Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in
 
Wordplay

Wordplay English, baby! Video Lesson

Date: Jan 24 2007

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

In the US, there are two types of people: Those who do crossword puzzles and those who don’t.

What is a crossword puzzle? It’s a grid of intersecting vertical and horizontal rows of squares. You read clues, and spell the one-word answers to the clues, one letter in each square, until the grid is filled. Horizontal and vertical words intersect on letters that go in both words, hence the term “crossword.”

Crosswords can be very difficult to finish. There are usually one or two clues that can be impossible to figure out.

The most famous crossword puzzle in the US is in The New York Times newspaper. The easiest one of the week is in the Monday paper; the most difficult is in the Sunday paper. Recently, there was a documentary made about it, called Wordplay. The film chronicles a competitive crossword tournament.

Listen to Kevin and Mason talk about it!

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Kevin

Kevin

Mason

Mason

Kevin:  I saw the movie, um, Wordplay the other night.

Mason:  Wordplay? The crossword puzzle one, right?

Kevin:  Yeah. New York Times.

Mason:  I do the crossword, like, every day. I love it, so…

Kevin:  See, I’ve never gotten into crosswords, but, having seen that movie, I’m gonna start doing the New York Times crossword.

Mason:  The people are phenom… Well, and it made me ashamed ‘cause, like, I never finish it. I don’t, I don’t pay… I don’t try and learn.

Kevin:  You don’t time yourself.

Mason:  And these people… these people are crazy! They can do the whole thing with, like, you know, 20-letter words…

Kevin:  And so smart.

Mason:  ... in like, five minutes.

Kevin:  Amazing.

Mason:  Wasn’t the guy who won… the kid… it was, like, some kid.

Kevin:  I think he was, like, 22 years old, yeah.

Mason:  Like, two years ago at the national thing. Right. They were all saying how amazing that was because the, the references that you have to know, the vocabulary you have to have. Really impressive for someone of that age.

Kevin:  And I found it to be one of those sort of movies that, it made my heart, like, it made me feel good. Like, it showed that people kind…. the good side of people.

Mason:  Mm hmm.

Kevin:  And the people who were in this tournament were genuinely friends, cared about each other and were just enjoying themselves.

Mason:  I’m gonna tell you what’s important though, ‘cause I saw the Scrabble movie, and those people were, like, too… it was the dark side of it.

 

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz Go Super!

 

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3 Go Super!

The iTEP® test

  • Schedule an iTEP® test and take the official English Practice Test.

    Take Now >

Discussion

Mason and Kevin were both amazed by the skill and speed of the crossword puzzlers in Wordplay.

Kevin says that even though the puzzlers were competing, they still cared about each other and had fun.

Mason says the people in the Scrabble movie are much different from the folks in the crossword movie.

Do you do crosswords or other word games?

What kind of word games are popular in your country?

 

Comments

Log in to Comment

sara1998

sara1998

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Well,in Iran we have lots of wordplays such as:


1.doing crosswords


2.there’s a game we call it “1st name and last name”.one of the players say an alphabet letter and you should start writing different things which are mentioned in all papers and the winner is who finish it soone.you can do that as much as you want


3.another game is that a groupe of people start saying sth (a word or even compeleting a sentence)which is started with the last letter of the last word.before the game you can decide about what you wanna say a word(names,name of countries,etc).


and many other games!

07:33 AM Sep 11 2014 |

ttsuka

ttsuka

Japan

“In the US, there are two types of people: Those who do crossword puzzles and those who don’t.”— Oh, come on. You can divide people into any two types in any country!  Don’t say such an obvious logic with a knowing-it-all air ;) 

02:14 AM Feb 12 2014 |

Paul_Robert

Brazil

If you are traveling by bus is a good entertainment.

04:44 PM Oct 25 2009 |

Josh K

Josh K

Guatemala

cool topic.

05:26 PM May 09 2007 |

rayne

China

love the video! Keep it up!

07:59 PM Jan 28 2007 |

Everwelwisher

Pakistan

Nida where are you dear?

07:27 AM Jan 24 2007 |

anit_kane

anit_kane

India

All your guys out there who are really interested to learn english can log on to this site http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
Hope u guys are make a use of it.
Thanks
Anita

05:49 AM Jan 24 2007 |

oceanscent

China

good lesson

03:27 AM Jan 24 2007 |

Likes (12):

See all >

Share this lesson:

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Bebo
  • Share on Myspace
  • Share on Twitter
  • Email this to a friend
  • Share on Sina

Post Ebaby! lessons on your blog:

Ebaby! Cast