On a Hard Afternoon: Puzzles, Teach Peace, and the CAGE
- Johan du Toit
- Sep 2
- 3 min read
Kyiv — September 2
Today, like many schools across the city, we spent about four hours in the basement during air-raid warnings with drones overhead. By the afternoon the students were back in class—brave, tired, and full of static. I changed my Grade 5–6 plan and chose puzzles, taught through CLIL (learning subject ideas through English).
This post unpacks why: how puzzles serve CLIL, how they live inside two pillars of the JVDT methodology—Teach Peace and the CAGE—and how they move learners from confusion to comprehension using the Keys and the Journey.
Peace traces to Old French pais and Latin pax (“compact, agreement”), from the PIE root pag/pak—“to fasten, make firm.” From the same root we get pact: an agreement.
In the JVDT view, teaching is the communication and cultivation of peace; learning is a pact between teacher and student so ideas can “fasten” and travel.
On a hard day, a puzzle is a quiet enactment of that pact:
We fasten pieces into a bigger picture—just as a class fastens its attention and language into shared understanding.
We agree on rules, take turns, check evidence, and repair mistakes kindly.
We stabilize the room so information can become integration, then application.
Teach Peace means our language, timing, and tasks promote reconciliation, permission, and calm—so knowledge can hold.
From the same 2014 thread: the CAGE is not a prison; it’s a platform. We Cultivate Attention and Guide Emotion so learning can stand tall. Distractions—the “OB-anything” (objections, obstructions, obscurities…)—are named and contained, not ignored.
A puzzle fits the CAGE because it:
Cultivates attention with a single, visual focal point and a clear finish line.
Guides emotion through small, frequent wins; frustration is contained by rules and turns.
Channels passion into precision: “Let’s check,” “Show me why,” “Try a calmer way.”
Why puzzles suit CLIL on days like this
CLIL in one line: learn content through the target language. Puzzles give us all four CLIL “C’s” at once:
Content — numbers, patterns, maps, data, logic (whatever content you choose)
Communication — English used to do thinking, not to perform it
Cognition — classify, compare, sequence, justify
Community/Culture — norms of patience, turn-taking, and kindness (Teach Peace)
Language frames you might hear (light and usable):
“I think this fits because…”
“Can we check that again?”
“First we match, then we order.”
“Let’s repair this step together.”
From confusion to comprehension (the Keys + the Journey)
Starting point: a table of clues, a diagram, a set of pieces—there’s noise and not enough sense yet. The work is to fasten sense.
Four Keys in the puzzle arc
Association — Spot something familiar (a pattern you’ve seen, a direction you know).
Analysis — Break a clue into steps; compare options; eliminate what doesn’t fit.
Root — Name the rule that actually unlocks progress (the essential).
Context — Ask where/why it matters beyond the paper: Who will use this? How would it change for a different audience or purpose?
Train Journey (how the room moves)
Information — the rules/clues are presented.
Integration — we try, fail, adjust, and check.
Comprehension — the pattern “clicks”; we can explain the why.
Field of Application — we apply the same rule to a new item—or to a real-life choice.
Micro-moves that make the philosophy visible
Slow questions (Teach Peace): “What makes you say that?” replaces “Why are you wrong?”
Kind repair (Teach Peace): “Let’s fix it together.” Mistakes become data.
Choice to pause (CAGE): a brief, stigma-free reset is allowed; passing is allowed.
Clear, short instructions (CAGE): reduce load; protect dignity.
We-language (Teach Peace): “We can try that more calmly.” Shared responsibility.
Why this mattered today
After hours in a shelter, puzzles let us breathe and think at the same time. CLIL turned English into a tool for reasoning, not a test of nerves. Teach Peace gave us the pact and the tone; the CAGE gave us the stage to stand on. The class left quieter than it arrived—and still learned.
Love. Respect. Happiness.
Today they looked like steady voices, fastened pieces, and a bigger picture we built—together.
Comments