| about this site | who we are | site map | reading tips | teaching tips | student tips | build vocab | | teaching vocab | hot links | visit Thai school | Bangkok Post | student weekly | home

This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations. August 30, 2005 Learn something fun INTRODUCTION

TEACHERS The obvious attraction for the students in this lesson is learning how to play a game called Sudoku, so that is where I would focus in class. There is not much a teacher need do here apart from organising and controlling the class. At the beginning, you might briefly go through the key terms of the game (grid, cell, row, column and box). Notice that I have explained them in the students’ section below. Next, you will want to make sure students read and understand the objective of the game. After that, students should be pretty much on their own. I would have them work in groups to learn how to play the game. Then I would let them fill several boxes to demonstrate that they really understand how to play. I’m not sure how popular Sudoku is in Thailand, but it is possible that some of your students will already know how to play the game. If this is the case, I would put them into separate groups so that the students who don’t know how to play actually have to read the story to find out. The students who know the game could also read through the explanation and then start solving the puzzle. After 10 minutes or so, you could let them become advisors to groups who are having difficulty understanding the directions. You might want to suggest that students check out the website www.sudoku.com for additional puzzles. STUDENTS In today’s lesson, we’re going to use an article to learn how to play a puzzle that has been extremely popular in some parts of the world, particularly in the UK. Let’s begin by making sure we understand the terms used to describe the game. Refer to the grid (the pattern of squares) that the game is played on. cell a cell is a space in the grid; notice here that some cells are empty and other cells have numbers in them row a row is a section that goes across the grid; each row has nine cells and there are nine rows altogether — in the first (or "top") row, four cells have numbers in them (8, 1, 7, 3) and five cells are empty column a column is a section that goes down the grid; each column has nine cells and there are nine columns altogether box notice that the dark lines in the grid, cut it into nine equal divisions or blocks of nine cells each — each block is called a box; the first box, the one at the top-left corner at the grid, contains the numbers 8, 1, 9 and 2 Now you are ready to read and understand the “objective” (goal, aim) of the game, which is explained in paragraph two of the story. Read it carefully. Which one of the following best describes the objective of the game? //list// 1. To fill each row with all the numbers from one to nine. 2. To fill each column with all the numbers from one to nine 3. To fill each box with all the numbers from one to nine 4. To fill each row, column and box so that each contains all the numbers from one to nine. The answer, of course, is the last one – otherwise the game would be much too easy. Next, you will obviously want to learn how to play the game. You now have all the information you need to do so. Just follow the examples given in the explanation and you should be playing your first game in no time. Also read to find out the various difficultly levels of the game. How many are there?

OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST How to play Sudoku Although Sudoku is a puzzle with numbers, you don’t need to be mathematically minded to solve it. No arithmetic is involved. Nothing has to be added to or subtracted from anything else. Instead, you work it out using reasoning and logic. The objective of Sudoku is to place a number – any number from one to nine – in each of the empty cells so that each row, each column and each three-by-three block will contain all the numbers from one to nine. How do you go about doing this? Where do you start? Answer: Any place you can! For example, take a look at the Very Easy puzzle here. Let’s try to place a seven in the top-left box (call it “box 1”). You could simply guess where the seven goes, but that might get you into trouble. It’s more fun to reason it out. Note the seven in box 3 (the top-right box). It’s the seven for the whole top row, so the seven for box 1 can’t go in box 1’s top row. Box 2 also has its seven already. It’s the seven for the whole second row, so the seven for box 1 can’t go in box 1’s middle row. That leaves just the third row. In box 1, there’s only one empty cell in the third row — so we can put the seven in, between the nine and the two. Now let’s try and find the nine for box 2. If you look down at box 8 (the middle box at the bottom), you'll see that it already has a nine. That’s the nine for all of the fifth column – and, as you now know, you can only have one nine per column. Box 5 (the centre box) also has its nine. That nine is the only nine allowed in the fourth column. So the nine for box 2 must go in the sixth column. This time, there are two empty cells in box 2’s sixth column. However, look to the left. There’s a nine in box 1, and it eliminates one of the possible locations for the nine in box 2. Using this kind of thinking, you should have no problem solving the Very Easy (shown here) and the Easy versions of Sudoku. Solving the Medium version will require a little more effort, though. You’ll need some other tricks and techniques, but discovering them for yourself is part of the fun. The Hard puzzle, however, will need a lot extra! A Very Easy puzzle might take you 30 minutes to complete, the first time you try one. But you’ll soon get your time down – maybe to 10 minutes or even less. On the other hand, be careful of the Very Hard version. How hard can it be, you ask? Well, let’s put it this way: If you were incarcerated on death row and due to be executed the following morning, and the guard told you that if you solved the puzzle your life would be spared – you’d die. That’s not to say that Very Hard puzzles are impossible – they're just, well, very difficult. Of course, if you were prepared to venture a guess or three, you might strike it lucky and solve the whole thing a lot faster. Each Sudoku puzzle has just one solution. Each can be worked out using logic alone. If you want to guess your way, feel free to do so but —there’s a logical way to solve every single one. Have fun trying! incarcerated put in prison death row the place in a prison where prisoners who are to be punished by death are kept executed killed as a punishment spared allowed to escape from a punishment or an unpleasant experience • This lesson is adapted from the Bangkok Post’s You Can Read website. For more inspiring lesson ideas, log on to www.bangkokpost.com/youcanread. Read our other learner centre columns here. Return to our home page. | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2005 | Last modified: August 29, 2005