SKKN using teaching aids in a language class

Yen lac education office Ph¹m c«ng b×nh secondary school  Seminar Using teaching aids in a language class The writer : Tr¬ng Quang Kh¸nh The teacher: TrÇn ThÞ Liªn School year: 2007 –

Yen lac education office Ph¹m c«ng b×nh secondary school



Seminar

Using teaching aids

in a language class

The writer : Tr¬ng Quang Kh¸nh

The teacher: TrÇn ThÞ Liªn

School year: 2007 – 2008 2008

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

A The acknowledgement.

I Reason for choosing the topic:

Firstly, “Teaching aid” is one of the subjects in the Frequency Improving Book“ ” and using teaching aids is also an obligatory thing in class So I think this is a good chance for us to discuss how to use teaching aids effectively in a language class

Secondly, Teaching aids can be used to teach in most of the contents of an English

lesson such as teaching new vocabulary, structures, grammar, listening and

speaking, etc Necessary teaching aids not only make our periods more lively and

exciting, but also help our students more enthusiastically in learning English

Further more, In the reality of teaching different aspects and skills, teaching aids produce countless unpredictable results which an ordinary class without any aids can not do A class with a good exploitation of suitable teaching aids is always exciting and sucessful The teacher can save a lot of time from trying to present and explain new item for students’ practice The students find it easy to perceive, understand, practise and use the item with confidence and creativity

Finally, using teaching aids is very important and necessary in new method of teaching English

II Understanding the subject:

What are teaching aids ?

1 Definition:

According to Peter Wingard in Teaching English as an international Language – 2008

A Practical Guide – 2008 teaching aids are any thing from a detailed syllabus, a text book to audio, visual and audiovisual equipment that is used to facilitate and better the result of teachers’ teaching and learners’ learning They are regarded as the useful servants not masters of the language teaching and learning process They appear beacause the need of this process

2 Kinds of teaching aids:

From the obove definition, teaching aids can be grouped into three main kinds:

- Audio aids

- Visual aids

- Audio-visual aids

 Audio aids:

Audio aids such as language laboratory, radio, cassette, tape, teacher s and’

student s voice’ , etc, are often used for listening comprehension practice

 Visual aids:

Visual aids are anything visible to students, which the teacher uses for different

purposes in the class They may be objects, pieces of classroom furniture, pictures,

cut-out magazine pictures, drawings, cards, maps, teacher and learners themselves

and so on They can be used in different stages of a lesson, and they are rich in forms , cheap to make, easy to find, convinient and effective use in a language class

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

 Audio-visual aids:

Audio visual aids are the combination of the audio and visual aids for convinient, multi-purposed use in a language class, e.g telivision, recorded film, video, plays, etc They may be good for listening, speaking and other language skill activities Among these three main kinds of teaching aids, the visual ones are the most common and effective in a language class, which Vietnamese teachers at all school levels can find, make and use easily

III Some principles of using teaching aids:

The first principle is “good preparation of suitable aids” When we are

assigned with a new language item to teach, for instant, a dialogue, a grammartical structure or a new word, we must ask ourselves the following questions:

- Does it need any teaching aids ?

- What teaching aids will be needed for the presentation, practice and production ?

- Are they easy for us to prepare and simple for students to understand ?

- What language content or exercises will be used with these aids ?

- When is this or that aid used ?

- How is this aid used to achieve the best result ?

- How long is this aid used ?

These questions may help us to decide on the use of teaching aids, type os suitable aid and to prepare the language content, time and way to use it effectively

The second principle is that it must be exploited to the maximum in the class

or else it may waste a lot

Another principle is that the chosen teaching aid must be suitable to the teaching item and simple enough for students to understand

The final principle is that the teaching aid must be big enough to be seen or heard by all the students from different parts of the classroom and it must be economic, durable to make and use

B Content:

Techniques of using some common audio and visual aids

The most common, effective teaching aids at the disposal and potentiality of Vietnamese teachers of English are surely visual aids, therefore, in this part, some common kinds of visual aids such as board, drawings, pictures, realia, teacher’s action will be discussed in details in the hope that they may be the reference to every teacher of English

1 Board.

Teacher use the board to make thing clearer to the class and help to focus their attention So in order to use it effectively, we need to develop good basic techniques

of writing on the board and organizing the layout of what we write

When writing on the board, the teacher should follow the following basic principles:

- Write clearly The writing should be large enough to read from the back of the class

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

- Write in straight line, neither uphill or downhill

- Stand in a way that does not hide the board We can stand sideways, half facing the board and half facing the class with our arm fully extended; in this way we can control the students and the students can see what we are writing

- Talk as you write We can say aloud what we are writing so that the students can hear or see the writing at the same time

- Write only the necessities neatly on the board after they orally presented and understood by the students

About the organization of the board, there are various ways of dividing it up I think

we should divide the blackboard into three or four patrs

2 Drawing:

Simple drawings or sketches on sheets of paper or the board can be useful in a language class They can be used to show or prctise the meanings of grammartical structures, new words about people, attitude, actions, etc in a quick and attractive way They can create various contexts for students to imagine and use the language meaningfully

 Drawing stick figures:

 Drawing furniture, studying objects

Computer telivision telephone chair table stereo

notebook envelop ruler ink-pot happy sad

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

Example for illustration:

English 7: Unit 3: Language focus 1(P.39-prepositions) on

Revise and practise using prepositions of position

English 9: Unit 4: Listen (used to warm up)

T draws on the board and asks some

pre-questions:

+Who are they ?

+Where is Nga now ?

+Can Nga speak English ?

+How can she speak English ?

+What for ?

Sts look at the drawing, think and give their answers

T “Today we are going to listen to ”

Sts.listen to the intrduction

3 Pictures:

Pictures of various kinds: paitnings, ready-made pictures, wall pictures, magazine-cut-out pictures, postcards, etc, can serve as illustrations to show the meanings of new words, structures, as cues for drills, practice or as stimuli for oral and written work in the class

Each picture may suggest a lot of language contents for learners to practise It may

be for the practice of prepositions, verb tenses, pattern drills, direct/indirect speech,

a dialogue , they can be used separately as illustrations, cues, explanations for short language context or in a sequence of two or three pictures for longer contexts:

a story, a composition In these ways they are useful as other aids



cattle baseball volleyball,ball net swim rain

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

For example:

English 8: Unit 12: Listen.(P115)

Or

English 9: Unit 9: Getting started +Listen and Read

Hi

Hello

T can use these pictures to ask students to practise talking about the weather

 It will be sunny and







 Pictures for practising the present progressive tense,

A B C D

 

E F G

Sts look at the pictures practise talking what he or she is doing now

e.g: A She is walking and so on

4 Realia:

Realia are all real objects, furniture, people available inside or outside the classroom

or brought in by the teacher and students for the sake of language teaching,

learning For example: the window, desk, board, students, teacher, toys, studying

objects, ect, can be used to present and practise the meaning, use of new words,

structures or to create contexts for dialogues between students in pairs, groups Realia have the same value as pictures, drawings in a language class

5 Action and performance:

Another common but very useful visual aid in a language class is the teacher’s and his students’ actions, performance

 Example:

The teacher can walk slowly in front of the class, trying to attract their attention, at

the same time intrduce the meaning of the verb walk“ ” and the present progressive tense:

T: Look, I am walking now I am not sitting at my table Now say walking“ ”

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

Sts: Walking, walking

T: Are you walking now ?

Sts: No, we aren’t We are sitting at the desks

 Example 2:

T : Look – 2008 ( mime someone sneezing ) Atchoo! I’ve just sneezed Sneeze Sneeze Can you say it ?

Sts: Sneeze

T: Again

Sts: Sneeze

Actions and performances by the teacher and students in class are always useful illustrations, cues, contexts for teaching, pratising new language items: sounds, words, strustures The teacher needs some preparation for the effective use of

them in advance if not the class may be noisy with the students’ argument for or against the action in use

6 Flashcards:

 Picture flashcards:

Picture flashcards have the advantage that we can prepare them in our leisure at home In this way, they can be made more attractive and colorful and can include details impossible to include in a hastily drawn blackboard picture They are used in much the same sort of way as blackboard drawings We can also make double-sided flashcards to use when drilling certain contrasting language item

 Example 1:

Side 1: She usually drinks tea

Side 2: but now she is drinking coffee

 Example 2: English 6: Unit 1: C How old are you ? and Unit 3: B Numbers.

To practise counting numbers fluently, teacher only gives out small cards with numbers and students look at them then count



11

 Word cards:

Using plastic card to introduce new words or rub out and remember as well

T writes the new words and their meaning on the cards After introducing words and meaning to the students, teacher sticks them on the board

spring

summer

fall

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

 Using plastic card to match or order the meaning of the words.

spring mïa thu

summer mïa xu©n

fall mïa hÌ

 Jumbled words/sentences:

T sticks the cards with words or phrases on the board, of course they are not in the right order

Sts go to the board and put them in the right order to make a complete sentence or the same number of students as there are words in the sentence come to the front of the class Each student takes one word card and they must form themselves in to a line, so that the sentence reads correctly With several groups this can be a highly competitive game

Example: They are playing soccer.

They playing soccer are

Pelmanism.

1

3

T puts the cards into two columns; one with the names of the season and the other with adjectives are desorded T prones the side with letters

Sts turn over each card and find the past or the past participle form of the verbs given

Or T can write some words on two sides of the cards

Sts turn over and find

Example:

Ordering vocabulary.

Teacher sticks the word cards on the board, Then reads the passage or has sts listen

to the tape the words which are not in the right order

Students listen and go to the board to reorder the words they hear

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

Extra board for groups.

Teacher divides the class into small groups (depend on the number of the students

in the class)

Students can write their sentences, answers or a short passage on the board

Teacher can give answer key and students check themselves or has sts compare their answers with other groups

7 Charts:

Larger sheets of card or paper with writing, pictures or diagrams, used for more extended presentation or practice They would usually be displayed on the wall or blackboard

Example:

+To present the present perfect tense we can show like this:

I was here at 3.00 I am still here now – 2008 at 4.00

Past Present

Present perfect

8 The tape – 2008 recorder:

A tape recorder has come to be an invaluable aid to the language learner and teacher, and after the blackboard, is probably one of the most commomly used pieces of equipment in the classroom However, as we have seen, many listening activities can be done in the classroom without it

The tape-recorder can obviously be used for all the listening activities with the following advantages:

- To allow the students to listen to a variety of different accents and varieties

of English

- To allow students to listen to conversations and dialogues involving more than two speakers

- To improve students’ reading ability by allowing them to read along while listening to a text

I have been here for an hour

- To do pronunciation work by imitating a model.

- To give students unchangeable listening model for pronunciation practice

- To help us reduce our tiredness in speaking too much

- To record students’ pronunciation for improvement

- To motivate sts in listening practice with chances of hearing new voices different from their teacher’s

When using the tape-recorder, the teacher should remember to check which is the best position to place it and check that all the students can hear the tape clearly

C Result:

After using these kinds of teaching aids in the language classes we find it easier to organize different stages of a lesson such as warm up, presentation, practice and

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Using teaching aids in a language class – 2008 By Truong Quang Khanh

production We can save a lot of time from trying to present or explaining a new language item and exploit our lessons effectively as well The students concentrate

on our lesson they find it easy to perceive, understand, practise and use the item with confident and creativity Since then our students are fond of learning English

D Conclusion:

With my preparation, I would like to present some effective methods and my experience in using teaching aids in language classes This subject given out with the hope that all of us will find out the most suitable ways to organize and carry out our task-teaching in the classes

With limited time and my limited preparation I really want all of you share your opinions, constructive comments and experience in using teaching aids to make my subject more perfectively and our English classes in generally more creatively, effectively and successfully

Dong van, march 11th 2008

Headmaster’s signature Written by

Truong Quang Khanh

Tæ KHXH – 2008 English Group

Teaching date: 20/3

Lesson 1: A1-2- The weather and seasons

I The objects:

To help students use weather and seasons vocabulary with the question: “What’s the weather like ?” to talk about the weather in each season

II Teaching aids:

Textbook, lesson plan, pictures, cards, cassette, tape

III Teaching procedure:

A Class organizing:

- Greeting

- Checking attendance: 6A 6B 6C

B New lesson:

Teacher s and sts activities’ ’ The content

1 Warm up: ( 5 mins)

T has sts play “Guessing game”

Sts play the game

T leads in the lesson

2 Presentation: (10-12 mins)

T pre-teach some new words ( eliciting

and introducing through the

pictures-cards)

Sts look, listen, repeat, guess meaning of

the words and take notes

T checks sts’ understanding:Pelmanism

Sts play the game

T elicits the new structure by asking:

Thời tiết vào mùa đông thì nh thế nào ?

Sts answer ( lạnh)

T introduces the way to ask and answer

3 Practice: (10-15 mins)

T has sts listen to the text

+ Guessing game:

Two students go to the board and mime The rest students guess by using “Yes-No” question

Eg: St1: (mime)I’m hot

St2: Are you tired ? St1: No, I’m not St2:……… ? -St1: I’m cold

St2:Are you full ? ………

1 New words:

Spring (n) Summer (n) Fall (n) – 2008 AE Autumn (n) - BE Winter (n) Season (n) Weather (n) Warm (adj) Cool (adj) + Pelmanism:

spring warm Summer hot fall cool

winter cold

2 Grammar:

+Model sentence:

What’s the weather like in the winter / spring ?

It’s cold / warm

3 Listen and repeat then practice with a

Sts listen and repeat

T asks questions about the weather as

model

Sts answer

T has sts ask and answer in pairs

Sts practice in pairs

T calls some pairs to perform

Sts perform before class

4 Production:(10-15 mins)

T has sts play the game: Lucky numbers

Sts play the game

5 Homework: (3-5 mins)

T recalls the new structures

Sts listen and remember

T gives and explains the EX 1-

P108-workbook

Sts listen and write down

partner

Eg:

St1: What’s the weather like in the fall ? St2: It’s cool

St1: What’s the weather like in the spring?

St2: It’s warm

+ Lucky numbers:

1 What’s the weather like in the summer?

2 Lucky number!

3 Lucky number!

4 What’s the weather like in the fall ?

5 What’s the weather like in the winter?

6 What’s the weather like in the spring?