Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm 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 – 2008
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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 – A Practical Guide – 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 – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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 – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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
 !"& * J L pencil pen notebook envelop ruler ink-pot happy sad
Tæ KHXH – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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
Hi
=English 9: Unit 4: Listen (used to warm up)
Hello
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.
Š 
 cattle baseball volleyball,ball net swim rain
Tæ KHXH – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – By Truong Quang Khanh
For example:
=English 8: Unit 12: Listen.(P115) 
Or
=English 9: Unit 9: Getting started +Listen and Read
T can use these pictures to ask students to practise talking about the weather
ÕÖ It will be sunny and ......
×Ø
ÙÚ
ÜÝ
= Pictures for practising the present progressive tense,...
 A B C D
 Š Œ‡
 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 – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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 – ( 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:
v 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.
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
€‚ƒ„…†‡ˆˆŠ
 11 
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
v 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 – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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.
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:
Spring
warm
summer
hot
fall
cool
winter
cold
=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 – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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 – at 4.00
I have been here for an hour
 Past Present
 Present perfect
 ____________________________________________ 
8. The tape – 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.
	- 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 – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – 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 – English Group
Teaching date: 20/3
Period: 78
Unit 13: Activities and the seasons
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:
Class organizing:
Greeting
Checking attendance: 6A 6B 6C
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: Thêi tiÕt vµo mïa ®«ng th× nh­ thÕ nµo ?
Sts answer ( l¹nh)
T introduces the way to ask and answer.
3. Practice: (10-15 mins)
T has sts listen to the text.
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.
+ 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) – 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 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
2
3
4
5
6
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?