Cooperative Crossword Activity

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From the course by University of California, Irvine

Techniques for Teaching Adjectives and Adjective Clauses

13 ratings

University of California, Irvine

Techniques for Teaching Adjectives and Adjective Clauses

13 ratings

Course 2 of 4 in the Specialization Teach English: Intermediate Grammar

This is the second course in the Teach English: Intermediate Grammar specialization. In this course, you will learn how to effectively teach adjectives, adjective phrases, and adjective clauses to your students. You will learn what makes this grammar difficult for students and how to make it easier for them. You will also learn a variety of activities and methods for teaching this content in a fun and interesting way. You will have opportunities to practice the skills you learn by creating sample assignments and recording short videos of your teaching demonstrations. This course is designed for teachers or those wanting to become teachers who have a solid understanding of English grammar and want to improve their skills of teaching that grammar to others. Please note that the free version of this class gives you access to all of the instructional videos and handouts. The peer feedback and quizzes are only available in the paid version.

From the lesson

More about Teaching Adjective Clauses

This week, you will learn about other types of adjective clauses and how to teach them. You will again learn new activities for helping your students practice these other types of adjective clauses. Then you will practice what you've learned by creating your own lesson for students and demonstrate your teaching skills by sharing a video of your instructions to students for feedback from your peers.

Preposition Jeopardy6:59

Describe that Habitat Activity5:07

Cooperative Crossword Activity6:00

Meet the Instructors

Tamy Chapman
Instructor, International Programs
University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education
Meg Parker
Instructor, International Programs
University of California Irvine Extension
Brad Gilpin

In this video you'll learn about a cooperative crossword activity for

adjective clauses that start with when.

What's a cooperative crossword activity?

Well one partner has an answer sheet with the Across words and

he'll write clues for these.

The other partner has an answer sheet with the Down words and

she'll write clues for those.

They'll get together and read their clues to each other so

that they can both finish their puzzle.

This kind of activity with missing information is called an information gap.

And they're usually very motivating for students.

The purpose of this activity is to practice describing time periods using

adjective clauses with when.

Students will write and say sentences like this.

This is a time when subject plus verb.

There are some steps to prepare but it's really quite simple.

Step one, think of 12 time periods to include as the words in your puzzle.

These can be celebrations like Christmas, years like 1950,

times of the year like months or seasons, or live events like graduation.

For this activity, I chose celebrations.

Step two, go to an online crossword puzzle generator.

I use puzzle-maker.com, but I've listed others at the end of this video.

Usually you enter in your word and then your clue.

But for this crossword puzzle students will be creating the clues.

So we only need to enter in the word and then the same word again here,

where you would normally put the clues.

If you don't enter the words in twice,

you won't know where each word is located on the puzzle once it's made.

You'll see.

Finally, create your puzzle.

You'll get a crossword puzzle with the words at the bottom.

Print out two copies of this page.

Step three, now prepare your answer keys.

On one paper, write in all the across words.

On the other paper, write in all the down words.

The across answer key is for Partner A,

who will create clues for the across words.

The down answer key is for Partner B, who will create clues for the down words.

Step four, the last step is to cut off the bottom of the paper,

throw it away, and make copies for your class.

Half the class gets the across puzzle and the other half gets the down.

Here's a tip.

If you have colored paper make half the copies on one color and

the other half on another.

This helps students find their partners later.

And leave space at the bottom of the pages so the students can write in their clues.

Now you're ready for class.

In class write your 12 words on the board as a word bank for the activity.

Also be sure to review when clauses before you start.

Now give out the papers so the students can understand what's happening.

But be sure to tell them not to touch their pencil or pens yet.

Next tell the class that they're going to be writing clues for

the words in their crossword puzzle.

At the bottom of the page they'll write description for

their six words using adjective clauses with when.

You could give them a sentence frame as a guide.

Next, give them an example of how to read a good clue.

This is called modeling and it's very important.

Choose a word that's not in the crossword puzzle, my word is celebrations.

So I'll choose Earth Day.

Write your example on the board,

showing them how you've included the noun, when, subject, and verb.

See if they can guess which holiday you're describing.

Now think of another example that's not in your 12 words and

write a clue together as a class.

Finally, have students look at their own papers.

They'll write the number of the first word on their puzzle, and

then they'll write a clue next to that.

They'll continue until they finish six clues.

Activity time.

One yellow partner will meet with one green partner.

They should hide their papers from each other.

A folder or a book between them does the job nicely.

The yellow partner reads the across clues to the green partner,

who tries to guess the answers and write them in the across boxes.

When they finish, they switch.

Partner B gives the clues and partner A guess and writes.

Remember, they can look at the 12 words on the board if they need help.

When they finish they can compare and check their answers.

How can you assess after this activity?

One way is to have students find a partner with the same color.

Give them a white paper and a marker.

They look at their puzzles and choose any clue to write on the paper.

But they must work together to make sure the English is correct.

Next, they tape their papers to the board.

And as a class, you look at each paper, check the clues' grammar, and

try to guess which holiday the clue describes.

Re-teach based on common grammar errors.

Of course, this is most helpful if you've created a classroom culture in which

students are okay with having their mistakes on display.

Finally another way to assess is to collect the papers, check them over, and

note the common mistakes.

The next day, you could re-teach based on these errors.

You can modify a cooperative crossword in many ways.

If your student struggle with grammar tasks,

you can have them write clues in partners instead of individually.

Or to make the activity trickier, don't give them a word bank on the board.

Also you can do this activity with any kind of adjective clause,

not just when clauses.

And you don't even have to use adjective clauses for a cooperative crossword.

You could do it with vocabulary words or with facts from a story or

text you've read in class.

Finally, I use puzzle-maker.com, but

you can find many other puzzle generators online.

And if you don't have time to prepare your own,

I've made some principle worksheets and an information page for

you about popular celebrations in English-speaking countries.

Have fun with your crosswords and thanks for watching.

[MUSIC]

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