Crossword

A crossword is vocabulary practice that doesn’t feel like practice. Every clue is a short definition in simple English, like “It swims on a lake and says quack”, and every answer has to be spelled exactly right, because its letters are shared with the words that cross it.

There are fifty crosswords in five levels, ten in each: Starter (A1) has animals, colours and food, and Advanced (C1) has academic verbs, the economy and philosophy. In class you put the QR code on the board and students are shuffled into teams. Every team fills its own grid on its phones, and a word found by one student appears on all their teammates’ phones at once. Students can also play every crossword on their own, at home, without a code or an account.

How a round works

1. Teams

   When you start, students are shuffled into up to six teams: Red Foxes, Blue Whales and so on. With one team, the whole class fills one grid together and the projector shows every letter.

2. Pick a clue

   Students tap a square or a clue and type the word on the on-screen keyboard. The selected clue is always shown above the grid.

3. Check

   As soon as a word is complete it is checked. A right word appears on every phone of the team; a wrong one is cleared and pauses that student for a few seconds.

4. Race

   The projector shows each team’s grid filling up, without the letters, so nobody can copy. The first team to complete its grid wins a bonus.

5. Solution

   When every team has finished, time runs out or you end it, the whole crossword appears with every word and its translation. Students can save the new words to My words.

Scoring

• 10 points for every letter of a word you find: CAT is worth 30, MONKEY 60.
• Used the 💡 Azerbaijani hint? That word is worth half.
• A bonus for every member of a team that completes its grid: 100 for the first team, then 60, 40 and 20. When the whole class plays as one team, everyone gets 50.
• Solo: three stars without help, two with up to three hints, one with more. Your best result is saved in your browser.

Settings you can change

Crossword

A random one from a level (or from all levels), or any of the fifty by name. Random picks avoid the crosswords you played recently.

Teams

1 to 6, 2 by default. Latecomers join the smallest team.

Time limit

Up to 30 minutes, or no limit. 10 minutes by default.

Azerbaijani hints

On by default. A student can show the translation of a clue to their team; that word is then worth half.

Pause after a wrong word

0 to 10 seconds, 3 by default.

During the game you can add a minute, give every team that is still solving one free letter, or end the crossword and show the solution. After the solution, N on the keyboard opens the podium.

Tips for the classroom

• Open a new topic with its crossword: the clues introduce the words before you teach them.
• With a young class, play as one team: everyone watches the grid fill up on the board and calls out ideas.
• With teams, give roles: one student types, one reads the clues aloud, one checks spelling.
• After the solution, go through the words nobody found. Those are the ones worth teaching.
• Set a solo crossword as homework: it works on any phone, with no account, and students see their stars.

Questions teachers ask