Compiling crosswords and scanwords is unlikely to become the main type of business and income, but how Additional income without leaving home, quite suitable.
As you know, the demand for crossword puzzles is quite high. Now almost no reputable publication can do without the publication of crossword puzzles. It is cheaper for editors to publish crossword puzzles taken from the Internet, while at the same time, reputable publications prefer exclusive crossword puzzles. And so my friend, at the request of the director of the newspaper, created a program for compiling crossword puzzles, I will not go into the description of this miracle program, I was more interested in the business itself.
Time has long shown how popular this type of entertainment is. Crossword puzzles came to Russia under Peter I, and they were invented more than four centuries ago in England. In those distant times, crossword puzzles were intellectual fun for the nobility. Today, the audience is much wider and covers people from children preschool age to pensioners. Entertaining crossword puzzles are printed in magazines, newspapers, books and children's publications. They are used not only for entertainment purposes, but also for educational, as well as control and thematic sections.
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The literal translation of the word crossword is interweaving, the intersection of words. In its classic form, a crossword puzzle looks like a grid containing empty cells for letters that form words. Depending on the location of the word, the first cells are numbered vertically and horizontally. Separately for vertical and separately for horizontal words there is a list of questions, the answers to which fill the empty cells of the crossword grid.
In addition to the classic crossword puzzles, today there are many other varieties. Among them are Scandinavian, digital, Japanese, cellular, shuttle, filwords, teawords. In addition, crosswords are thematic, dictionary, humorous, pictorial, alphabetic, etc.
Now even in a small town there are many newspapers. Almost everyone publishes crossword puzzles to attract the attention of readers. But not every edition, even with computers, has the opportunity to prepare them themselves. So they resort to outside help, paying a predetermined fee for the work.
Offer your services to local publications - as a rule, at least one of them needs such services. And having concluded agreements with several editions, you can secure a quite tolerable existence for yourself.
Subsequently, you can expand the scope of activities by sending out offers of your services to the editorial offices of other cities. Be sure to refer to the fact that in your activities you use "advanced technologies and modern computer equipment", list the editions of publications that you already serve.
For compiling crossword puzzles - there are special programs.
The amount for a compiled and edited crossword puzzle is from 65 rubles to 320 rubles (depending on the number of definitions).
...and some puzzles.
The path was rather crooked.
In my youth, I was a reckless infantile nihilist, plus I didn’t know at all who to study after school. I followed my mother's instructions to economic, accounting and all that. It is not clear what I, a terry humanist, expected at all. As a result, I closed the first session and simply stopped going to the institute, to my mother's horror (as I now understand it!)
A few years later, she seemed to have consciously entered psychology - well, and the same result. In fact, I didn’t want to study at all, I didn’t like the process, and the exams just drove me crazy. Instead of working on herself, she cowardly ran away from the problem, like a bride from the crown in a film with Gere and Roberts.
As a result, she was left without education, which, of course, is bad, ashamed, and in general she is to blame. She could not but understand that the work shines unskilled, but thoughtlessly brushed it aside, relying on our national chance.
After the first abandoned university, she worked for a year and a half as a secretary-typist in the Air Force Directorate of the Siberian Military District. Yes, yes, I remember the mammoth time when there were no computers, but there was a roaring monster named "Yatran", on the keys of which I thrashed at the speed of conversational speech, for which all the officers quickly fell in love with me in a working-platonic way.
In 1995, she left for a year with her then-civilian husband to his homeland in Sevastopol. They survived there ... as, in fact, everywhere in the 90s. Huddled in the markets, spinning, the whole country was trading in whatever they could.
She returned to her Siberia, worked as an operator at a paging station (yes, I also found dinosaur pagers).
As you can see, nothing to do with the topic from the title, not even a hint.
And it's all a hint.
And the fairy tale is rooted in school childhood.
It is a pity that my mother (for objective reasons, and I do not blame her at all) was not up to the children. She did not have enough physical or mental resources to give us enough attention, and I was, in fact, brought up strongly by my older sister and books. For the most part, I grew up as I had to, on my own, from the age of three I read voraciously everything that was not nailed down, spent the day in libraries, spent the night with a book and a flashlight under the covers. Maybe from here the legs grow in that literacy, which is called natural, innate. Everything was good with the essays too. She wrote stories and poems. Favorite games were word games (burime, for example, the gallows or this one, I don’t know the name - from the letters of one long word to make smaller words for a while). Well, attention - crossword puzzles. Which, over time, she began not only to solve, but also to compose herself, just like a hobby, to nowhere. There was no Internet then, I was surrounded by dictionaries and encyclopedias, I got information from there.
If I had more mind, less apathy, and my relatives connected and directed me in the direction in which I already floated quite well, I could become an editor, a screenwriter, some, I don’t know, a literary critic, a librarian, finally: )
But history knows no subjunctive moods.
In 1999, purely for fun, I married the same once common-law spouse with whom I had previously managed to part with relief, not to communicate for a year and a half, and who appeared on the horizon with persistent comebacks neither earlier nor later, namely during my non-reciprocal and doomed love for another, from which, in fact, I ran away in marriage. (Attention! Do not repeat this trick! Dangerous!) In 2000, a daughter was born. I found myself locked up with a restless, endlessly ill baby, there was no help from relatives, my husband was obscure with income, lived for his own pleasure, drank in companies, played slot machines, to my claims that there was nothing to buy medicines and food for the child, he stated: " Don't you have enough money? Go work!"
And I started looking for a job.
Since there were no nannies, no grandmothers, no aunts, no nurseries, and my daughter was not even a year old yet, only home work shone for me.
Well, let's not forget about the lack of education.
If I were a valuable specialist, it would be easier: get a job with good money, hire a nanny, the wolves are safe, the sheep are full, voila.
And on the salary of an unskilled worker, you can’t roam, no matter how small.
Therefore - only without interruption from the production of motherhood.
How many ads I shoveled. All these dispatchers at home, who, in fact, were scammed for money. These exclusive-merchandise-purchasers-at-special-prices. These handlers of postal information (send us N rubles, and the vacancy is yours). And so on and so forth.
Until one day I came across in a simple rag, thrown into a box for free - one of those that are put in a tray for cats, which cover the floor during repairs, folded into a bag for seeds - a few words in the "Wanted" section.
Author-compiler of scanwords. Payment by agreement. A phone like that.
I thought.
Crosswords Yes, I could easily. And I have never tried crossword puzzles. They were then still not exactly an unprecedented beast, but still a rather new thing. And how to compose them? If the crossword puzzle has a symmetrical grid with many black squares without letters, and questions can be asked at least a kilometer long, then there are many intersection points of words in the crossword puzzles, try to pick it up, and the definitions should be concise to squeeze into one cell. And brevity, as you have already noticed from this post, is not my forte.
But what am I risking? It won't work, it won't work. But what if?
In general, I tried. She piled something, clumsy, but kind of edible.
Went to show, not particularly hoping for anything.
A strict but benevolent uncle twisted my works in his hands, carefully studied ...
And they took me!
Without labor, without any guarantees, social packages and other benefits, with a fixed amount for each piece (in fact, they just bought scanwords from me on order) - but what's the difference, real money, even scanty, but their own! And interesting work.
I was happy.
It was June 2001.
The publishing house is young, almost newborn. It published two newspapers: one regular weekly, the other - A3 format - once every two weeks.
I received piecework upon the fact: handed over - printed - paid.
Moreover, I was not the only author, I didn’t do every issue from cover to cover, and as a result, a penny came out.
But I still remember how happy I was.
I worked, of course, only with pens and my head, I don’t know if the necessary programs existed then, and I didn’t even have a computer.
I sat at night, because hung around with the baby during the day. I slept for 4 hours a day, and sometimes I couldn’t take a nap at all.
By a happy coincidence, in our house there was a wholesale company selling periodicals. Once a week, one of the directors brought a part of the circulation there (yes, not a forwarder, not a manager, not a courier - the director, the publishing house was so small). He dialed me from my cell phone, I went downstairs with a child in my arms (my daughter was 10 months old), gave the sheets with the finished one, and took the fee. Later, that wholesale firm was closed, and somewhere from the age of a child, I began to go to the editorial office myself. She loaded the heiress into a stroller, into the subway, and on her way. Then it became easier at all - my daughter went to a nursery at the age of 2, I divorced my husband, having stopped wasting time and energy on him.
She worked for a long time without registration, and it was for the money - she could barely make ends meet. I tried to get a job somewhere in parallel, but everywhere, having heard about a small child, they made an absent face and closed the dialogue with the phrase "We will call you back."
Meanwhile, the child was growing up, and so was the publishing house.
First, the newspaper, which was published once every two weeks, was transferred to the weekly.
Then magazines began to be added.
And newspapers.
And further. And further.
It didn't happen overnight, it dragged on for years.
Gradually, a tiny newspaper office turned into a large publishing house, releasing not only scanwords and other puzzles, but also country, women's, and some other magazines, I don’t even know about everything :)
In 2007, I bought a computer, dug out a free specialized program with some difficulty, spent several days searching for it, filled a dictionary of more than 15 thousand words with pens, after spending three days with almost no sleep, and automated the process. Last year I switched to another program, more abruptly.
Now only I (and there are other authors) have 14 publications monthly - newspapers, magazines; weekly, monthly, some thick ones - once every 2 months; both the entire issue (newspapers from 4 to 30 pages), and partially - it happens that 40-50 pieces in one edition have to be sculpted at a time.
Once I was told in LiveJournal: what's wrong with that, the program will do everything by itself, sit down, spit on the ceiling.
I laugh.
The program is a soulless robot. She's on the drum.
She poke everything. In one scanword, both "hugs" and "hugs", for example, may appear.
Or a compound word in a place where there are few intersections and one or two letters are open. So guess some capital of Malaysia there instead of something well-known and easily recognizable. By the way, I generally excluded all these hard-to-reach capitals and others like them from the dictionary.
Or it will stubbornly hammer on the same definition from several possible ones. Therefore, I refused to automatically arrange questions and do it manually, periodically inventing or finding new formulations on the net, replenishing the program dictionary with them.
Or there are pictures to which you need to sum up the words. Or vice versa - it is chaotic to scatter what is hidden in the drawings over the body of the scanword, so that only the numbers of the pictures stand in the definitions.
Or crosswords, as I call them, with perversions: syllabic, double (in each cell there is not a letter, but two), with fragments (for example, musical: words are guessed as usual, but if the word contains the name of the note, it (the name) also fits into one cell - p-o-do-l, m-a-RE-v-o, a-n-t-RE-SOL ...). The last type is generally in the program, but absolutely you have to do it with pens, choosing words on your own, so that there are more of these special ones.
Well, there are many nuances, it makes no sense to talk about everything.
And in the most in general terms it looks like this, if anyone is interested: first you sculpt a grid, arrange arrows, windows for pictures, which then will be pasted by layout designers; next is the compilation itself, automatic or not, depending on the type of scanword; then you set definitions; then it is necessary to write down the words used in the repetition file so that the same words do not occur in the newspaper on different pages; well, and, in fact, saving (on the screenshots - the first three stages):
1) 
2) 
3) 
4) 
Now I’m officially employed, in addition to my salary, I receive cookies in the form of bonuses, gifts for New Year’s and March 8, and fun corporate parties, where I’m free and not to go if I don’t want to, but at the same time I taste all the delights of freelancing: work from home, in my free time, in the places available to you volumes, at any time you can dump even to the ends of the world, if only there was an Internet remote for. Do not push on gloomy mornings in transport, having time for nine-zero-zero, do not have to communicate in the office with people in any mood and condition, do not fall under the hot hand of the authorities - all this is especially valuable for a terry owl and an introvert.
Creative work, a mobile dictionary, it happens that you mess up, and you seal up, and instead of "white" you write "black", and the editors swearing catch your flaws like fleas, and again swearing patiently and affectionately inform you about the mistakes, I have a fantastically wonderful leadership , that's the truth.
There are a lot of publications, hence the schedule is frantic, sometimes you have to thresh for days in the literal sense, you don’t know where the emergency will overtake you and how you will get out of it. Sometimes you get so tired that you fall, and so that you don’t turn over for a week. It happens that you score on everything within reasonable limits (and now I’m procrastinating here, but the magazine is standing :)) But a respite of several days, or even a week, you can’t find a place for yourself, you tease the editors when and when the task is sent.
Crazy, routine, not boring for years, interesting, the best in the world - such is it, My Dream Job.
A crossword puzzle is a popular puzzle, the essence of which is to guess words according to tasks-questions. Researchers claim that the first crossword puzzles were compiled back in the 1st-4th centuries AD. Currently, many varieties of crossword puzzles are known: classic, crossword, chainword, fillword, Japanese, etc. It is known that the writer Vladimir Nabokov compiled author's crosswords for a Berlin newspaper, many still remember Oleg Vasiliev's author's crosswords in Komsomolskaya Pravda. Now in Russia there are more than 400 specialized periodicals devoted to different options crosswords*. Nowadays, creating a crossword puzzle is available to everyone.
In educational activities, solving crossword puzzles is usually used at the stage of repetition and generalization of the material.
How to make a crossword? Three preparatory steps
Compiling a crossword puzzle online or on paper usually comes down to the following steps:- inventing a set of words that will make up a crossword puzzle;
- formulation of tasks-questions by which the given word will be guessed;
- compiling the crossword itself, the location of the cells-letters on the sheet.
How to make a crossword puzzle online from a set of words and download in Word?
If you have a ready-made set of words that should be in a crossword puzzle, use the service for compiling an online crossword puzzle from words - CROSSOn the left, enter a set of your words, set the size of the crossword puzzle in cells (by default - 25 cells) and click the button Create a crossword.
As a result, you will receive an example of a completed crossword puzzle, which you can Download in Word format(empty) or Filled, also in Word.
When you press a button To try one more time a new crossword will be generated.
To use a crossword puzzle in a lesson, you will only need to enter questions into the crossword template that is downloaded in Word, print the required number of copies, and also print one copy for yourself so that you can easily check.
Compose a crossword online yourself - Crossword Factory
Link: http://puzzlecup.com/crossword-ru/In this online crossword creation service, you can create a crossword puzzle yourself by entering your words and placing them on the field, so you can generate a crossword puzzle from a list of words.
To enter a new word, select the cells in which you plan to place the word with the mouse.
Next, select a word from the dictionary or spell your own word. Click the button Ready.
You can then enter a definition for this word or delete it.
To move a word, select it and, while pressing the CTRL button, move it across the field.
You can print this crossword puzzle with words and tasks, or with blank cells and tasks. To do this, click the Print version button and check the necessary checkboxes.
You can also give a link to solve this crossword puzzle online on the Crossword Factory website. To do this, click the Save Crossword button.
Crossword - create beautiful crosswords
Link: http://crosswordus.com/ru/puzzlemakerAn interesting service with a nice design for creating and solving crossword puzzles different type. Unfortunately, the Add a question function did not work for me. Perhaps you will succeed.
To create a crossword puzzle, you first need to enter the words from the link Word Editor - Add. Words can be added separated by spaces or each on a new line. After adding words, you need to click the button Add.
State autonomous educational institution
Medium vocational education
"Kupinsky Medical College"
Methodical development related tutorials:
« Crossword as a form of organization independent work students"
Kupino
2016
Considered at the PCMC meeting
Protocol No. __ "___" __20__
Chairman of the PCMK ______
CONTENT
Explanatory note pp. 4-5
Educational and methodological lesson plan p.6-7
Explanatory note
Solving crossword puzzles is often referred to as "mind gymnastics". Some of their compilers show miracles of ingenuity and originality. In the Guinness Book of Records, a crossword with an area of 21 m 2 is registered, and this record is supplemented by a crossword with a length of 30 m 82 cm, which contains 50,400 words. A crossword puzzle is a way to find an independent answer to many questions, it is, in a way, knowledge of the world through guesswork.
And also - fun! If a person copes with a crossword puzzle, and most often intuitively or consciously he chooses the one that he can do, he receives the same charge of optimism that gives at least five minutes of laughter.
There is a lot of talk about the health benefits of crossword puzzles. Crossword puzzles gained incredible popularity precisely in the dynamic 20th century - life rushed at a gallop, people's nerves became thinner, and so that they would not break, a simple and effective means of neutralizing stress was required. This tool became a crossword puzzle. Solving crossword puzzles has a beneficial effect on the body - it calms, relaxes, which encourages all organs to work optimally.
Solving crossword puzzles trains memory, broadens one's horizons, and even contributes to the development of ingenuity. Doctors, in turn, have been using this puzzle as a sedative for quite some time. in the best way Involving the largest number of brain cells in the work and, therefore, providing them with a good sleep is solving crossword puzzles thirty minutes before going to bed. It has been scientifically proven that doing crossword puzzles before bed improves memory!
Content
Crossword - this is a puzzle task; its essence is in filling in intersecting rows of cells (vertically and horizontally) with words that can be guessed according to the given list of definitions of the meaning of these words. The name of the game has English origin(English "cross" - intersection and "word" - word) and is translated as "cross-word", hence the other name of the crossword - "crossword".
Crossword classification
in the form:
Crossword - rectangle, square;
Crossword rhombus;
Crossword triangle;
Round (cyclic) crossword;
Cellular crossword;
Figured crossword;
Diagonal crossword, etc.
by location:
symmetrical;
asymmetrical;
With a free arrangement of words, etc.
by content:
Thematic;
humorous;
Educational;
Numeric.
by country name:
Scandinavian;
Hungarian;
English;
German;
American;
Italian.
Types of crosswords
Fig 1. Classic crossword puzzle
Classic crossword
The pattern of this crossword puzzle has, as a rule, two- or four-sided symmetry. Preferably, at least two intersections, and ideally, single black blocks touching diagonally. There are open crossword puzzles, i.e. black blocks are also available outside or closed - only letters are outside the crossword puzzle.
Fig 2. Japanese crossword
Japanese crossword
1. Optimal size Japanese crossword horizontally - 20-35 or 55 cells. The number of cells that is not divisible by 5 without a remainder is undesirable.
2. A row (column) must contain no more than five groups of filled cells.
3. It is desirable that the resulting picture be recognizable and more or less interesting.
4. A Japanese crossword must have an unambiguous solution.
Fig 3. Keyword
keyward
A kind of crossword puzzle, in the cells of which numbers are indicated replacing letters. For the same letters same numbers. Perhaps, to simplify the solution of the crossword puzzle, it already indicates a word
Fig 4. Criss - cross
criss cross
Given a crossword puzzle grid and the words that need to be placed in it. Perhaps, just like in a keyword, a word or letters are inscribed in the grid to simplify the initial process.
Fig 5. Scanword
Scanword
Questions to words are written inside the grid, in cells. The correspondence of questions to words is indicated by arrows. If the arrows are only horizontal and vertical - the type of gothic crossword puzzle. If there are arrows and diagonally, then italic.
Fig 6. Fillword
fillword
This type of crossword is a field filled with letters. In all this accumulation of letters, it is necessary to find the words that are listed next to each other. There are two types of fillwords: Hungarian and German. Hungarian assumes the direction of the word in any direction, including along a broken line. In this type of fillword, one letter can be used once.
Crosswords are widely used in educational activities. A crossword puzzle is a kind of self-examination, an entertaining test. The educational role of crossword puzzles is that it allows in a game situation to intensify the process of assimilation of new knowledge, and positive emotions, arising in students in the process of solving crossword puzzles, contribute to the prevention of overload. Here the solution of questions of an individual and differentiated approach to students. The developing and organizing role of crossword puzzles is that when solving them, students have to work with teaching aids and other literature.
Educational crossword is a didactic game that contains a game and learning task.
There are several types of crossword puzzles: cognitive, generalizing, final.
Cognitive (or educational)- compiled according to the text (using text, drawings, diagrams, questions, conclusions, tests) of educational literature, lectures. Its purpose is aimed at mastering certain knowledge, skills and abilities.
Generalizing- is offered to students after studying the next topic, section, in order to generalize, clarify cause-and-effect relationships, and prepare for the final test.
final- serves for a comprehensive check of the studied material of larger sections. Questions from previous crossword puzzles can be used here, questions for the development of logical thinking are included.
When offering students educational crossword puzzles, the teacher needs to know that certain educational and educational goals must be achieved when solving or compiling it. Therefore, the following must be taken into account. The crossword puzzle must be accessible to the student: subject preparation, curriculum requirements are taken into account.
The crossword must be motivated, i.e. encourage the student to work towards the end result. These can be: evaluation, competition, analysis, discussion of answers, etc.
The crossword is designed to educate aesthetics, i.e. the teacher should think over the design, arrangement, color scheme letters, drawings, etc..
Solving crossword puzzles is effective after studying the next section of the course and when summarizing educational material major sections or the entire course at the end of the academic year.
Compilation of crossword puzzles is one of the forms of extracurricular independent work of students
Self-compilation of crossword puzzles contributes to the development of skills to navigate in educational and additional material, correctly and accurately formulate questions, determine the type of crossword puzzle, create it in printed and electronic form, as well as develop the creative abilities of students.
General requirements when making crossword puzzles
Crossword puzzles are compiled according to the text of educational literature.
When compiling crossword puzzles, it is necessary to adhere to the principles of visibility and accessibility.
1. The presence of "dice" (blank cells) in the crossword grid is not allowed.
2. Random letter combinations and intersections are not allowed.
3. The hidden words must be nouns in the nominative case of the singular.
4. Two-letter words must have two intersections.
5. Three-letter words must have at least two intersections.
6. Abbreviations (ZiL, etc.), abbreviations (orphanage, etc.) are not allowed.
8. All texts must be written legibly, preferably printed.
9. Each sheet should have the name of the author, as well as the name of this crossword puzzle.
Design requirements:
1. The crossword puzzle must be clear.
2. The grids of all crossword puzzles must be made in two copies:
1st copy. - with completed words;
2nd copy. - only with position numbers.
Answering crossword puzzles:
For typical crosswords and chainwords: on a separate sheet;
For Scandinavian crosswords: only the completed grid;
For Hungarian crosswords: a grid with search words neatly crossed out.
Answers to the crossword are published separately. They are designed to check the correctness of the crossword puzzle solution and provide an opportunity to get acquainted with the correct answers, which contributes to solving one of the main tasks of solving crossword puzzles - increasing erudition and increasing vocabulary.
Drawing up conditions (interpretations) of a crossword puzzle.
First, they must be strictly concise. They should not be made lengthy, unnecessarily exhaustive, verbose, carrying redundant information.
Secondly, try to present the word from the least known side.
Thirdly, look through the dictionaries: perhaps one of them will contain best definition. Definitions should not contain single-root words.
Stages of compiling a crossword puzzle.
Make an analysis of the educational text on the topic of the lesson.
Make a list of words of the studied educational material.
Choose the most appropriate type of crossword puzzle.
Search and compilation of questions to terms, concepts, definitions.
Draw a grid pattern.
Grid pattern numbering.
Printing texts of questions and answers.
Spell check of texts.
Checking texts for correspondence with numbering.
Crossword print.
Evaluation of the solution to the crossword puzzle.
Thematic crossword puzzles containing questions of a specific section of the subject being studied usually consist of 15-20 words, and the final ones reach up to 25. According to the current five-point system for assessing knowledge, a knowledge assessment scale has been developed.
Knowledge assessment scale
Number of words in the crossword
Levels of erudition
Time to solve the crossword
Time for a crossword puzzle
High "5"
Medium "4"
Satisfactory "3"
Low "2"
9-8
7-6
5 and below
20 minutes
60 min
11-10
9-7
6-5
4 and below
22 min
66 min
12 -11
10-8
7-6
5 and below
24 min
72 min
13-12
11-9
8-6
5 and below
26 min
78 min
14 -13
12-9
8-6
5 and below
28 min
84 min
15 -14
13-10
9-7
6 and below
30 minutes
90 min
16 -15
14-11
10-8
7 and below
32 min
96 min
17 -16
15-12
11-8
7 and below
34 min
102 min
18 -17
16-13
12-9
8 and below
36 min
108 min
19-18
17-15
14-10
9 and below
38 min
114 min
20-19
18-14
13-10
9 and below
40 min
120 min
21-20
19-15
14-11
10 and below
42 min
126 min
22-20
19-15
14-11
10 and below
44 min
132 min
23-21
20-16
15-12
11 and below
46 min
138 min
24-22
21-17
16-13
12 and below
48 min
144 min
25-23
22-18
17-14
13 and below
50 min
150 min
Creation of crossword puzzles using Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint.
In order to increase students' motivation for learning, you can use the capabilities of a personal computer to solve and create crossword puzzles. If you do a crossword puzzle using a computer, then interest increases many times, and the teacher receives a kind of test program in the form of a crossword puzzle.
The purpose of crossword technology.
The development of such basic qualities of creativity as fluency, flexibility and originality of thought, development of ideas, active creative self-development, intellectual independence of students.
The result is the activation of the mental activity of students.
Basic ideas of crossword technology.
Crossword technology is interconnected with project and game technologies. And so it has ideas similar to them.
These are developing, activity, personality-oriented, research, communicative, reflective approaches.
Like any other project, the crossword is focused on the personality of the student. And this is one of the most important requirements for design assignments.
Crosswords can be made in three ways: using programs: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint.
First way. Creating a crossword puzzle in MS Word.
Basic tricks
Creation of a grid by a graphical method; all elements must be grouped
Tasks for a crossword puzzle can be arranged in the usual way or in the form of callouts to the corresponding cells.
Requirements for creating a crossword puzzle in MS Word.
The presence of a grid.
Availability of numbers.
Visual design and location of the crossword puzzle on the page
Advantages of the method:
Independence from the computer when using.
Ease of implementation.
Disadvantages of the method:
The impossibility of automating the verification of the result.
Created mainly for paper only.
The second way. Create a crossword in Microsoft PowerPoint.
Basic tricks
Creation of a grid by a tabular method; while the borders of unnecessary cells are erased
Numbers are either inserted directly into cells or written next to the corresponding cells
Tasks for the crossword puzzle can be arranged in the usual way, or a separate slide is assigned to each question.
Crossword solution should be organized automatically, using hyperlinks.
Requirements for creating a crossword puzzle in Microsoft PowerPoint.
The presence of a grid.
Availability of numbers.
The presence of well-formulated tasks for the crossword puzzle.
Visual design and location of the crossword puzzle on the slide.
The possibility of choosing the right answer and the presence of incorrect answers with hyperlinks to the automatic appearance of the correct answer in the grid and the transition to the slide is incorrect when choosing the wrong answer.
Advantages of the method:
Possibility of repeated use.
Efficient possibility of use in electronic form.
Possibility of use for educational purposes.
Disadvantages of the method:
Unable to print.
Computer addiction.
Difficulty in implementation.
Checking the result occurs when choosing answers, until the student completes the task.
The third way. Creating a crossword puzzle in Microsoft Excel.
Basic tricks
The crossword grid is created by marking the borders of the cells and adjusting their width and height so that they are square.
Tasks for a crossword puzzle can be arranged in the usual way or in the form of notes to the cells in which the numbering is located.
Checking the correctness of solving a crossword puzzle can be done using conditional formatting (for example, if the correct letter is entered in the cell, then the cell is filled with a certain color or the correct letters in words are counted).
Requirements for creating a crossword puzzle in Microsoft Excel.
The presence of a grid.
Availability of numbers.
The presence of competently formulated tasks for the crossword puzzle.
Visual design and location of the crossword puzzle on the worksheet.
The presence of verification of the correctness of the solution of the crossword puzzle.
Advantages of the method:
Possibility of multiple printing.
Possibility of placing a large crossword puzzle.
The ability to automate the verification of the result.
Created to work not only on paper, but also in electronic form.
Efficient possibility of use in electronic form.
Disadvantages of the method:
Dependence on the computer when using.
Validation settings require certain knowledge.
Exploring the methods of creating crossword puzzles using Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, the easiest way to master is the way to create a crossword puzzle in Word, which is also the most commonly used among teachers and students. The most difficult to master is the way to create in Microsoft Excel. Each of the methods requires a sufficient amount of time. All of these methods have both a number of advantages and a number of disadvantages.
Conclusions.
Compiling a crossword puzzle is an excellent means of activating the mental activity of students.
Solving crossword puzzles, trains and improves memory, broadens horizons, promotes the development of intelligence, thinking, allows you to acquire knowledge, memorize words in game form, acts as a sedative, can be used for testing, teaches how to work with reference books and dictionaries, allows you to spend time with benefit.
Students enjoy solving and doing crossword puzzles because a crossword puzzle:
evaluates his abilities, and at the same time does not punish for mistakes;
Allows you to spend your free time with benefit;
This is a way to find an independent answer to many questions;
This is a charge of optimism;
It is a stress reliever.
Literature
Belyaev N.V., A large dictionary-reference book for solving and compiling crossword puzzles 1998
Popova E. A., The latest encyclopedia for solving crossword puzzles. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2010.
