The blackboard is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulphate or calcium carbonate, known, when used for this purpose, as chalk. Blackboards were originally made of smooth, thin sheets of black or dark grey slate stone. Modern versions are often green because the colour is considered easier on the eyes.
Design
A blackboard can simply be a piece of board painted with matte dark paint(usually black or dark green). A more modern variation consists of a coiled sheet of plastic drawn across two parallel rollers, which can be scrolled to create additional writing space while saving what has been written. The highest grade blackboards are made of a rougher version porcelain enamelled steel (black, green, blue or sometimes other colours). Porcelain is very hard wearing and blackboards made of porcelain usually last 10–20 years in intensive use.
Visual aids: realia, flashcards, wall charts and posters.
Realia
The main advantage of using real objects into the classroom is to make the learning experience more memorable for the learner. To give a couple of simple examples, if you are going to teach vocabulary of fruit and vegetables it can be much more affective for students if they can touch, smell and see the objects at the same time as hearing the new word. This would appeal to a wider range of learner styles than a simple flashcard picture of the piece of fruit or vegetable. (With very young learners, classroom management can become trickier if you bring in real objects as excitement levels tend to rise. Last year one of my students bit into an onion we were passing round.
posters and wall charts
A wall chart is a type of large poster often displaying information for education and entertaiment.
Great posters and charts for all subjects to hang on walls to display around classrooms or hallways. A variety of different subjects so children can learn the fun way with charts to attach pieces to for fun games also.
flashcards
Flashcards are a simple, versatile, yet often underexploited resource. I would like to offer some reasons for using flash cards and a selection of activities for use in the Young Learner classroom, although some of the activities could also be used with fun-loving, lower level adult classes.
Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many types of learners within any one class. Gardner's research indicates that teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point during the course. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence. Flash cards can be bright and colourful and make a real impact on visual learners. Many of the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinaesthetic learners.
For children at reading age, flashcards can be used in conjunction with word cards. These are simply cards that display the written word. Word cards should be introduced well after the pictorial cards so as not to interfere with correct pronunciation.
Where to get flash cards?
I have divided the activities into the following categories: Memory, drilling, identification and TPR activities.
In this article there is an example for each type of activity. If you follow this link - Flash card activities - you will find more examples for each type of activity.
Memory Activities
The textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study.. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions. Although most textbooks are only published in printed format,
.As you visit classrooms, you probably notice that most, if not all, of those classrooms use a standard textbook series. The reasons for this are many, depending on the design and focus of the curriculum, the mandates of the administration, and/or the level of expertise on the part of classroom teachers.
Textbooks provide you with several advantages in the classroom:
A wisely textbook is only as good as the teacher who uses it. And it's important to remember that a textbook is just one tool, perhaps a very important tool, in your teaching arsenal. Sometimes, teachers over-rely on textbooks and don't consider other aids or other materials for the classroom. Some teachers reject a textbook approach to learning because the textbook is outdated or insufficiently covers a topic or subject area.
As a teacher, you'll need to make many decisions, and one of those is how you want to use the textbook. As good as they may appear on the surface, textbooks do have some limitations. The following table lists some of the most common weaknesses of textbooks, along with ways of overcoming those difficulties.
Design
A blackboard can simply be a piece of board painted with matte dark paint(usually black or dark green). A more modern variation consists of a coiled sheet of plastic drawn across two parallel rollers, which can be scrolled to create additional writing space while saving what has been written. The highest grade blackboards are made of a rougher version porcelain enamelled steel (black, green, blue or sometimes other colours). Porcelain is very hard wearing and blackboards made of porcelain usually last 10–20 years in intensive use.
Visual aids: realia, flashcards, wall charts and posters.
Realia
The main advantage of using real objects into the classroom is to make the learning experience more memorable for the learner. To give a couple of simple examples, if you are going to teach vocabulary of fruit and vegetables it can be much more affective for students if they can touch, smell and see the objects at the same time as hearing the new word. This would appeal to a wider range of learner styles than a simple flashcard picture of the piece of fruit or vegetable. (With very young learners, classroom management can become trickier if you bring in real objects as excitement levels tend to rise. Last year one of my students bit into an onion we were passing round.
posters and wall charts
A wall chart is a type of large poster often displaying information for education and entertaiment.
Great posters and charts for all subjects to hang on walls to display around classrooms or hallways. A variety of different subjects so children can learn the fun way with charts to attach pieces to for fun games also.
flashcards
Flashcards are a simple, versatile, yet often underexploited resource. I would like to offer some reasons for using flash cards and a selection of activities for use in the Young Learner classroom, although some of the activities could also be used with fun-loving, lower level adult classes.
Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory reminds teachers that there are many types of learners within any one class. Gardner's research indicates that teachers should aim to appeal to all the different learner types at some point during the course. It is particularly important to appeal to visual learners, as a very high proportion of learners have this type of intelligence. Flash cards can be bright and colourful and make a real impact on visual learners. Many of the activities outlined below will also appeal to kinaesthetic learners.
For children at reading age, flashcards can be used in conjunction with word cards. These are simply cards that display the written word. Word cards should be introduced well after the pictorial cards so as not to interfere with correct pronunciation.
Where to get flash cards?
- Buy them - Some course books provide a supplementary pack of flash cards or they can be bought in sets.
- Make them yourself - If you don't have access to professionally produced flash cards, don't worry, it's really easy to make your own even if you're not very artistic. You can use pictures from magazines, draw simple pictures or copy from the internet or clip art. The most important thing is to make sure they are all of the same size, on card (different colours for different sets) so you can't see through them. If possible you can laminate the sets as you make them and they will last for years. The advantage of making your own, apart from the fact that they're cheap and yours to keep, is that you can make sets for your specific needs. You may like to make a set to use in conjunction with a story book or graded reader, or even to accompany project work.
- Students make them - I have recently begun to incorporate the production of flash cards into the classroom. After introducing a new lexical set, using realia or the course book, ask students to produce the flash cards for you. Give each one an item to draw. They can be mounted on card to make the set.
I have divided the activities into the following categories: Memory, drilling, identification and TPR activities.
In this article there is an example for each type of activity. If you follow this link - Flash card activities - you will find more examples for each type of activity.
Memory Activities
- Memory Tester
- Place a selection of flash cards on the floor in a circle.
- Students have one minute to memorise the cards.
- In groups, they have two minutes to write as many of the names as they can remember.
- Invisible Flash cards
- Stick 9 flash cards on the board and draw a grid around them.
- Use a pen or a pointer to drill the 9 words. Always point to the flash card you are drilling.
- Gradually remove the flash cards but continue to drill and point to the grid where the flash card was.
- When the first card is removed and you point to the blank space, nod your head to encourage children to say the word of the removed flash card.
- Students should remember and continue as if the flash cards were still there. They seem to be amazed that they can remember the pictures.
- Depending on the age group I then put the flash cards back in the right place on the grid, asking the children where they go, or I ask students to come up and write the word in the correct place on the grid.
The textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study.. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions. Although most textbooks are only published in printed format,
.As you visit classrooms, you probably notice that most, if not all, of those classrooms use a standard textbook series. The reasons for this are many, depending on the design and focus of the curriculum, the mandates of the administration, and/or the level of expertise on the part of classroom teachers.
Textbooks provide you with several advantages in the classroom:
- Textbooks are especially helpful for beginning teachers. The material to be covered and the design of each lesson are carefully spelled out in detail.
- Textbooks provide organized units of work. A textbook gives you all the plans and lessons you need to cover a topic in some detail.
- A textbook series provides you with a balanced, chronological presentation of information.
- Textbooks are a detailed sequence of teaching procedures that tell you what to do and when to do it. There are no surprises—everything is carefully spelled out
- Textbooks provide administrators and teachers with a complete program. The series is typically based on the latest research and teaching strategies.Good textbooks are excellent teaching aids. They're a resource for both teachers and students.
A wisely textbook is only as good as the teacher who uses it. And it's important to remember that a textbook is just one tool, perhaps a very important tool, in your teaching arsenal. Sometimes, teachers over-rely on textbooks and don't consider other aids or other materials for the classroom. Some teachers reject a textbook approach to learning because the textbook is outdated or insufficiently covers a topic or subject area.
As a teacher, you'll need to make many decisions, and one of those is how you want to use the textbook. As good as they may appear on the surface, textbooks do have some limitations. The following table lists some of the most common weaknesses of textbooks, along with ways of overcoming those difficulties.