the amazing race crossword puzzle

I was thinking of coming up with crossword puzzles on my blog once in awhile. So for the first time, I'm putting up a crossword puzzle based on The Amazing Race theme here. For this first puzzle, I'm going to put up something simple, easy clues but definitely not for those who never watch the earlier seasons.

The Amazing Race Crossword (interactive version)

The Amazing Race Crossword (pdf version)*

*please come back again if you are not able to download because there is limitation for downloading per day.

Across
1. New twist in TAR Season 10.
4. Two teams from this country participated in TARA.
6. First family.
7. Team Joe & Bill (life partners) from the TAR Season 1 is also known as team ___.
10. New element in TAR Season 5. Time matters.
13. How many participants from TARA are not Asians?
14. In TAR Season 3, participants received their clues from this popular actor in Singapore.
15. "Romber" team finished ___ in TAR Season 7.

Down
2. Which South East Asian country did the participants race to in TAR Season 2?
3. Spoiler. Finish line. (You know this is about TAR Season 10)
5. B.J. & Tyler (winner of TAR Season 9) are also known as The ___.
8. ___ themed challenges - track and field, swimming, water polo, archery. Athens 2004.
9. ___ & Chip (winner TAR Season 4). Long-term relationship with Lance Bass (N Sync).
11. TARA Season 1 has ___ participating teams.
12. ___ hours penalty - "Who Digs the Beach?".

learning through crossword puzzles

I've always been passionate about crossword puzzles. That's why I've been trying to incorporate crosswords into the national syllabus and hope to produce an alternative way for students to grasp knowledge.

I have been using the same tool to teach my students, and so far the results have been amazing. My students did improved on their spelling and able to memorise terminology, vocabulary and facts (although there's no scholarly research being done to prove it yet). It can be used on both high achievers and under achievers, depending on its usage and sets of questions. Hence, I've been running workshops for teachers to guide them on crossword construction and how to use it in their classrooms. So far, I have been receiving good response from teachers and parents.

So, in order to apply this to students, I'll be running a series of workshops from this month end to August. Subjects include Bahasa Melayu, English, Science, Mathematics, Sejarah, Geografi and Kemahiran Hidup. This one-day workshop will be conducted in University of Malaya at the Faculty of Education. Time and date will be notified soon.

Schools, teachers parents and students who are interested and want to know more about this workshop, please contact me @ 012-3720 858 or email to me at wowmedia.pj@gmail.com.

Japanese teacher using puzzles in classroom

I was lucky to be able to catch up with a news coverage on NHK News 9 at channel 35.

Mr Miyamoto (I think this is the correct name) has been using puzzles (especially Sudoku) in his classroom for many years to enhance students' problem solving and thinking skills. NHK interviewed a couple of his students and they agreed the puzzle-solving activities helped them in both Mathematics as well as languages.

Mr Miyamoto invited parents to his class and explained his teaching style (Malaysian teachers and counsellors should practise this to improve schools-parents partnership). He also advised parents to listen to their children but not to intervene in their children's learning. If you look at the Malaysian context, many parents DO intervene in their children's learning and it affected the children-teachers relationship (and teachers-parents relationship too) in school.

it's been awhile...

Yes, it's been awhile since I last update my blog. Busy preparing for exams, doing assignments, presentations and proposal for my research for next semester as well as some publishing work.

I'm going to organise a workshop next month for PMR and UPSR students in UM. However, this workshop is not your typical exam workshop. I'm using an alternative approach, which is fun-learning based. The main tool I'm going to use in this workshop is crossword puzzle. More details will be posted in this blog and in my wowmedia blog soon (end of this month).

In this workshop, I'm going to take the opportunity to introduce a new series of books which is based on learning through classroom crossword.

Anyone interested in my workshop or my books can contact me via email or mobile no at 012-3720 858.

crossword construction workshop

My crossword construction workshop ran smoothly this morning. Although some of the participants cannot make it due to the changes of time and date, I'm still glad that I'm able to proceed with this first workshop at my faculty.

Throughout the workshop, I was able to understand more about the teachers need and things that I can improve in my presentation. I must say that I have a great group of teachers/educators yesterday. They are very proactive, knowledgeable and respectable teachers.

It's definitely not easy when it's a one-man show. There's a lot of preparation work, marketing and coordinating job. However, I couldn't wait to organize another one in this near future.

learn to construct crossword puzzles (for educators)

The Star published an incorrect title for my workshop. It is a workshop to help teachers to "construct" classroom crosswords and not learning how to "solve" them. Anyway, thank you The Star (Education) for their support.

The crossword construction workshop is strictly for teachers, tutors and anyone in the educational line.

As an educator who is using classroom crosswords in teaching, I see tremendous changes in my students. They are not only able to pick up terms and vocabulary but also understand its usage. For example, in Bahasa Melayu PMR level, my students are able to identify the different types of gaya bahasa in the anthologies and novels they read, thanks to their effort in solving crosswords I've created.

Learn how to create worksheet or online crossword puzzles for classroom teaching.

Another benefit of using crosswords in classroom teaching is improving students' ability in spelling. This is especially useful when it comes to learning languages, memorizing scientific and mathematical terms, historical and geographical facts, etc.

Teachers are encouraged to use classroom crosswords to compliment their teaching. I know most teachers would like to do that but the methods taught to them are either complicated or not user-friendly. Hence, this workshop is conducted to guide them to an easy crossword construction which they can master in just 2 hours.

Venue: Faculty of Education, University of Malaya (register at the Bangunan Pentadbiran)
Date: 25 February 2006
Time 9.30 a.m. - 12 noon
Target audience: Teachers, tutors, educators (all levels)

To download the brochure, click: http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=8338160 or call me at 012-3720 858.

crossword construction

Recently I chatted with a classmate who is working at the Curriculum Development Centre. She was disappointed with most teachers who seldom apply what they have learned in workshops in their classroom teaching.

A couple of months back, I came to know from another classmate of mine who is a teacher saying that they were taught how to construct crossword puzzles in one workshop. However, the method is too time consuming and complicated. Because it was a group work at the workshop, she did not know exactly what to do and leave it to one particular group member to complete the task.

As my educational crossword book series will be out in the market soon (in the printing process, finally!), I was thinking of sharing my method with teachers (or tutors, educators, parents etc) on how to construct good quality crosswords within minutes. I've been planning this idea for a week now and finally came up with something. I'm going to run this workshop in February at the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya and will be charging a very low fee (to cover training materials, rental and software installer).

My crosswords are not the typical puzzles you normally see in newspapers or educational magazines. Mine are more specific and encourage students to pick up important terms that cover all topics that they are going to learn that year. I've been using crosswords in teaching Bahasa Melayu and believe me the result is amazing. I was thinking, instead of keeping the method to myself, why not share with teachers. I believe teachers will apply what they have learned if the method is user-friendly.

If you are interested to know more about the workshop or my crossword puzzles, kindly drop me an email.

crossword puzzles and sudoku

I've learned a new game today. It's Sudoku! Being a puzzle fan, I never knew Sudoku existed. In Sudoku, there is no math involved.

sample - sudoku

The 9x9 grid has to be solved with numbers but you don't need to add up anything. All you need to do is fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. It's a simple game with simple rules and yet it's so challenging.

Check this website out for more info: http://www.sudoku.com/

Recently, I've written five crossword puzzle books for a local publisher. Hope the books will be out in the market in a month or two. Although crossword puzzles are nothing new to Malaysians but this hobby is not popular among us. Crossword puzzles are very big in the US and UK. You can go to my homepage and check out my puzzles.

academic crossword puzzles

Education should be fun. Being an academic facilitator, there's nothing more satifying than seeing my own students enjoying their learning process. Hence, recently I've completed writing a set of fun learning crossword puzzle books for UPSR and PMR levels. The set of books comprise some of the main subjects such as Bahasa Melayu, English, Science, Mathematics, Sejarah, Kemahiran Hidup and Geografi. I supposed the series will be in the market in two months time.

I have kept this idea for more than 2 years. Only recently I make myself work on a proposal and submit to a pubisher which I have worked closely before. Perhaps I should thank the reality show 'The Apprentice'. In one of the episode, I remember Donald Trump mentioned about 'a good idea is a saleable idea' (sort of). That means if you have an idea but never market your idea, it's not a good idea at all. Hence, I take his words and finally have the guts to approached the publisher. Initially, I thought people might not find it a fantastic idea (although I believe it is). But of course in the end, my idea was accepted and I glad I finally did something not only for myself but also for the students in the entire nation.

Let's say you are not really good in scientific terms or you are going to sit for Science exam next week. After revising for few hours you think you want to have a rest and a cuppa. This is the perfect time for students to try to tackle the crossword puzzles in my book. We still haven't settle for the title of the book but initially we called it the Puzzle Book. Still don't have an idea of what I'm talking about? Go to my website and take a look at it: http://www.geocities.com/hcfoo/