tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post112823940264369272..comments2024-03-29T11:29:58.276+09:00Comments on BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: crosswords and language teachingKevin Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-1128482219523808242005-10-05T12:16:00.000+09:002005-10-05T12:16:00.000+09:00I'm using Crossword Forge 4, for Mac. It's also a...I'm using Crossword Forge 4, for Mac. It's also available for Windows. A writeup is <A HREF="http://www.solrobots.com/crosswordforge/" REL="nofollow">here</A>.<BR/><BR/>So far, I'm enjoying the software. It's fairly easy to figure out and good for my limited needs. Actually, I like the word search builder more than the crossword builder.<BR/><BR/>When making crosswords, the computer has to figure out the best way to make the words intersect with each other within a finite gridspace. This means that there's a risk of crowding/awkwardness: not all the words might fit into the grid. This happened on a recent crossword I made: my "word bank" had 25 words in it, but the puzzle fitted only 24. The word search is better because it's easier to scrunch a lot of words together.<BR/><BR/>All in all, I'd recommend the software.<BR/><BR/><BR/>KevinKevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-1128470374651127162005-10-05T08:59:00.000+09:002005-10-05T08:59:00.000+09:00What crossword puzzle software did you buy, and wo...What crossword puzzle software did you buy, and would you recommend it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-1128317029506060032005-10-03T14:23:00.000+09:002005-10-03T14:23:00.000+09:00Dis-moi qui tu hantes et je te dirai qui tu es, as...<I>Dis-moi qui tu hantes et je te dirai qui tu es</I>, as the saying goes.<BR/><BR/>But, damn, is that the life lesson I want to be teaching?<BR/><BR/>When I hit upon the mixer quiz idea while teaching French in an American Catholic high school in 1993, I was relieved. I'd been trying to find some method to get the students talking with each other as well as moving around, but I knew I wanted the quiz to reflect the student's own merits. This is why it's crucial to the quiz that each student be responsible for the rightness or wrongness of the answers appearing on his/her paper.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, as the Korean example shows, deliberately collaborative efforts (e.g., through clustering in groups) can muddy the waters, making it difficult to determine to what extent the student's quiz answers are a reflection of her own merit. I plan to set up my next mixer quiz in such a way that mixing will occur according to a rigid procedure. I learned my lesson: spontaneity in a quiz isn't the best medicine.<BR/><BR/>No method is flawless, though, and so I've built in measures, e.g., the one-on-one interview, to compensate for methodological flaws. I suppose one has to make compromises no matter how one goes about the teaching game.<BR/><BR/><BR/>KevinKevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-1128301005026740832005-10-03T09:56:00.000+09:002005-10-03T09:56:00.000+09:00"Mixer quizzes have one other major disadvantage: ..."Mixer quizzes have one other major disadvantage: a dumb or chronically unprepared student can do fairly well on them if they trust that all their partners know the correct answers."<BR/><BR/>While this may be undesirable in an academic setting, this happens very often in real life--i.e., a person who may not be the cream of the crop surrounds him or herself with intelligent people and manages to succeed (or at least cover up failure). So while the original mixer test format may not have been ideal for learning English, it was probably teaching a valuable life lesson: you're only as good as the people with which you surround yourself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com