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.

File:Frying an egg.png

A Mexican, or cowboy, (who is) frying an egg—one of the most renowned visual puzzles

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:

File:Assorted visual puzzles.jpeg

Various visual puzzles

a. A Mexican (who is) frying an egg

b. A Mexican (who is) riding a bike

c. A Mexican (who is) playing the saxophone or trumpet

d. A giraffe (which is) passing a window

e. A Mexican (who is) standing by a pyramid

f. A Mexican (who is) having a bath

g. A Mexican couple (who are) kissing

h. A koala (which is) hanging onto a tree

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

A spider which has just won the lottery

A man whose bow tie has got stuck in a lift

A cowboy whose tie has fallen into his soup

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

More or less

Rings under the eyes

Can you dream up visual puzzles for more idioms or colocations?

love at first sight?

high income brackets?

References

12 of these visual puzzles depicting lexical items can be found in the book Multiple Intelligences in EFL: Exercises for Secondary and Adult Students by Herbert Puchta and Mario Rinvolucri, Cambridge University Press