The Language Teacher
September 1999
Using Crosswords to Teach Explanation Strategies
Mike Guest
Miyazaki Medical College
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words: Speaking, language strategies
Learner English Level: High Beginner and above
Learner Maturity Level: Almost any
Preparation Time: 1 hour (1st time only)
Activity Time: 50-80 minutes (flexible)
Have you ever been in a position where a student calls you over to their desk and says, "Teacher, how do you say (a Japanese word) in English?" You don't know that word, so you ask the student to explain it. What follows is a comedy of chaos with students offering up similarly obscure words, making vague kanji-like patterns in the air and offering a few free-associations that seem to be drawn from outer space.
Or perhaps, if you are Japanese, you have been asked by a non-Japanese speaker what a certain Japanese thing is or what a certain Japanese word means and, not knowing a direct equivalent in English, either start to panic or are reduced to silence.
Such cases demonstrate a difficulty in finding alternate or circumlocutionary strategies for explaining words and ideas. The pressure to find a direct equivalent in English can dominate to the point of paralysis. However, even native speakers in their own languages resort to using alternate explanation strategies when an appropriate or exact term does not come immediately to mind, so why not empower students by teaching them some of these useful strategies? Because of this recurring problem, I have devised a lesson that addresses and aids in developing such circumlocutionary skills.
Procedure
1. Make students aware of the problem by citing samples like those mentioned above.
2. Reveal a list of explanation strategy patterns as follows:
It is a kind/type of...
It is similar to...
It is a part of...
It is the opposite of...
It is a person who...
It is a place where...
It is a time when....
It is something used for/when/by....
It's a way of...
It's how you feel when...
It is something you do/say when...
It's a case in which you...
(Some combination of these strategies should be sufficient to explain almost any word).
3. Go through the list briefly, explaining how each pattern can be used to explain a difficult word (i.e. "'It is a person who' can describe jobs or personality types.")
4. Put the students into groups of three and give them three Japanese words to explain using these strategies. O-bon, enryo, irori, chindonya, hansei and mottainai, for example, provide a varied selection. Half of the groups get three of these words on a slip of paper, and the other half get the other three.
5. Tell students that they should combine two or three of the strategies in order to create a good explanation. Also tell them that it is fine to add an example or extra information to the strategies.
6. After about seven or eight minutes of preparation, put two teams of three together. They give the explanations of their words while the opposite team tries to guess which word it is. This is done alternately until all six words have been explained. Monitor this process.
7. Then, elicit some explanations that were used from students and point out various weaknesses in their strategies. (The most salient is the tendency to begin from a very specific or particular characteristic while ignoring a more general one, such as chindonya "It's a person who makes a lot of noise on the street.") Tell students, for example, that an explanation which moves from general to particular qualities is much easier to process.
8. Proceed to the centre of the lesson--self-made English crossword puzzles (see "Making the crosswords" section below). There are two versions of the same puzzle. One has all the vertical words missing, and the other has all the horizontal words missing. Students are put into pairs such that they will have opposite versions of the puzzle. Instruct students to find out the missing words by asking their partners "What's number X down/across?" The other partner must then explain the word by using some combination of the strategies practiced earlier. When the word is correctly guessed, it is filled in on the crossword until all are completed. (It is important to note here that our goal is not to have students produce exclusive, airtight definitions as much as it is to use a strategy sufficient to communicate the word/concept so that one's partner can comprehend it.)
9. Make sure that students are distanced from other pairs so that they cannot hear others give the answers. Also, make sure that if students don't understand a word in the crossword, you are able to whisper a Japanese approximation of the meaning to them.
10. Once most pairs are finished, ask students for examples of the most difficult words they had to explain. Give concise samples of how you would explain them.
Making the crosswords
Crossword Creator or any other crossword-generating program will make the task simpler. The number of horizontal and vertical words should be equal; sixteen (eight down and eight across) is optimum. The words should all be known to the students; recently studied vocabulary might be reviewed here. A variety of different part-of-speech words and a combination of abstract and concrete words should be used.
Why it works
This lesson works well for several reasons. There is an obvious need for the language strategies introduced and practiced here, so it has a clear practical application. The students gain a sense of achievement as the task has clear goals as well as providing a meaningful opportunity to apply the language strategies that they have just learned. The information gap task is easy to understand yet gives students a stimulating challenge. Last but not least, the game aspect of the crossword puzzles makes it fun. Suffice to say that I've never had a student fall asleep during this one!
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