Letters in Squares- Word Puzzles in English

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA ODDELEK ZA ANGLISTIKO IN AMERIKANISTIKO

Diplomsko delo

LETTERS IN SQUARES- WORD PUZZLES IN ENGLISH

Mentorica: Kandidatka: Doc.dr. Katja Plemenitaš Mateja Vinovrški

Maribor, 2010

ZAHVALA

Hvala vsem, ki ste kakorkoli pomagali, da je ta naloga tukaj!

U N I V E R Z A V M A R I B O R U F I L O Z O F S K A F A K U L T E T A Koroška cesta 160 2000 Mariboor

IZJAVA O AVTORSTVU

Podpisana Mateja Vinovrški, rojena 23. aprila 1980 v Mariboru, študentka Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Mariboru, smer angleški jezik s književnostjo in biologija, izjavljam, da je diplomsko delo z naslovom Črke v kvadratih – besedne uganke v angleščini oz. Letters in squares – Word puzzles in English pri mentorici doc. dr. Katji Plemenitaš, avtorsko delo. V diplomskem delu so uporabljeni viri in literatura korektno navedeni; teksti niso prepisani brez navedbe avtorjev.

ABSTRACT

Word puzzles and games are an important tool for learning and consolidating language. They appear in various forms and in various media (books, online, board games and newspapers).

This diploma thesis presents the history of word puzzles and offers a classification of different types of word puzzles and games. In order to gauge how English language-learning materials in Slovenia utilize word puzzles, an analysis of the number of occurrences and variety of word puzzles in English language study books that are offered in Slovenia is also presented. A survey among Slovenian primary school learners has been made regarding the use of crosswords in the classroom and its results are also presented. Word puzzles and word puzzle concepts are not just found in textbooks, however, so this thesis also reviews and explains some of the more popular board games and online games that qualify as word puzzles. In addition, reviews and explanations are also offered for some of the word puzzles and games found in daily American newspapers. This thesis concludes with a critical evaluation of the results presented and of the ways that word puzzles can be integrated into the learning experience.

Key words: word puzzles, word games, word puzzles in English learning books, crosswords, board games, word puzzles online, word puzzles in American daily newspapers

POVZETEK

Besedne uganke in igre so pomembno orodje pri učenju in poglobitvi znanja jezika. Pojavljajo se v različnih oblikah, prav tako v različnih medijih (knjige, splet, družabne igre,časopisi).

V tej diplomski nalogi je predstavljena zgodovina besednih ugank ter narejena klasifikacija različnih tipov besednih ugank in iger. Narejena in predstavljena je analiza pogostosti in raznolikosti besednih iger v izboru knjig za učenje angleškega jezika, ki so na voljo v Sloveniji, in sicer z namenom izmeriti, kako ta material izkorišča besedne igre. Narejena je bila tudi anketa med slovenskimi osnovnošolci v zvezi z uporabo križank v razredu in predstavljeni so njeni rezultati. Besednih iger in konceptov le-teh ne najdemo samo v učbenikih, zato sta v tej diplomski nalogi narejena pregled in razlaga nekaterih znanih in popularnih družabnih iger in iger na spletu, ki temeljijo na besednih igrah. Prav tako so podane razlage in pojasnila besednih iger, uporabljenih v ameriških dnevnih časopisih. Diplomska naloga se zaključi s kritičnim ovrednotenjem predstavljenih rezultatov in načinov vključitve besednih iger v učni proces.

Ključne besede: besedne uganke, besedne igre, besedne uganke v knjigah za učenje angleščine, križanke, besedne uganke na spletu, besedne uganke v ameriških dnevnih časopisih

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 2 OVERVIEW OF WORD PUZZLES ...... 3 2.1 SHORT HISTORY OF WORD PUZZLES ...... 3 2.2 TYPES OF WORD PUZZLES ...... 5 2.2.1 CROSSWORD PUZZLES ...... 5 2.2.2 WORD GRID PUZZLES ...... 8 2.2.3 WORD SEARCH PUZZLES/ WORDFINDS ...... 9 2.2.4 WORD SQUARES ...... 10 2.2.5 ANAGRAMS/JUMBLED LETTERS ...... 11 2.2.6 PALINDROMES ...... 11 2.2.7 MATCHING WORD PARTS ...... 12 2.2.8 MISSING LETTERS PUZZLES ...... 12 2.2.9 GROUPING WORDS ...... 13 2.2.10 LIPOGRAMS, UNIVOCALICS, PANGRAMS ...... 14 3 WORD PUZZLES IN BOOKS USED IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH ...... 16 3.1 BOOKS FOR GENERAL ENGLISH COURSES ...... 16 3.2. SPECIALIZED ENGLISH STUDY BOOKS ...... 20 3.3 SELF-STUDY AND EXERCISE BOOKS FOR VOCABULARY ...... 23 3.4 CROSSWORDS IN THE CLASSROOM ...... 26 3.5 ANALYSIS ...... 31 4 BOARD GAMES BASED ON WORD PUZZLES ...... 34 4.1 SCRABBLE ...... 34 4.2 UPWORDS ...... 37 4.3 BOGGLE ...... 38 4.4 BALDERDASH ...... 39 4.5 TYPO ...... 41 4.6 BUY WORD ...... 42 4.7 PASS THE BOMB ...... 44 4.8 THE GAME OF SCATTERGORIES ...... 46 4.9 HANGMAN ...... 48 4.10 ANAGRAMANIA ...... 48 5 WORD PUZZLES ONLINE ...... 50 5.1 BONNIE’S BOOKSTORE ...... 50

5.2 WORD MOJO GOLD ...... 51 5.3 TEXT TWIST ...... 52 5.4 PARADISE ISLAND ...... 53 5.5 CODEWORD ...... 54 6 WORD PUZZLES IN U.S. NEWSPAPERS ...... 57 6.1 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ...... 57 6.2 USA TODAY ...... 57 6.3 THE NEW YORK TIMES ...... 58 6.4 THE WASHINGTON POST ...... 58 6.5 NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ...... 59 7 CONCLUSION ...... 61 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 63 APPENDIX ...... 71

1 INTRODUCTION

Traveling by train from Oxford to London one morning, Ronald Knox opened his copy of The Times and turned straight to the crossword puzzle, reputed to be the most difficult in the world. One of his fellow passengers, noticing that the priest had been staring at the puzzle for several minutes without filling in any of the answers, offered to lend him a pencil. "No, thanks," replied Knox, looking up with a smile. "Just finished."

From http://pawprints.kashalinka.com/anecdotes/knox.shtml, retrieved 5.1.2010

Word puzzles are fun and almost everybody, from priest to professor, enjoys them. Being a crossword puzzle enthusiast myself, I decided to look into the area of word puzzles more thoroughly. I was amazed to see how many people deal with word puzzles in one way or another: some are fans of board games like Scrabble, others love their daily crossword puzzle, some deal with them scientifically and some simply do them for fun. This diversity and versatility made me curious, so rather than limiting myself to one type of puzzle, I decided to research a large variety of word puzzles and create a unique classification that includes widely known recreational puzzles like crosswords and word searches, games mostly used for education like matching word parts and even some favourites of theorists like lipograms. Word puzzles and games are not just on paper, so my classification also details some of the most popular board games and online games that apply word puzzle concepts.

Word puzzles have an educational purpose at their core, whether the solver is aware of it or not. That is why they are a perfect tool to be used in the classroom. The use of word puzzles in the classroom by teachers is often limited to those included in course books and workbooks, and even these books sometimes fail to utilize the full range of word puzzles listed in this classification. My work offers an overview of puzzle types as well as suggestions on what additional tools, based on word puzzles, to use and where to look for them. In that sense it can serve as a welcome guide and resource book for all who teach or learn English.

1 This thesis starts off with a short history of various word puzzles and continues on with a classification of the most common puzzles with added descriptions and examples. After the classification has been made, different sources where the word puzzles can be found are presented, each of them in a separate chapter. In Chapter 3 a selection of books used for learning English, whether they are for general courses, specialized purposes or self-study and exercise, has been studied. The percentage of word puzzles in comparison to all other exercises and occurrences of each word puzzles category has been calculated and a survey on crosswords among Slovenian 5th and 9th grade students is presented. In Chapter 4 a selection of board games based on word activities has been presented. As the number of board games on offer is huge, I chose some of the most famous and interesting ones and described the playing rules. In Chapter 5 some online word games are presented and described. In Chapter 6 the word puzzles in US newspapers with highest circulation have been studied. They are read by millions of people around the world. And they are where the first crossword puzzle was published. The thesis finishes off with an analysis and evaluation of the data gathered.

2 2 OVERVIEW OF WORD PUZZLES

2.1 SHORT HISTORY OF WORD PUZZLES

Predecessors of modern day word puzzles date back to antiquity, where the Roman inhabitants of Pompeii played magic squares. It was a game with word squares, containing words of equal length that could be read vertically and horizontally. A famous word square found in the Pompeii ruins is the SATOR word square:

S A T O R A R E P O T E N E T O P E R A R O T A S

Figure 2.1: SATOR word square (See bibliography for sources of all figures)

This square is acrostic as well as palindromic. Two possible translations of the phrase consisting of the words from word square are “The sower Arepo holds the wheels with effort” and “The sower Arepo leads with his hand (work) the plough (wheels)” (“Palindrome,” n.d., Latin section, para. 2).

According to Crystal (2002), in the past the letters in one’s name and the rearrangement of these was important to people and revealed important information about the person’s character and future. After the Renaissance period people made anagrams from famous people’s names. Louis XIII supposedly had an official anagrammatist at his court. In the Victorian era people played Anagrams, which was a simple parlour game of collecting and arranging the letters. The modern version of the game evolved and is still played today.

Eckler writes that “before the introduction of crossword puzzle…the puzzle enthusiasts were constructing word squares…of ever-increasing size: The six- square was published in 1859, seven-square in 1877, eight-square in 1884 and the

3 nine-square in 1897.” (Eckler, 2005, p.85). Most of these were published in The Key to Puzzledom, which was published in 1906 by the Easter Puzzlers’ League. Later this association became the National Puzzlers’ League and they published a monthly magazine The Enigma (Eckler, p. 85.).

Frantz (n.d.) wrote that “In 19th century England the word squares were used as a basis for primitive crossword puzzles for children, sometimes with pictures as clues or with an educational slant.” Still, the first crossword, intended for adults and in the form we know today, was published by a Liverpool journalist who immigrated to America, Arthur Wynne. It was published in the Sunday issue of New York World on December 21, 1913. The author named it a “word-cross”; the name later evolved to a “crossword”. The crosswords quickly became a big hit and were published weekly or even daily in newspapers. (“The World’s First Crossword,” n.d., paras. 1-3)

2-3. What bargain hunters enjoy. 6-22. What we all should be. 4-5. A written acknowledgment. 4-26. A day dream. 6-7. Such and nothing more. 2-11. A talon. 10-11.A bird. 19-28. A pigeon. 14-15.Opposed to less. F-7. Part of your head. 18-19.What this puzzle is. 23-30. A river in Russia. 22-23.An animal of prey. 1-32. To govern. 26-27.The close of a day. 33-34. An aromatic plant. 28-29.To elude. N-8. A fist. 30-31.The plural of is. 24-31. To agree with. 8-9. To cultivate. 3-12. Part of a ship. 12-13.A bar of wood or iron. 20-29. One. 16-17.What artists learn to do. 5-27. Exchanging. 20-21.Fastened. 9-25. To sink in mud. 24-25.Found on the seashore. 13-21. A boy. 10-18.The fibre of the gomuti palm.

Figure 2.2. First crossword puzzle with solution

By the 1920’s the popularity of the crosswords travelled over the Atlantic to Europe. The British started solving the American crosswords at first, but soon

4 created “a style of their own with many more black squares to the pattern and with abstruse definitions” (Farrar, 1960, p. 241). These were known as cryptic crossword puzzles.

The first book of crosswords was published in 1924 by Simon and Schuster, Inc. This publishing house continues to publish books with crossword and other word puzzles today (“Simon&Schuster Mega Crossword Puzzle Book #5,” n.d., para. 1).

Dmitri Borgmann reinvented the word logology to describe systematic recreational linguistics. His 1965 book Language on Vacation “is widely recognized as the Bible of logology: it is the first nonpuzzle book entirely devoted to letter-play.” (Eckler., n.d., para. 1). In 1968 he became the first editor or Word Ways, the journal of recreational linguistics. The magazine is still published today, four times a year. (“Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics,” n.d., para 1).

2.2 TYPES OF WORD PUZZLES

There are many types and numerous variations of word puzzles, different in form, goal, method of solving, difficulty level, etc. Despite the ubiquity of word puzzles, there are still no uniform naming and classification standards. In this paper a classification of the most common or defining word puzzles has been established and will be presented.

2.2.1 CROSSWORD PUZZLES

Crosswords are definitely the most frequently used word puzzles. Merriam- Webster’s Dictionary online offers a good definition for a crossword puzzle: “a puzzle in which words are filled into a pattern of numbered squares in answer to correspondingly numbered clues and in such way that the words read across and down.” So, each crossword consists of a set of definition clues for establishing the words and a grid or diagram to fill in the correct number of letters of these words.

5

We can classify crosswords based on different criteria. The most obvious classification is possible only by looking at the form of the grid and the positioning of the blank and black squares. So, according to the grid type we distinguish (North) American-style crosswords and British-style crosswords. The U.S puzzlers created rules for crossword construction. According to Farrar (1960) crosswords need to follow the following rules: -Crosswords should be of a symmetrical pattern with a maximum of one-sixth of black squares. -There should be an “overall interlock;” no part of the crossword should be separated from the rest. -There should be no “unkeyed” letters, meaning that all letters should be a part of two words, not only one.

American-style crosswords have bigger chunks of white squares, and therefore fewer black squares. So, when the solver writes the correct answer to one clue, this answer will also provide letters for another entry or entries. On the other hand, the British-style crosswords have a lattice-style grid. There are fewer white fields than in an American-style crossword and as a result fewer letters can be reused by filling in an entry.

Figure 2.3. Two types of crossword grid layouts: Left American-style, right British-style

The form itself has a direct influence on the difficulty of the crossword. In the American-style crossword, no letter belongs to only one word. So every single

6 letter belongs to an across and a down word. This makes doing the crossword a lot harder. The words used in these types of crossword puzzles are often unusual and seldom used as they need to fit into the grid. For instance, the popular crossword answer “ESNE”, a now-defunct word for “labourer,” is used only because it consists of the most common English letters. On the other hand the British-style grid offers an easier task because here some letters are a part of one word only and they do not need to fit into other words. That means that the puzzle maker can use more general and well-known words.

When the crosswords came to Britain in the 1920’s, the British at first adopted the American style of crosswords, but soon created a style of their own, resulting in the cryptic crossword (Frantz, n.d., para. 4). In addition to the modified diagram, the definition clues are also different. With American-style crosswords the straight definition clue is given. They can be straight definitions (“A colour” for “RED”), references to a usage in a book (“Samson’s pride” for “HAIR”), references to an actual person (“Former UN Secretary Kofi” for “ANAN”) and others. Depending on the targeted solver the clues are less or more complicated. If the solution is the word “RED”, the clue given could be “Crimson”, which would be a simple clue and a lot of people could insert the correct word having a number of letters given. On the other hand clues can be harder due to the tougher words used in the clue itself (“Vermillion”) or a reference to something or somebody (“Socialist” or “Bolshevik”). All of these are quick or regular clues. In addition to these there are also cryptic or encrypted clues. They are in the cryptic crossword and as the name already suggests, each clue is a puzzle by itself. The solver must find in each clue the definition of a word and other hints about the word, if there are any. Eg. “Beat in return game here“ yields the word "golf" (game)-flog (beat) spelled backwards (Frantz, n.d., para. 4). So, from this standpoint, the British- style crosswords are a lot more difficult and more time consuming.

This group in the classification also includes other types of crossword puzzles: -Scandinavian crossword puzzles Here the clues are written in small print inside the cells themselves. These cells serve as black cells and usually have arrows denoting the direction of the answer. -Diagramless crossword puzzles

7 This puzzle grid contains either no black cells or numbers denoting the position of the words, or very few of them. Of course, the clues are given. The solver needs to guess the answers and by inserting them into the grid correctly the black cells can be placed. -Criss-cross puzzles In these puzzles the grid is not square. Instead a combination of squares is arranged in a manner so that it holds only the blank squares for the answers. There are no black squares. On one hand these kinds of crosswords are easier to solve as only the needed words are included. But on the other they are harder as only a few letters are in more than one word and by guessing one word few letters of the others are revealed. -Crossword puzzles with pictorial clues The clues can be pictorial in whole or in part. They can be inside or outside of the grid. These crosswords are appropriate for young solvers. -Fill-in crossword puzzles The empty grid and the words are given. The goal is to insert the words into the grid. -Cipher crosswords These puzzles do not have clues. Instead they have numbers, written in the cells of the square diagram. Each number represents one letter of the alphabet and the same number always stands for the same letter. There are several variations of this puzzle, e.g., one letter can represent another letter, the clues can be pictures, etc.

2.2.2 WORD GRID PUZZLES

At first glance, a word grid is similar to a crossword. But, here the rules of a crossword are not followed. This means that the words in the grid are correct only if read horizontally, but vertically they do not make a word, only a sequence of letters. In some cases, the overall solution of the puzzle can be read vertically in one of the columns. Word grids are usually not square.

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Figure 2.4 Word grid puzzle with solution

2.2.3 WORD SEARCH PUZZLES/ WORDFINDS

This puzzle is a square, or occasionally rectangular, grid of letters where each cell contains one letter. In addition to the grid a list of words is given. The goal is to find the listed words in the diagram. The words can be read in any direction, but always in a straight line and never skipping letters. The remaining letters usually form a meaningful word, which is the overall solution.

A variation of this puzzle is a word chain or word snake. Here a long sequence of letters is given and as many word as possible need to be found in the sequence.

Figure 2.5 Word search puzzle with solution

9 2.2.4 WORD SQUARES

Word squares are sets of words with an equal number of letters, constructing a square. All word squares are acrostic in their initial letters. The words can usually be read both horizontally and vertically. A perfect square is when all the words forming the square are neither capitalized nor punctuated and all words are included in major dictionaries. So far a perfect ten-square has not yet been created, neither by man nor computer. There have been attempts and some have yielded ten-squares, but none a perfect one (“Word Square,” n.d., Modern English squares section). The regular word squares have the same word both horizontally and vertically. However, there are also double word squares. These have different word across and down. They are a lot harder to create.

B I T C A R D H E A R T G A R T E R I C E A R E A E M B E R A V E R S E T E N R E A R A B U S E R E C I T E D A R T R E S I N T R I B A L T R E N D E S T A T E R E E L E D

B R A V A D O L A T E R A L S A C H A L A S I A R E N A M E D A X O N E M A L C R E N I D E N S A N A L O G Y T O E P L A T E H E X A N D R I C V A L U E R S E N P L A N E D A N A B O L I T E A M O E B A S R E L A N D E D L I N O L E N I N D E G R A D E A M A N D I N E A D D L E H E A D O D Y S S E Y L A T E E N E R S E R I N E T T E S L E D D E R S I N I T I A T O R A S C E N D E R S

T O O L A C K S C E N T A D M I T S U R N I R O N C A N O E D E A D E N B E E M E R E A R S O N S E R E N E B A K E R O U S E O P I A T E F L E E T R E N T E R B R E E D S

Figure 2.6 Regular word squares orders 2 to 9 and double word squares orders 3 to 5

10 2.2.5 ANAGRAMS/JUMBLED LETTERS

This is a classic word puzzle. The letters of the word are shuffled and the goal is to reshuffle them into a valid word. All letters of the initial word must be used.

A variation of this puzzle is sometimes used where a sequence of letters is given in a form of a word or a phrase and the goal is to find as many words as possible by reshuffling the letters.

Figure 2.7 Anagram puzzle with solution

2.2.6 PALINDROMES

Palindromes are words, phrases or sentences that are read the same from left to right or from right to left. A simple palindrome is the name “Anna”. The puzzles involve creating the palindromes. Stop / Pots Live / Evil Maps / Spam Rise to vote, sir. Never odd or even Eva, can I see bees in a cave? Figure 2.8 Some examples of palindromes

11 2.2.7 MATCHING WORD PARTS

Parts of words are given, usually in two columns: the left containing the first part of the word and the right the second part. The goal is to match the two parts that create a word.

Figure 2.9 Matching word parts puzzle with solution

2.2.8 MISSING LETTERS PUZZLES

In this puzzle some letters of the word are omitted. The solver must find out what these letters are and insert them in order to get the word.

There are several variations of this puzzle: -First letter given puzzles -Insert missing letters puzzles -One letter omitted puzzles -Insert missing double letters puzzles

The puzzles where the letters need to be added are also included in this group.

12

Figure 2.10 Insert missing letter puzzle with solution

2.2.9 GROUPING WORDS

The puzzles from this group are all about grouping words according to different criteria, for example: Synonyms and antonyms, hypernyms and hyponyms, categories (“colours”) etc.

This group includes: -Word or vocabulary network, word map or word wheel. The difference between the three is in the form. Word wheel is circular, as the name already suggests. The word map and word network are in the form of a mind map. In some the

13 categories are given and the words belonging to the categories need to be found. Or the given words need to be categorized into the given categories. -Odd one out This is a word variation of the well-known game. Several words are given and the goal is to find the word that stands out for whatever reason. That word is the odd one out. -Puzzles with synonyms and antonyms (matching them, finding them, choosing the correct one from the list) -Puzzles with hypenyms and hyponyms

Figure 2.11 Word map puzzle with solution

2.2.10 LIPOGRAMS, UNIVOCALICS, PANGRAMS

Lipograms are “compositions which contain no instances of a particular letter of the alphabet.” (Crystal, 2002, p.65). More than one letter can be omitted. Pangrams can be considered as opposite to the lipograms. They are compositions that contain every letter of the alphabet, that is at least once. A famous pangram in English is: The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.

14 Univocalics are compositions that contain only one vowel.

Puzzles involve creating sentences using one of these structures. In a univocalic game, for instance, solvers might create a sentence without using any of the vowels except ‘e’. Puzzles similar to these are also included, e.g. writing sentences with every word beginning with the same letter.

15 3 WORD PUZZLES IN BOOKS USED IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH

3.1 BOOKS FOR GENERAL ENGLISH COURSES

STRAIGHTFORWARD ELEMENTARY UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT INTRODUCTION 39 0 1-12 685 5 332 22 ADDITION(S) 83 2 TOTAL 807 7 332 22

Table 3.1 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Straightforward Elementary

NEW HOTLINE ELEMENTARY UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT INTRODUCTION 13 0 7 0 1-12 329 2 157 10 TOTAL 342 2 164 10

Table 3.2 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in New Hotline Elementary

CLOCKWISE PRE-INTERMEDIATE UNIT/ MAIN SECTION PRACTICE SECTION CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-32 437 0 128 11

Table 3.3 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Clockwise Pre-Intermediate

HOTLINE PRE-INTERMEDIATE UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT INTRODUCTION 13 0 6 0 1-12 309 1 168 7 TOTAL 322 1 174 7

Table 3.4 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Hotline Pre-Intermediate

16 CLOCKWISE INTERMEDIATE UNIT/ MAIN SECTION PRACTICE SECTION CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-20 524 0 113 12

Table 3.5 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Clockwise Intermediate

NEW STREETWISE INTERMEDIATE UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-12 328 0 296 12 ADDITION(S) 59 0 16 3 TOTAL 387 0 312 15

Table 3.6 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in New Streetwise Intermediate

NEW HEADWAY INTERMEDIATE UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-12 488 2 197 4

Table 3.7 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in New Headway Intermediate

NEW STREETWISE UPPER- INTERMEDIATE UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-12 330 0 283 17 ADDITION(S) 55 0 28 3 TOTAL 385 0 311 20

Table 3.8 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in New Streetwise Upper-Intermediate

NEW HEADWAY UPPER- INTERMEDIATE

UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-12 465 7 216 10

Table 3.9 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in New Headway Upper-Intermediate

17

ALL WORD PERCENTAGE BOOK EXERCISES PUZZLES OF WORD COUNT COUNT PUZZLES Straightforward Elementary SB 807 7 0.87% Straightforward Elementary WB 332 22 6.63% New Hotline Elementary SB 342 2 0.58% New Hotline Elementary WB 164 10 6.10% Clockwise Pre-intermediate, main 437 0 0% Clockwise Pre-intermediate, practice 128 13 10.16% Hotline Pre-intermadiate SB 322 1 0.31% Hotline Pre-intermediate WB 174 7 4.02% Clockwise Intermediate, main 524 0 0% Clockwise Intermediate, practice 113 11 9.73% New Streetwise Intermediate SB 387 0 0% New Streetwise Intermediate WB 312 15 4.81% New Headway Intermediate SB 488 2 0.41% New Headway Intermediate WB 197 4 2.03% New Streetwise Upper-Intermediate SB 385 0 0% New Streetwise Upper-Intermediate WB 311 20 6.43% New Headway Upper-Intermediate SB 465 6 1.29% New Headway Upper-Intermediate WB 216 10 4.63%

Table 3.10 Word puzzles as a percentage of all exercises in books for general English courses

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Straightforward Elementary Student's Book 3 4 7 Workbook 6 4 6 4 2 22 New Hotline Elementary Student's Book 1 1 2 Workbook 3 2 2 3 10 Clockwise Pre-Intermediate Student's Book 0 Workbook 2 3 1 1 1 3 11 Hotline Pre-Intermediate Student's Book 1 1 Workbook 4 2 1 7 Clockwise Intermediate Student's Book 0 Workbook 3 2 1 5 1 12 New Streetwise Intermediate Student's Book 0 Workbook 4 1 4 2 1 3 15 New Headway Intermediate Student's Book 1 1 2 Workbook 1 3 4 New Streetwise Upper- Intermediate Student's Book 0 Workbook 6 3 2 1 4 4 20 New Headway Upper- Intermediate Student's Book 2 5 7 Workbook 2 1 7 10 TOTAL QUANTITY 28 13 16 0 12 0 4 20 37 0 130

PERCENTAGE 21.5% 10.0% 12.3% 0% 9.2% 0% 3.1% 15.4% 28.5% 0%

Table 3.11 Occurrences of word puzzles in books for general English courses grouped by classification

19 3.2. SPECIALIZED ENGLISH STUDY BOOKS

CAMPAIGN: ENGLISH FOR THE MILITARY UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-14 624 0 274 7 ADDITION(S) 20 3 TOTAL 624 0 294 10

Table 3.12 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Campaign

TECH TALK UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-21 387 3 182 11 ADDITION(S) 60 4 TOTAL 447 7 182 11

Table 3.13 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Tech Talk

NURSING 1 UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 1-15 338 0

Table 3.14 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Nursing 1

BUSINESS VOCABULARY IN USE UNIT/ ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES CHAPTER COUNT COUNT 1-66 171 10

Table 3.15 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Business Vocabulary in Use

PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE MEDICINE UNIT/ ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES CHAPTER COUNT COUNT 1-60 196 0

Table 3.16 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Professional English in Use Medicine

20 NEW INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENGLISH UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-15 422 0 195 15 ADDITION(S) 85 0 TOTAL 507 0 195 15

Table 3.17 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in New International Business English

ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL TOURISM UNIT/ STUDENT'S BOOK WORKBOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT COUNT COUNT 1-15 262 3 213 3 ADDITION(S) 11 0 24 1 TOTAL 273 3 237 4

Table 3.18 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in English for International Tourism

PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH IN USE LAW UNIT/ COURSE BOOK CHAPTER ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 1-45 128 0

Table 3.19 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Professional English in Use Law

ALL WORD PERCENTAGE BOOK EXERCISES PUZZLES OF WORD COUNT COUNT PUZZLES Campaign SB 624 0 0% Campaign WB 294 10 3.40% Tech Talk SB 447 7 1.57% Tech Talk WB 182 11 6.04% Nursing 1 SB 338 0 0% Business Vocabulary in Use 171 10 5.85% Professional English in Use Medicine 196 0 0% New International Business English SB 507 0 0% New International Business English WB 195 15 7.69% English for International Tourism SB 273 3 1.10% English for International Tourism WB 237 4 1.69% Professional English in Use Law 128 0 0%

Table 3.20 Word puzzles as a percentage of all exercises in specialized English study books

21

Campaign Student's Book 0 Workbook 1 3 2 1 1 2 10 Tech Talk Student's Book 4 2 1 7 Workbook 1 1 1 3 1 4 11 Nursing 1 0 Business vocabulary in use 10 10 Professional English in use Medicine 0 New International Business English Student's Book 0 Workbook 1 14 15 English for International Tourism Student's Book 1 2 3 Workbook 1 3 4 Professional English in Use Law 0 TOTAL QUANTITY 17 19 5 0 3 0 1 3 12 0 60 PERCENTAGE 28.3% 31.7% 8.3% 0% 5.0% 0% 1.7% 5.0% 20.0% 0%

Table 3.21 Occurrences of word puzzles in specialized English study books grouped by classification

22 3.3 SELF-STUDY AND EXERCISE BOOKS FOR VOCABULARY

BOOST YOUR VOCABULARY 1 UNIT/ ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES CHAPTER COUNT COUNT 1-12 133 20 ADDITION(S) 16 2 TOTAL 149 22

Table 3.22 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Boost Your Vocabulary 1

BOOST YOUR VOCABULARY 2 UNIT/ ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES CHAPTER COUNT COUNT 1-12 135 22 ADDITION(S) 13 6 TOTAL 148 28

Table 3.23 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Boost Your Vocabulary 2

START TESTING YOUR VOCABULARY ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 50 8

Table 3.24 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Start testing Your Vocabulary

TEST YOUR VOCABULARY 1 ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 50 12

Table 3.25 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Test Your Vocabulary 1

TEST YOUR VOCABULARY 2 ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 50 18

Table 3.26 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Test Your Vocabulary 2

23 TEST YOUR VOCABULARY 3 ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 50 11

Table 3.27 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Test Your Vocabulary 3

TEST YOUR VOCABULARY 4 ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 50 18

Table 3.28 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Test Your Vocabulary 4

TEST YOUR VOCABULARY 5 ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES COUNT COUNT 50 20

Table 3.29 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Test Your Vocabulary 5

ELEMENTARY VOCABULARY UNIT/ ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES CHAPTER COUNT COUNT 1-8 216 14

Table 3.30 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Elementary Vocabulary

INTERMEDIATE VOCABULARY UNIT/ ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES CHAPTER COUNT COUNT 1-10 281 10

Table 3.31 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Intermediate Vocabulary

ADVANCED VOCABULARY & IDIOM UNIT/ ALL EXERCISES WORD PUZZLES CHAPTER COUNT COUNT 1-12 293 5

Table 3.32 Occurrences of word puzzles in comparison to all exercises in Advanced Vocabulary & Idiom

24 ALL WORD PERCENTAGE BOOOK EXERCISES PUZZLES OF WORD COUNT COUNT PUZZLES Boost Your Vocabulary 1 149 22 14.77% Boost Your Vocabulary 2 148 28 18.92% Start Testing Your Vocabulary 50 8 16% Test Your Vocabulary 1 50 12 24% Test Your Vocabulary 2 50 18 36% Test Your Vocabulary 3 50 11 22% Test Your Vocabulary 4 50 18 36% Test Your Vocabulary 5 50 20 40% Elementary Vocabularry 216 14 6.48% Intermediate Vocabulary 281 10 3.56% Advanced Vocabulary and Idiom 293 5 1.71%

Table 3.33 Word puzzles as a percentage of all exercises in English self-study and exercise books for vocabulary

Boost Your Vocabulary 1 5 2 3 7 5 22 Boost Your Vocabulary 2 5 1 6 1 3 8 4 28 Start Testing Your Vocabulary 4 4 8 Test Your Vocabularry 1 3 2 1 6 12 Test Your Vocabularry 2 2 5 1 2 8 18 Test Your Vocabularry 3 4 5 2 11 Test Your Vocabularry 4 3 4 6 5 18 Test Your Vocabularry 5 3 3 9 5 20 Elementary Vocabulary 2 3 1 4 1 3 14 Intermediate Vocabulary 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 10 Advanced Vocabulary & Idiom 1 1 1 2 5 TOTAL QUANTITY 28 22 12 2 10 1 6 43 39 3 166

PERCENTAGE 16.9% 13.3% 7.2% 1% 6.0% 1% 3.6% 25.9% 23.5% 2%

Table 3.34 Occurrences of word puzzles in English self-study and exercise books for vocabulary

25 3.4 CROSSWORDS IN THE CLASSROOM

So far in Chapter 3 the data on the use of word puzzles for educational purposes was gathered and presented. Crosswords are the most famous word puzzles and are used in schools a lot. A survey was conducted among students of France Prešeren primary school in Maribor. It serves as an insight into the student’s view of the usage of this type of word puzzle in the English classroom. 42 5th grade and 28 8th grade students were questioned and their answers are presented below. For survey see Appendix.

Do you solve this kind of exercise in English class? 2%

29% Yes, a lot. Yes, but a few. 69% No, not at all.

Figure 3.1 Answers of 5th grade students to question 1

Do you solve this kind of exercise in English class? 11%

21% Yes, a lot. Yes, but a few.

68% No, not at all.

Figure 3.2 Answers of 8th grade students to question 1

26 Do you solve them for your homework in English?

9% 17% Yes, a lot. Yes, but a few. No, not at all. 74%

Figure 3.3 Answers of 5th grade students to question 2

Do you solve them for your homework in English? 7%

Yes, a lot. 39% Yes, but a few. 54% No, not at all.

Figure 3.4 Answers of 8th grade students to question 2

How do you like them? 2%

They are great. 43% They are okay. 55% I do not like them.

Figure 3.5 Answers of 5th grade students to question 3

27 How do you like them? 4%

They are great. 43% They are okay. 53% I do not like them.

Figure 3.6 Answers of 8th grade students to question 3

What do you like the most about them?

They have nice 27 26 pictures. 23 They are fun. 18

They help me remember words. They help me to write the words correctly.

Figure 3.7 Answers of 5th grade students to question 4

What do you like the most about them?

15 They have nice 13 12 pictures. They are fun.

They help me 4 remember words. They help me to write the words correctly.

Figure 3.8 Answers of 8th grade students to question 4

28 What don't you like about them?

9 They are boring.

They are hard.

3 3 I do not understand them.

0 I do not like exercises with writing.

Figure 3.9 Answers of 5th grade students to question 5

What don't you like about them?

7 They are boring.

They are hard. 4 3 I do not understand 2 them. I do not like exercises with writing.

Figure 3.10 Answers of 8th grade students to question 5

Would you like to solve more of them?

12% Yes, a lot more. 43% Yes, but not too many. 45% No,this is enough.

Figure 3.11 Answers of 5th grade students to question 6

29 Would you like to solve more of them?

14% 22% Yes, a lot more. Yes, but not too many.

64% No,this is enough.

Figure 3.12 Answers of 8th grade students to question 6

30 3.5 ANALYSIS

In this chapter the focus is on books used for educational purposes. In 3.1 books for general courses of English were examined for word puzzles. The quantity of all exercises and the quantity of word puzzles were counted and the percentage of word puzzles calculated. The books examined were from four stages of English proficiency: from elementary through pre-intermediate and intermediate to upper- intermediate. In 3.2 books for specialized purposes were examined: courses for learning business communication, communication in an international workplace (Tech Talk), language for military and the tourist industry, as well as language for different areas (law, medicine). The books are arranged from lower to higher by level of proficiency needed to use them. In 3.3 self study and exercise books for vocabulary were examined. These books are often in series, going from lower towards higher levels of English proficiency. The Boost Your Vocabulary series covers beginner, elementary and pre-intermediate levels, and the Test Your Vocabulary and Vocabulary series cover elementary to advanced levels. The vocabulary books were chosen because among all the areas of language teaching and learning, word puzzles are most helpful with learning vocabulary.

One of the initial hypotheses was that the books for younger levels would include more word puzzles. However, that proved not to be the case. With general English course books the quantities vary from level to level, i.e. word puzzles in both elementary books are approximately 6% of all exercises, which is the case with one upper-intermediate level book (New Streetwise) as well. And if the two pre- intermediate level books are compared, the percentage of word puzzles is 10.16% in Clockwise and only 4.02% in Hotline. In specialized books there is also no pattern of that sort. The two elementary books Campaign and Tech Talk have 3.40% and 6.04% respectively and the upper-intermediate New International Business English has 7.69%. The hypothesis is similarly refuted when we look at the analysis of self-study and exercise books. The Vocabulary series goes in favour of the hypothesis, but both other series do not. With Boost Your Vocabulary books the percentage of word puzzles is lower in Book 1 than in Book 2. The same applies to the Test your Vocabulary series, where the quantity does

31 not decline with the level. The number of word puzzles in these English study books is not influenced by the level of the book.

Another hypothesis was that the workbooks (or the practice sections, if there is no separate workbook, as is the case with Clockwise) feature more word puzzles that the student’s books. This hypothesis was supported by the results. The difference between the quantities of word puzzles in these two types of books is obvious. The student’s books often do not feature any word puzzles at all. This is the case with both Clockwise books, both New Streetwise books, Campaign and Nursing 1. And others that do include word puzzles have less than 1.5%, and mostly even less than 1%.

If we look at the results of the occurrences analysis of different types of word puzzles, we can see that some puzzles are better represented than others. As it was hypothesised, the crossword puzzle is one of the favourite puzzles for use in educational books: 21.5% of all word puzzles in general English course books, 28.3% in specialized English books and 16.9% in self-study and exercise books. Word grids are also well-represented: 10% in general courses, 31.66% in specialized and 13.3% in self-study and exercise books. The missing letter puzzles are well represented in self-study and exercise books, where they are 25.9% of all word puzzles, which is also the highest percentage in these books. However, the overall leader turned out to be “grouping words”. This group represents 28.5% in general courses books, 23.5% in specialized English books and 20% in the self- study and exercise books. The reason for this lies in that the group comprises several different types of puzzles, like word maps, word wheels, odd one out exercises and all exercises with synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms and hyponyms.

There are some word puzzles that are not represented at all or in small quantities. These are word squares, palindromes, univocalics, lipograms and pangrams. There is not one of these puzzles in the surveyed books for general courses or in the specialized purpose books. In self-study and exercise books the occurrence percentage is 1% or 2% for each group.

32 In 3.1 to 3.3 word puzzles in selected English study books were researched and in 3.4 the survey with primary student’s view on using crosswords in the classroom was presented. More than 95% of students recognized the puzzle to be a crossword. Most of them agree (69% of 5th grade and 68% of 8th grade students) that they solve some, but not too many in the classroom. The percentage is different when asking them about solving the crosswords for homework, where 67% of 5th grade students said they only solve a few crosswords and 54% of the 8th grade students said the same. Only 17% of 5th graders and 7% of 8th graders replied that they solve a lot of them. When asking them how they liked the crossword puzzles, the majority said they are okay (55% 5th graders and 53% 8th graders) and 43% in both classes said they are great. Only 2% in 5th and 4% in 8th grade replied they do not like to solve crosswords. In question 4 the students were asked what they liked about them. Here a difference between the students from 5th grade and those from 8th grade is seen. 23 5th grade students said they like them because of nice pictures in them and 26 liked them because they help them write the words correctly. 23 students said they liked them because they are fun. With 8th grade students the top answer with 15 students was that they help them remember words. The answers that they are fun and they help them write words correctly got 13 and 12 points respectively. The most obvious difference compared to 5th graders is that only 4 said they liked them because they are fun. The main reasons for not liking the crossword puzzles were that they were boring or they were hard. And finally, when students were asked whether they would like to solve more of them, 88% of 5th grade students replied yes - 43% a little more and 45% a lot more. Only 12% replied they would not like to solve more. The situation with 8th grade students is that 86% would like to solve more - 22% a lot more and 64% a little more. Again a small percentage of 14% replied they would not like to solve more crossword puzzles.

33 4 BOARD GAMES BASED ON WORD PUZZLES

4.1 SCRABBLE

For 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up

When we want to write about board games based on word puzzles, we must start off with Scrabble.

Scrabble is definitely the most famous word board game and also the best-selling word game by far. The game has been translated into 29 different languages. So far over 100 million sets of games have been sold in 129 countries. (“Scrabble history,” n.d., para. 3) The game consists of a playing board with 15 by 15 squares and 100 letter tiles. Each letter is assigned a score, depending on its frequency in the English language. The distribution of letters in English Scrabble is as follows (Bird, 2008): 2 blank tiles, scoring 0 points 1 point tiles: A ×9, E ×12, I ×9, L ×4, N ×6, O ×8, R ×6, S ×4, T ×6, U ×4 2 points tiles: D ×4, G ×3 3 points tiles: B ×2, C ×2, M ×2, P ×2 4 points tiles: F ×2, H ×2, V ×2, W ×2, Y ×2 5 points tile: K ×1 8 points tiles: J ×1, X ×1 10 points tiles: Q ×1, Z ×1

It can be played by two to four players, whose goal is to score as many points as possible by forming words from the 7 letters, which are drawn from the bag containing all tiles. The words can be placed on a board horizontally or vertically, like in crosswords. At the end of each player’s turn the sum of letter scores is added to the player’s total. The players take turns forming one word per turn. The winner is the player with the highest score when all tiles are used.

34 The player can form words listed in an English language dictionary. However, there is also an Official Scrabble Player Dictionary, which is updated regularly and can be purchased from the Scrabble publisher.

Some of the variations of the game are: -My First Scrabble For children, aged 3 to 6 years This is a game with coloured tiles, where children learn the letters and form words. -Junior Scrabble For children, aged 5 to 10 years The board is double sided and includes a word recognition game and a game similar to classic Scrabble. -Super Scrabble This version comprises 200 letter tiles. -Scrabble Scramble Here the players do not draw letters, but they roll them. There are 7 dice with letters. -Express Edition The words are formed from letters, chosen with a roll of dice. The first to score 200 points, wins. -There are also some editions, which are the same as the original Scrabble, only the outlook is different. So, there are deluxe editions in wood, onyx, pocket editions, travel editions, etc. -Electronic versions: Mobile Scrabble, iPod Scrabble, iPhone Scrabble, Pc Scrabble, Facebook Scrabble.

35

Figure 4.1 Game of Scrabble

Figure 4.2 Game of Scrabble well under way

36 4.2 UPWORDS

For 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up

The traditional board is 8x8 squares, and in the newer versions 10x10 squares. There are 64 letter tiles. The basis of the game is the same as with Scrabble, but here the letters can also be stacked on top of other letters to form new words. Once a word is placed on the board, either horizontally or vertically, it serves as a basis for other words. These can be formed with the tiles stacked on top of the existing word (or not). The limit is 5 tiles up. E.g.: if there is a word BREED on the board, the player at turn can make BLOODY, if he has L,O,O and Y in his rack. Scoring: The letters are not valued. The players are awarded one point per letter used and also additional point for each of the below letter tiles. So, the higher the stack, the more points are awarded for the word. Letters placed on the board (zero level) are worth double. 5 points are subtracted for every letter that has not been played when the game ends. (“Upwords instructions,” 2004)

Figure 4.3 Game of Upwords

37 4.3 BOGGLE

For 2 to 6 players, ages 8 and up

This 3-minute game comprises 16 letter dice, a dice tray with a 4x4 grid for the dice and a 3-minute timer. To start the game, the dome is shaken to create a combination of 16 letters. These are the letters on the top side of the die. The players then have 3 minutes to find as many words as they can and write them down on a piece of paper. The words are formed from adjoining letters and each word needs to be at least 3 letters long. When the time runs out, the scoring phase begins. The words are scored by word length in the following manner: Word Length Ponts 3 1 4 1 5 2 6 3 7 5 8 and more 11

In Boggle all words which can be found in an English dictionary are acceptable, including different forms or verbs and plurals of nouns. Also the words within words are allowed; e.g. PLACE: LACE, ACE.

The words that have been found by more than one player are crossed off the list and do not count. This means that the most common words will usually not bring you points as they will be written by another player as well. So, the more unusual the word is, the bigger the likelihood that it will bring you more points. (“Boggle,” n.d.)

Some variations of the game include: -Boggle Junior This is a didactical game for pre-school children, aged 3 or more. It can be played solo or with parental or friends’ supervision or joining. In addition to 8 dice with letters there are also cards with pictures and the word of the object/animal/concept

38 on the picture. The object is to create the words as per given card. The level can be adjusted by hiding the name on the card and furthermore by timing the process. -Boggle Folio: Pocket edition of the game -Electronic Boggles: Hand-held game, Boggle for PC and Nintendo.

Figure 4.4 Game of boggle

4.4 BALDERDASH

For 2 or more players, ages 12 and up

This board game is actually The Dictionary Game, packed as a board game. It is also a bluffing game. The game has a playing board, definition cards and pieces representing each player. The game starts by choosing a “dasher”. The “dasher” picks up one definition card with 5 definitions. By rolling the die the dasher chooses the word from the card. Words on cards are real English words, but they are seldom used and therefore not well known. Numbers 1 to 5 mean word 1 to 5 and if 6 is rolled the “dasher” chooses which word will be played. After choosing the word the “dasher” writes down the definition of the word on a card. The players now need to write down the definition of the word provided by the “dasher”. If they do not know the word, which is usually the case, they have to come up with a plausible definition in order to earn some points. Once all players

39 write down the definitions they hand them to the “dasher”, who first checks if any of them are correct and then reads out all the definitions, including the correct one. The players then guess which definition is correct.

Scoring: Writing down the correct definition to the word given 3 points Guessing the correct definition when dasher reads them out loud 2 points Writing down a definition that another player chooses as the correct one 1 point No one guesses the right definition 3 points for the dasher

After scoring, the die is passed on to another player who becomes the “dasher” for the new round. The player who reaches the last square on the board first, wins.

Beyond Balderdash is a version of Balderdash. It is identical to Balderdash, only here 4 categories are added: People, Initials, Movies and Dates (“Beyond Balderdash,” n.d.).

Figure 4.5 Playing board for Balderdash

40

Figure 4.6 Balderdash cards for word “PHILODOX”.

4.5 TYPO

For 2 to 6 players, ages 8 and up

The game comprises 64 letter cards and a timer. The cards are shuffled and dealt in the following manner: 2 players 14 cards per player 3 players 13 cards per player 4 players 12 cards per player 5 players 11 cards per player 6 players 10 cards per player

4 cards are placed on the table, one below the other. The aim is to create words or part of words by adding the letter cards to the already placed cards on the table. At the beginning of each round players choose a letter card from their hands that they want to add to the table and show the cards simultaneously. The play order is set

41 by the letter cards in the hand: In the first round the player with the letter closest to A begins and the person with a letter closest to Z ends. In the next round the play order is from Z to A. This alternates. So, the players then put down their card, one by one, saying the word they have in mind. If a player is not able to add the card to the table cards, he/she must pick up the longest line of cards. The player who places down all cards correctly first is the winner. (Arneson, 2004)

The players cannot just add letters as they wish. The letters must be added with a word in mind. Any player can test if they have a word in mind.

Figure 4.7 Game of Typo

4.6 BUY WORD

For 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up

This game was selected as Game of the year for 2009 by Games magazine, a US- based magazine for games and puzzles. The author is the renowned game inventor Sid Sackson.

42 The game comprises play money, 108 letter tiles, 9 wild tiles which serve as any letter, and a special die with 6 faces - 2 of them are labelled “choice” and other 4 with numbers from 2 to 5.

The purpose of the game is to make money with formations of words. And this is done by buying the letters and selling the words made from the bought letters, and trying to earn a profit by doing so. Each player is given 200 play $ and wild tiles beforehand. The number of wild tiles given depends on the players in the game: 8 tiles for a solo game, 4 tiles per player in a head-to-head game, 3 tiles per player if 3 people play and 2 tiles per player if 4 play. At the beginning of the game, one player is assigned to be the leader who throws the die. The number given by the die is the number of tiles each player will receive in this round. If the die shows “choice”, the leader can choose a number from 2 to 5. When all players take the designated number of tiles in turn, they can decide whether they want to buy these tiles or not. The options are either to buy all tiles or none at all. Players then form words from the bought letters (they can combine with letters bought from the previous rounds) and can sell the words. When the word is sold, the letter tiles used are put aside and not reused in the same game. At the end of each round, no player should have more than 8 letter tiles in hand. They should either be used in words and sold or discarded to the tile pile. The game ends when there are no tiles left. The player with the most money wins the game. (“BuyWord,” n.d.)

Distribution of letters: 1 point: Ax8, Ex12, I x 7, Ox8, Ux4, Rx6, Tx6, Sx5, Nx6 2 points: Lx4, Gx4, Hx4, Px4, Dx4, Kx2, Cx4 3 points: Mx3, Yx2, Wx2, Bx2, Vx3, Fx2 4 points: Jx2, Zx2, Xx1, Qx1

Scoring: The sum of spots on the tiles is squared. The same applies to the buying and selling of the tiles.

43

Figure 4.8 Buy Word components and sample game.

4.7 PASS THE BOMB

For 2 or more players, ages 12 and up

The game includes 110 game cards, a special die and a battery-powered electronic bomb.

Each game card contains a sequence of 2 to 4 letters. One card is drawn and the bomb is activated. Player must shout out a word, containing that sequence of letters. Once finished the ticking bomb is passed on to the next player, who must do the same. The player who is holding the bomb when it explodes is given the card. The player with the least cards after 13 rounds is the winner. If there is a tie the loser is determined by sudden death elimination.

At the beginning of each round the die is thrown to determine where the sequence of the letters given should not be: at the beginning or end of the word or no restrictions.

44 The bomb timer goes off anytime between 10 and 60 seconds, making it impossible for players to predict the explosion. (“Pass the bomb, n.d.)

Words allowed are the ones in common use and no word can be repeated in one round. E.g. ROO: ROOSTER, ROOF, MAROON, ETC. (providing there are no restrictions mandated by the die roll)

A variation of the game is Pass the Bomb Junior. For ages 5 and up, this version includes 55 game cards and a bomb, but no die. The game cards feature pictures and settings that are easily recognized by children. A card is turned over and the bomb is activated. The aim is to say any word associated with the picture on the card.

Figure 4.9 Game of Pass the Bomb

Figure 4.10 Game of Pass the Bomb Junior

45 4.8 THE GAME OF SCATTERGORIES

For 2 to 6 players, ages 12 and up

The game comprises a 20-side die with letters on the sides, category cards, writing pads and a timer. Each category card has 12 categories, i.e. birds, items in a kitchen, ethnic foods, Halloween costume, etc. There are 144 categories in the older version of the game whereas the new one has 196.The rolling die has 20 letters, one on each side. It includes all letters except Q, U, V, X, Y and Z.

The game lasts three rounds. At the beginning of the game, each player is given an answering pad folder, which includes the category card and three blank papers. Then the die is thrown and the timer is set (up to three minutes). The players must now write down the words or phrases onto the blank pieces of paper that begin with the letter rolled and belong to the category given by the category card. When the timer goes off, players stop writing and the answers are read out loud. A player is given one point if their answer is unique, otherwise no points are awarded. Alliterations are encouraged, giving an additional point for each additional word used. But the first word, which is usually an adjective, should not be generic, i.e. if the rolled letter is C and the category is game, one can use “Chinese checkers”, but not “crazy checkers.” After three rounds the points are summed up. The player with the highest score wins. (“Scattergories,” n.d., Wikipedia)

Variations of the game (“Scattergories, n.d., Board Game Geek): -The Game of Scattergories Junior For ages 8 to 11 Players are given topics and according to the letter die they come up with words that suit the topic and start with the given letter. However, as this is simplified, the points are also awarded for an answer which does not start with the given letter. The game is shortened to two rounds. -The Game of Scattergories The Bible Edition For 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up

46 All the categories are somehow related to the Bible, i.e. Prophets, Places God appeared to man, Animals on the ark, etc. As the selection of words is smaller, the players are also awarded a point if their word does not start with the given letter, but only if other players do not have the same word. -Platinum Edition/Electronic Game of Scattergories This version does not have a board and die, but an electronic device instead. Players form teams and the words are not written down quietly, but are shouted out. Firstly the game chooses a letter at random and then names the category. Once players shout out the word, another category is given while the letter remains the same. Again, the words must fit the category and start with the letter given and the round are timed. -Scattergories - The Card Game For 2 or more players, ages 8 and up This game is a combination of Scattergories and Slap Jack. The game includes two sets of cards, one with letters, the other with categories plus the “I know” card. The two sets of cards are placed on the table in two face-up piles, but only the first card on each pile is shown. The first person to slap the “I know” card can give an answer. If it is correct, the player takes the card. The game is finished when either pile of cards runs out. The player with the most cards at the end wins.

Figure 4.11 The Game of Scattegories

47 4.9 HANGMAN

For 2 players, ages 8 and up

There are several board game versions of this classic game played with pen and pencil. Player 1 thinks of a word and the goal of the game is for Player 2 to guess that word before hanging the man. There are a limited number of choices. Player 2 names the letters that could be in the word. If the letter named actually is in the word, the appropriate letter tile is placed onto/into the rack. If there is more than one letter in the word, all letters are placed. If the named letter is not in the word, the person is one step closer to being hanged. Player 2 can win the game two ways: Either by guessing all the letters in the word or by naming the solution with some letters still missing. If they do not succeed within a given number of rounds, the man is hanged and Player 1 wins the game.

Figure 4.12 Two versions of Hangman

4.10 ANAGRAMANIA

For 2 to 6 players, ages 12 and up

There are many board games with anagram puzzles. The goal is always to create words from given letters. Anagramania is different in the sense that it offers a clue

48 to help find the correct word instead of just providing the letters: e.g. A player receiving the clue “Pat goes to the post office to find the cost for mailing his letter” would rearrange the letters in “Pat goes” into the correct answer “Postage.”

The game comprises 24 sets of clue sheets (for 6 players), each containing 20 clues, solutions sheets, pieces representing the player, a 30-sided letter die and a one-minute sand timer. There are also holders for the clue sheets, which prevent the players from seeing more than one clue at a time. To start, players reveal the first clue, all at the same time, and think of the solution. When a player comes up with the solution, the one-minute timer is turned around and the other players have one minute to come up with the solution. After one minute the solution is checked. The player who came up with it first, can move his/her piece 2 squares forward. All other players who find the right solution move their piece 1 square forward towards the centre of the board. Not guessing the correct solution keeps the piece where it was and having a wrong one moves it 1 square back. The first person to reach the centre is the winner. (“Anagramania,” n.d.)

Version of the game: -Anagramania Junior For 2 to 6 players, ages 8 and up The same game, only easier.

Figure 4.13 Anagramania board

and a part of a clue sheet

49 5 WORD PUZZLES ONLINE

5.1 BONNIE’S BOOKSTORE

The heroine Bonnie has inherited her grandfather’s bookstore. After finding some paintings she decided she would try to write a children’s book and the player helps her achieve her goal. The player is given a grid of letters and new words must be formed from adjacent letters. When forming the word, the letters of that word disappear and new appear and the tiles used turn green. Once the whole grid is coloured, which means that letters in all tiles have been used, the level is done and the player moves to the next level. This must be done before the given number of turns runs out. There are also special tiles in addition to the letter tiles: -Writer’s block tile - This tile cannot be used. Once the tiles below it are used and the tile falls to the bottom of the grid, it vanishes. -Star tile - It can replace any letter. This tile appears when forming a 5-letter word. -Lock tiles – These tiles do not show the letters immediately. Only after the word is formed from adjacent letter tiles are the locked tiles unlocked and show the letter.

If you run out of options, you can use the “Scramble” button, which scrambles your letters and by that gives you new variations of letter. But, this also uses one turn and adds a Writer’s block tile to the grid.

The harder the level, the harder it is to form words, e.g. when forming a word, all new letters that emerge are consonants so the player needs to finish the whole level with only the vowels given at beginning. Then there can be paired letters in some of the tiles. They can be used in the same manner as one letter tiles and can be placed anywhere in the word. And the form of the grid itself gets harder.

There are 2 modes of the game (The classic, untimed game or Action game, which is timed) and 3 difficulty levels: Normal, hard and genius. On the hard difficulty, fewer turns are given to complete the level, but the points are doubled, and on genius level even fewer turns are given, but the points are quadrupled.

50 The game can be played online with limited features or a payable full version can be downloaded.

Figure 5.1 Bonnie’s bookstore screenshots

5.2 WORD MOJO GOLD

The grid of 9 x 9 squares is given. The player is given six sets of 7 letters, each with a different value. There are 6 turns of 7 letters. In each turn the player needs to create words using the 7 letters. The letters need to be placed into the grid in a crossword style, so all letters placed must be part of a word. The player can form words of 3 to 6 letters. Two words can be created in one turn, if possible. After finishing the turn, the submit button is clicked and another set of letters appears. Again the player forms words, but they need to be in line with the words already in the grid. When submitting the words, the value of the word is added to the player’s points. After turn 6, the player must have a minimum number of points in order to continue to the next level.

Mega mojo round: There are 6 coloured tiles in the grid. The letters should be placed carefully onto these tiles. After the 6th turn is done, the player can earn points by creating a word from these letters. If the goal has not been reached yet, the player can form a good word and still win the level, even if the target has not been reached in the main game. If the player cannot find a word from this letter, the “panic” button is pressed and the word is solved, but only half the points are added to the player’s score.

51 Bonus points are scored by making 6-letter words and by using all 7 letters in one turn. Players can also lengthen words that have already been created and points are given for the whole word, even for the letters already used.

In addition to this the game is timed: the main game round is 3 minutes long and the mega mojo round is 30 seconds long.

Figure 5.2 Word Mojo Gold screenshot – regular game

Figure 5.3 Word Mojo Gold screenshot – mega mojo round

5.3 TEXT TWIST

In this game 6 letters are given and the solver needs to find words from these 6 letters. The number of words that can be created from the given letters, can be seen on the left-hand side, along with their number of letters. There is always one

52 6-letter word, which can be created from the 6 letters. If the player finds that word, they qualify for the next round, otherwise not. The round ends when the time runs out. The time limit for each round is 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

The basic game can be played online for free. However, a “Super” game can be downloaded. In this game the player can play offline and on a full screen. Also the games can be saved and played without the time limit.

Figure 5.4 Text twist game screenshot

5.4 PARADISE ISLAND

This is a game of syllable matching. Each round of this game has two parts. In the first part the player must match the 2 syllables to create words, belonging to the given category. I.e.: if the category is “gardening”, one word would be “pitch fork”. The time limit for one round is 5 minutes in the beginning, but this increases with the higher rounds as the difficulty and the number of the words required increases.

In the second part of the round, one or more words are given, again belonging to a category. But, these words only have a letter or two shown. All the missing letters are on a tray below and the player places the available letters in the blanks to create the correct word.

53 In this game the player cannot give wrong answers/words as the game does not accept it, it returns the syllables or letters back to their place. No minus points are given for wrong answers, but an accuracy score is displayed. The rounds are timed and additional points are awarded for the time remaining.

Figure 5.5 Paradise Island screenshots of first half of round

Figure 5.6 Paradise Island screenshots of second part of round

5.5 CODEWORD

Codeword is a word puzzle game, in which a player is given a British-style crossword grid with a number in each square. Each number stands for one letter of the alphabet. If there is more than one square with the same number, the letters in

54 all these squares are the same. The goal of the game is to fill in the complete grid with correct letters replacing the numbers.

Daily codeword puzzle at Brainbashers The grids are big at 19x19 squares. The grids are American-style grids, so most of the letters belong to more than one word. On the left-hand side there is a space to fill in the numbers

Figure 5.7 Codeword screenshots from BrainBashers.com on 19.2.2009

55 Codeword puzzle at Puzzle Club Here a smaller grid, 13x13 squares, is given. There are 26 numbers, each representing one letter of the alphabet. To start 3 letters are given already. Below the grid all the letters of the alphabet are written. When inserting the letters into the grid, the letters are crossed to help the player. The grid is different here than at Brainbashers.com, it is more a British-style grid as there are more black fields. This makes this puzzle harder to solve because when guessing one word, the letters of this word do not open another one. Also the grid is smaller and has less empty spaces, so each letter is represented less times.

Figure 5.8 Codeword puzzle screenshots from Puzzle Club on 4.3.2009

56 6 WORD PUZZLES IN U.S. NEWSPAPERS

English language newspapers are a good source for upper intermediate or higher- level students, or even for proficient speakers who want to improve their vocabulary and retain their fluency. Even these sources contain Word Puzzles, and they are fun but still challenging enough to make native speakers work so they are good for high level students.

Audit Bureau of Circulations lists all five of the below newspapers among top 10 in the period of April to September 2009. The Wall Street Journal 1,906,548 1st USA Today 1,900,116 2nd The New York Times 927,851 3rd The Washington Post 582,844 5th Daily News NY 544,167 6th

6.1 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

This newspaper features a crossword in the Weekend Journal part, which is in every Friday’s issue. The crossword measures 21 x 21 squares. Each week the crossword has a title. On 26.12.2009 the theme was Gift Returns and it included the clues: “I’m returning this laundry product-it only works on blouses (solution: “TOPS REMOVER”) and “I’m returning this scented spray-it smells like a bog” (solution: “MOOR FRESHENER”). The Wall Street Journal crosswords are also available online, as an interactive programme directly on the website and as a printable pdf file. The solutions are also offered.

6.2 USA TODAY

Here there is a daily section on puzzles and it features: -A crossword with American-style grid and 15 by 15 squares Again the crossword has a theme and some clues are connected with the theme. -Word Roundup

57 This is a kind of Word Search. A few categories are given and the solver needs to find words, belonging to this category. E.g. “Nine even numbers”, or “Three four letter bodies of water”. -Quick Cross This is a 4 by 4 squares crossword puzzle with no black squares. There are 8 clues, 4 across and 4 down. -Up & Down Words This is a word puzzle, where 7 two word phrases (e.g. civil war, air space) need to be found. The first word and the last are given. With the help of clues given, the solver finds the phrase. The second word of one phrase is the first word of the next on and so on.

The section also provides the solutions to the previous day puzzles. The USA Today online also features the word puzzles. With the Crosswords, QuickCross and Up & Down Words there are two skill levels: Regular and Master. In Regular the solver is offered a “Solve” button, which marks all incorrect letters.

6.3 THE NEW YORK TIMES

This is the best known crossword puzzle and is featured in many US newspapers. It is 15 x 15 squares big. The crossword is also featured on the New York Times website, but requires payment. It is so famous that there are Nintendo games and printed collections.

6.4 THE WASHINGTON POST

This newspaper features the following word puzzles and games: -A daily crossword puzzle with 15 x 15 squares. -Jumble crossword This is a combination of puzzles. The clues are given and the solver has an easier task to solve them because there are letters of the solution given. The letters are jumbled, so this is a combination of a crossword puzzle and an anagram. In

58 addition to this, there is a bonus. The clue is given and the letters are again given, but this time in form of circled letters in the solved crossword puzzle. -Additional crossword puzzle with 15 x 15 squares. This is from Tuesday to Thursday. There is also a Sunday crossword puzzle. -Scrabble Gram This is a variation of Scrabble. There are 4 “racks” with 7 letters each. The solver must make 2 to 7 letter words. All words are in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. After this is done, the value of words is calculated by summing up the values of each letter in the word created. 50 points are added for any 7-letter word.

Their website features the following word puzzles: The Washington Post Sunday crossword, The Washington Post TV crossword, washingtonpost.com's Daily crossword, PlayFour! and Crickler can be played. Crickler is a word game where clues are given in the form of sentences missing one word. Once this word is inserted into the space provided, the letters that are also in the following words are shown.

6.5 NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

This newspaper offers a daily crossword with 15 x 15 squares and Jumble. Jumble is an anagram puzzle with 4 sets of letters given. They must be rearranged to form 4 words. Each of these 4 words has some letters circled. These need to be rearranged again to form a final solution, which is an ending to a cartoon joke.

On their website, 3 word puzzles can be played for free, each with a new puzzle every day. These are: -The daily crossword -Play4 This is the same type puzzle as Quick Cross in USA today. -Universal Word Search All of the above have a regular or normal and master or expert skill level.

59 In addition to these, with a subscription a Puzzle Society can be joined which includes regularly updated puzzles, archive puzzles and some syndicated puzzles, i.e. the Washington Post crossword puzzle.

60 7 CONCLUSION

Most people look at word puzzles as a leisure activity. But, this is really not doing word puzzles justice, because they can be so much more. One important part is that they are a helpful educational tool. That is why it is important that everybody involved in the learning process is aware of this fact, so that the full potential of word puzzles can be used.

An analysis of books used for teaching and learning English shows that word puzzles are represented in them. In books for general English courses and specialized English books the percentage in student’s books is low (the highest percentage is 1.57%), but in the workbooks the occurrence percentage is from 2 to 10% of all exercises. From this we can see that the word puzzles are better for practising skills and not so much for introducing them. If we then look at the analysis of the occurrence in self-study and exercise books for vocabulary, this shows a higher percentage, up to 40% of all exercises. That is a significant piece of information, which shows us that word puzzles are very useful for practicing vocabulary. The percentage of occurrence in books for general courses and specialized purposes is lower as they deal with all aspects of teaching and learning English, not only the vocabulary.

When looking at the results of occurrence of separate types of word puzzles, we see that the most common puzzle is the most famous one, which is the crossword. Word grids are also quite well represented in most of them, as are missing letters puzzles, especially in self-study and exercise books for vocabulary. The percentage of “grouping words” puzzles is so high due to the fact that there are so many puzzles included in this group. The occurrences of each separate puzzle is significantly lower. It can be seen that some word puzzles are not well-represented in the books. These are word squares, palindromes, lipograms, univocalics and pangrams.

61 After the analysis of word puzzles in English study books, board games based on word puzzles are presented and playing rules and procedures explained. This is due to the fact that many games are not well-known in Slovenia and that might be the reason that they are not used. Nevertheless, they are a welcome addition in the classroom and each classroom should have some of them. They have high motivational power and will attract the attention of many students and help break the monotony that can be a result of using only the school books and the exercises in them. These board games will help improve English language skills when used at home as well. Board games also have the important benefit of incorporating listening and speaking skills, instead of focusing primarily on vocabulary.

Another important source of word puzzles is the internet. Some online word games were presented to show that these too can be a valuable tool for learning English, primarily vocabulary. There are numerous word games that can be found online, so there is no reason not to include them in the learning process as well. The lively presentations and animations help make the learning experience more enjoyable than the static paper versions. The online games have another big advantage, and that is that they are interactive. Learners can get clues to help them continue and get feedback on what they did right or wrong.

The word puzzles in newspapers are mostly used by native speakers. The difficulty level is high and therefore they could be used for higher level learners, like upper-intermediate or advanced.

Word puzzles are more than just crosswords and word searches; they come in a variety of forms that can be easily adapted for educational purposes. This thesis can serve as a guide to different types of puzzles, their uses and where to find them. Students of all levels enjoy them, and using the full range of word puzzles throughout the learning experience can be extremely worthwhile.

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Figure 2.1 http://www.smithtrust.com/satorsite/pages/SATOR.html

Figure 2.2 http://thinks.com/crosswords/first2.htm

Figure 2.3 http://thinks.com/

Figure 2.4 Campaign: English for the military workbook, p. 42

Figure 2.5 http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/patrick/word/search2.gif

Figure 2.6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_square

Figure 2.7 My Sails 2 Workbook, p. 36

Figure 2.8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome

Figure 2.9 New Streetwise Intermediate Workbook, p. 61

Figure 2.10 My Sails 2 workbook, p.66

Figure 2.11 New streetwise Upper-intermediate Workbook, ch. 9

Figures 3.1-3.12 Charts, created from the survey answers data

Figure 4.1 http://www.giftmonger.com/acatalog/retrogames_scrabble2.jpg

Figure 4.2 http://thesamovar.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/scrabble.jpg

Figure 4.3 http://site.unbeatablesale.com/img014/edre3127.jpg

Figure 4.4 http://ecx.images-

amazon.com/images/I/519dpjmQ2WL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Figure 4.5 My private archive

Figure 4.6 My private archive

Figure 4.7 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000J4FNYK/ref=dp_

otherviews_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&img=1

Figure 4.8 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/76269/buyword

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/413315/buyword

69 Figure 4.9 http://www.bestgames.com.au/Images/products/Cardgames

/PassTheBomb.jpg

Figure 4.10 http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/gi/gibsons-games-

pass-the-bomb-junior.jpg

Figure 4.11 http://www.gamesandjigsaws.com/images/Hasbro

/scattergories-1.jpg

Figure 4.12 http://www.kidtastik.com/w/2006/2095.jpg

http://inzane.ie/catalog/images/hanman_lg.jpeg

Figure 4.13 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/187696/anagramania

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/187699/anagramania

Figure 5.1 http://www.popcap.com/games/free/bonniesbookstore

Figure 5.2 http://games.yahoo.com/console/wm

Figure 5.3 http://games.yahoo.com/console/wm

Figure 5.4 http://www.gamehouse.com/play-game/super-texttwist

Figure 5.5 http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/paradiseisland.jsp

Figure 5.6 http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/paradiseisland.jsp

Figure 5.7 http://www.brainbashers.com/crosswords/codewords.asp

Figure 5.8 http://www.thepuzzleclub.com/codewords/codewords1.php

70 APPENDIX

Crossword surveys for primary school students

Taken from English with crosswords, book 1 (1989)

Please solve the exercise about farm animals.

What do we call this type of exercise? ______

Do you solve this kind of exercise in English class? Do you solve them for your homework in English?

a) Yes, a lot. a) Yes, a lot.

b) Yes, but a few. b) Yes, but a few.

c) No, not at all. c) No, not at all.

How do you like them? What do you like the most about them?

a) They are great. a) They have nice pictures.

b) They are OK. b) They are fun.

c) I do not like them. c) They help me remember words.

d) They help me to write the words correctly.

What don’t you like about them? Would you like to solve more of them?

a) They are boring. a) Yes, a lot more.

b) They are hard. b) Yes, but not too many.

c) I do not understand them. c) No, this is enough.

d) I do not like exercises with writing.

Taken from English with crosswords, book 2 (1990)

Please solve the exercise about body parts.

What do we call this type of exercise? ______

Do you solve this kind of exercise in English class? Do you solve them for your homework in English?

a) Yes, a lot. a) Yes, a lot.

b) Yes, but a few. b) Yes, but a few.

c) No, not at all. c) No, not at all.

How do you like them? What do you like the most about them?

a) They are great. a) They have nice pictures.

b) They are OK. b) They are fun.

c) I do not like them. c) They help me remember words.

d) They help me to write the words correctly.

What don’t you like about them? Would you like to solve more of them?

a) They are boring. a) Yes, a lot more.

b) They are hard. b) Yes, but not too many.

c) I do not understand them. c) No, this is enough.

d) I do not like exercises with writing