeth is a …’ ‘This is a place where….’ 

 Variations:

Clueless crossword: With higher-level classes, or with vocabulary that the students know well, create a crossword puzzle without any clues. In pairs, the students have half of their crossword filled in each, perhaps the ‘across’s on one sheet and ‘down’s on the other.  They then make their own clues for each other or use pictures or gestures.

Student A might ask, “What is 5 across?” 

Student B has the word ‘ELEPHANT’ so they make up the hint, “This is an animal which has a long nose and big ears.”

Picture Only Crossword: Rather than having clues, have pictures for the vocabulary words and choose words that all have a similar number of letters. Students then have to think about the spelling of each word to find the pattern where all the words will fit perfectly.