I’ve also remembered how great it is to do half a crossword activities with adults.  Similarly to find the difference activities, younger learners have a habit of trying to find the easy route…thinking that the aim of the activity is to finish quickly, rather than use their English!

You can use a website such as Puzzle Maker to create your own crosswords and although as yet I haven’t found one which will make two halves of the crossword for you, it’s simple enough to print out two blank pages and write in the answers yourself.

I also think that it’s a great activity to work on fluency, rather than accuracy, as the nature of the activity is to communicate effectively so that your partner can guess the word you’re trying to describe.  This is a skill which is particularly useful for students when travelling to or living in an English-speaking country – I know there have been times in Spain when I’ve had to explain something through a combination of words and gestures such as zip, elastic and multi-socket adaptor!