Visual Aids

PART 2 GETTING TECHNICAL…

OVERHEAD PROJECTOR (OHP)

This is entirely flexible and is now very often found in ESOL classrooms so that you only need transport the transparencies. With an OHP you can change a display by adding or taking away parts while the lesson is in progress.

You write or draw on a transparency and project it onto a screen (or wall). You don't have to turn your back to the class, and you don't need to prepare lots of charts and pictures in advance. OHP transparencies can be taken off the machine and put back later (you won't have cleaned them off, as with a black or white board.)

The best features of this machine are:

It can be seen by everyone

It can combine typed script and handwritten notes

It can be added to during the lesson (in colours)

It cuts down on photocopying

But be careful of the problems:

The class need positioning carefully if everyone is going to see.

The white board must be clean if you have no screen, so plan carefully.

Can break down a lot - take care switching it on and off.

Tips for success with a projector:

If you use washable pens and get yourself a piece of string and some clothes pegs you can hand write the transparencies, wash them after the lesson and hang them up to dry.

Add student comments to OHT during the lesson.

Students can write notes on a transparency during a group activity. At the end the whole class can see the group’s points.

AUDIO RECORDING AND PLAYBACK EQUIPMENT

This is essential as, without it, the students would only hear your accent. Students need to be exposed to a variety of voices and accents otherwise they will eventually only understand you! There is a great deal of pre-recorded material available in ESOL, but it is just as useful, and often more so, to have your own recorded materials, especially if they present up-to-date, authentic materials direct from England, Australia etc. Dialogues recorded by you and your friends on a variety of topical subjects; a conversation in a shop; the pub; directions in the street etc are invaluable in overseas teaching situations.

It can also be useful to record the voices of your students. You can provide your students with useful feedback on their reproduction of English if you play back a dialogue done during pair work, for example. The best option still for many teaching situations is a cassette recorder with a record function as this can be moved around the classroom and does not have any compatibility problems, but if you have a good way of recording MP3 files or a hand held movie camera then of course this is also an option (see also below).

Best features:

Easy to play over two or three times.

Machines are usually portable and hardwearing.

Good ones have a record function.

Learners hear other people’s voices.

There are usually CDs provided with the course book.

Problems:

It can be difficult to find the place on a tape.

Some CDs will not permit you to play small sections again.

Sound quality can be variable.

Some course book recordings are very repetitive - eg every unit has a dialogue, or every unit has a very long listening.

Can be ‘borrowed’ too easily!

It is worth putting time and effort into using listening resources. Here are a few tips:-

Check volume and clarity from the back of the class yourself.

Look for variety in ways to use course book listenings, for example:

• Play the recording right at the beginning and get students to guess today’s topic.
• Read part of a dialogue or listening text first and then get students to listen to the rest.

Write and then record your own dialogues using colleagues instead.

Download music or news items from the internet or record from the radio and make your own CDs.

Use song websites to get song words and then make gap fill exercises from them.

SELF-CHECK 3:4 5

What makes a good song? Find yourself a song that you think you could use successfully in class. Record it and find the lyrics on the internet.

VIDEO RECORDER/DVD

Bringing the visual elements of communication into our classroom means we can talk about and train students in understanding body language, facial expressions and visual clues from the setting as these are all things they should be using when they are communicating ‘in the real world’ in a foreign language.

If you have access to video recording equipment in the school, even on mobile phones, take advantage of this to film the students as they act out dialogues. They will be greatly encouraged and stimulated by watching themselves speaking English on film. As you can stop the film, fast forward and reverse it, this is invaluable for correction.

The extracts that you choose from a DVD or TV programme should be visually interesting - not just a ‘talking head’. Choose something with clear speech and a clear topic, even if some of the vocabulary is difficult. Keep it short. We all stop listening properly after 20 minutes or so.

Try covering the screen with a cloth and playing the dialogue to get students to decide what is happening. Then show them if they were right or not.

Turn the sound down and have the students guess the dialogue. Then match it with what was actually said.

Play a short clip (eg from a soap opera) and have students imagine the plot or the relationships between the characters. This can be done with or without sound.

Use video as a model for role plays picking up phrases from the clip.

ALWAYS HAVE A CLEAR AIM OR FOCUS FOR YOUR STUDENTS.

THE INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD

The ‘IWB’ is a wonderful development. It remains a luxury in many countries and teaching locations but if it is not in your school now, then it may come soon. So read about it now and be the first to have training when it arrives!

Best features:

Can import language, pictures etc from online sites or even movie clips and project them.

Lessons can look very tidy and can be prepared beforehand.

You can use ‘spellcheck’.

You can combine type and handwritten notes (as for OHP) but also type in another colour on a document you are projecting - so for example you could do whole class on screen correction of a piece of work.

The lesson notes can be printed out at the end to reflect what actually went on.

Students are interested in the IWB!

Just watch out because:

Slow connection and display speeds can make the class restless.

Equipment may not be strong if handled by students.

IWBs can get boring if students are always facing it and not each other -unless you are planning carefully the lesson becomes very passive with the students not moving around at all - just looking at the screen.

The temptation to turn every lesson into a PowerPoint presentation. If you are not giving out handouts then the students have to rely on their own inexpert recording of information from the board.

Tips for using the IWB

Bring up a web page and do a scan reading exercise for information. (Cache or bookmark the page first.)

Project a text and underline features.

Type in students’ suggestions and make them into a worksheet for the end of the lesson

Let students do PowerPoint presentations to the rest of the class.

Do online quizzes such as ones about the week’s news or a controversial issue as a whole class.

THE LANGUAGE LABORATORY, ‘SAC’S AND COMPUTER SUITES

Many schools have some sort of a room that you can book with your students for use on an irregular basis. In some schools this is called a self-access centre or SAC. This could be any one of a number of different sorts of room! It varies from school to school. The advantage of such a room, whatever is in it is the chance for the students to direct their own learning and have a break from the teacher led classroom. They may be allowed to enter on their own if someone is in charge of the centre or they may need to be taken in by their teacher.

LANGUAGE LABS

These are rooms with a number of consoles with headphones where students can listen to recordings and speak into a microphone at their own pace.

There are some teachers who see language labs as the biggest white elephant ever introduced to the language-teaching world. There are others who believe that they are truly invaluable as a time-saving teaching device. If your school has one, you may already have a view, if not and your school is considering the purchase and need your opinion, here are some points to bear in mind.

1. It must be properly serviced and maintained.
2. It requires someone, preferably on the spot, who can do this.
3. It needs a considerable supply of materials which wear out.
4. It is expensive to install and to run.
5. It takes the space of a classroom.
6. Will it justify the expense in your size of school?
7. Would the money be better spent on a computer suite?

SAC LIBRARIES

If your school has a library then try to take your students in there regularly for a part of a lesson. You can give them a research task - even a simple one such as finding images or checking facts. It gets them used to the idea that research is not just based on cutting and pasting from the computer screen. Libraries can have a very calming effect on younger classes that are too boisterous after a day at school. And if you are working in a school then liaise with the school librarian to get a good English section and a supply of class readers.

SAC COMPUTER SUITES

These are popular in schools that have the money to provide them or in countries where hardware is relatively cheap. A range of computers will be set out in a room so that students can access CD ROMs or internet based language games and can do activities like gap-fill sentences without having messy photocopies and with instant on screen feedback. The teacher can monitor them. A quick search on the internet will throw up hundreds of possibilities for this kind of work if the room is online. However, computer suites are sometimes set up with a supply of games on CD and cached sites, but are offline. This is to minimise virus problems and the presence of unsuitable material. Very often students will share a computer. In developing countries you may need to write a basic access manual for learners new to computers.

Best features:

Chance to do grammar and vocabulary exercises in a different atmosphere that feels more like a game.

Instant online feedback and discussion of mistakes.

Students can work at their own pace.

Easy for teacher to monitor.

Break from routine.

Sharing the computer means that they will have a chance to discuss their work so it is not entirely solitary.

Problems to watch out for:

Teenagers can see the computer suite as a chance for hacking, checking sites like ‘Facebook’ and uploading unsuitable material. Monitor younger classes carefully! Have legal warnings on display.

Equipment is often heavily used with dirty mouse problems and sticky keyboards. If there is an internet connection it will be slow and whole class access to the same site will need to be staggered.

Exercise styles can become repetitive if overused.

Note that there is often one person in any class who does not enjoy screen-based exercises or finds them difficult because of visual issues so try to provide alternatives.

SELF-CHECK 3:4 6

Look at these scenarios of different teachers using classroom aids. The topics are:

Section 1 Animals

Section 2 Places in the world

Section 3 Food

For the first scenario three negative and three positive things about the lesson are mentioned.

For the second and third scenarios see if you can spot the positives and negatives yourself.