My next ESL Extras book is almost ready to go – a puzzle book called Extra Easy Puzzles. I’m not the only puzzle creator around, of course, and I’ve recently seen beginner learners getting very excited about some picture puzzles given to them by their class teacher. When I looked more closely, I realised that these puzzles came from the Picture Crosswords book written by a writing friend, Elizabeth Bezant.
It’s possibly not a name you’ll have heard in an ESOL context – she’s more involved in personal essay writing these days. When I met up with her this week (and was showing her my book draft), I thought I’d ask her what got her interested in puzzle writing. Here’s her reply:
Thoughts on writing ESL puzzles …
I love doing puzzles myself. I grew up in the UK, and my Dad used to go to the London office every Friday. On the way home he’d pick up the evening newspaper, which had a picture crossword in it, and I’d so look forward to that. It made Friday special (and I’d be very upset if he didn’t buy the paper).
Fast forward to a different time of my life, when I was writing stories and puzzles for some US children’s magazines, and I decided to create my own picture crosswords at a much simpler level, geared to children of the same age as I was then. They were published by ReadyEd (a well-known Aussie publisher of photocopiable resources) – and they’re still selling, years later. I guess vocabulary doesn’t go out of date?
What’s interesting is that I often hear of them being used at TAFE for ESL students, as well as in schools or by home schooling parents. I like thinking that something I’ve written is making a difference, somewhere…
(Clare’s note: I also like the thought that a childhood passion can lead to creative decisions later in life.)
And a note for would-be authors:
If you think you might be interested in writing for ReadyEd, they do accept submissions; I just contacted them and was told: Generally, we stick to our team of established writers but occasionally someone submits some really quality materials and becomes one of the team…
