Scott & Jody's Adventures Abroad: Crossword Fun!

Getting my students interested in English can sometimes be a huge challenge – case and point, my last blog post about teaching. I spend a lot of time thinking of fun English games that will get them interested. Most of the time this includes intense competition and or bribery, which I am not above offering if it keeps them entertained. During Christmas our class schedule was crazy due to random activities around the school, so some classes only had 15-20 students, and some classes didn’t meet at all. Instead of trying to plan a lesson, I brought a bunch of Crossword sets (a game almost exactly like Scrabble) into class, thinking that at least it will keep them off their iPhones for a while. I was not at all expecting their reactions: cheers as I held up the Crossword box! They went crazy, and in a good way! I passed out the games and started explaining it, but as I was explaining the students said, “Yeah yeah, Teacher. We know, we know.” I no more than set down the board I was using as an example before a student snatched it up to take to his group. Most of the words were pretty elementary, but some would make even Uncle David proud! I let certain rules slip by as long as the students were participating, and even let some words in like Maxim (I just didn’t feel like fighting that battle. It’s the effort that counts, right?!)

After class as I collected the games I explained that students are always welcome to come to the English office to play Crossword whenever they want. Not expecting any of them to come, I was blown away when a group of 5 boys came in asking to play Crossword. As word got around that students can come in whenever they want, we saw more and more students come in to play. Crossword is apparently an academic competition in Thailand, and the students really enjoy it. It was really fun to see the students so enthusiastic about something other than Doraemon or football. Anything to get them to practice English!