Visual puzzle

Visual puzzles are commonly used in TEFL to teach grammatical structures such as relative clauses, or (semi)fixed phrases such as "more or less". The task of deciphering the visual puzzles can be difficult and as the task involves little communication, it is advisable to set short time limits or keep the number of puzzles presented to a minimum.



Perhaps the most useful language point demonstrated in this type of puzzle is the reduced relative clause, in which the relative pronoun may be omitted, as in above and these examples:


 * 1) A Mexican (who is) riding a motorbike
 * 2) A Mexican couple (who are) kissing
 * 3) A giraffe (which is) passing a window
 * 4) An elephant (which is) passing a window
 * 5) Three Mexicans (who are) rowing a boat
 * 6) A koala (which is) hanging onto a tree
 * 7) A knife (which is) viewed from its end
 * 8) A Mexican (who is) riding a surfboard

However, not all images of this type use the reduced relative clause; the following must use a relative pronoun:



Idioms and (semi)fixed lexical phrases can also be taught and tested through visual puzzles.

Additional exercises
Can you dream up visual puzzles for more idioms or collocations?
 * hands down?
 * overpaid?
 * a piece of cake?
 * sitting on top of the world?
 * underworked?
 * out on a limb?