An Effective Language Teaching Tool: Illustrated Crossword

It has been well documented that crossword puzzles are an effective language teaching tool. Not to mention that they are enjoyable to complete. This ten unit book is designed to help English language learners, both first and second language and both young people and adults, to expand their vocabularies and, hopefully, to let them have fun doing it!

101 Illustrated Crossword Puzzles uses drawings as a visual stimulus to aid in vocabulary acquisition. This type of crossword puzzle works because a pictorial representation puts the word into context. The drawing shows the student what the word is. Result: the student has a picture in her mind of what the thing is.

The ten units in this book cover nine themes. The units are:

Unit One: Opposites

Unit Two: Outer Space

Unit Three: Safety

Unit Four: Sea Creatures

Unit Five: Taking A Trip

Unit Six: In The City

Unit Seven: Insects

Unit Eight: Musical Instruments

Unit Nine: Health Care

Unit Ten: Combined

The tenth unit is a combination of words from the first nine units.

Each of Units One through Nine features thirty arbitrarily chosen vocabulary words.

Each unit has ten crossword puzzles.

In Units One through Nine the first page of each unit has a list of thirty numbered sentences. Each vocabulary word is used in a sentence. The sentences aim to use the words in an every- day context. The teacher can decide how to use this feature. The numbers for the sentences correspond with a pictorial representation of that word on the following page.

The drawings page has the thirty words depicted pictorially. The vocabulary word is written beneath each drawing. And below that is a line for the student to write the word. Practicing spelling is the idea. The drawings page can serve as a handy reference tool when completing the crosswords.