TESL reporter

23

using visual aids

by dennis cone

in the grammar class

the capacity tg a lot of they have th to generate alot c6 natural communicative nic tive language a ca hifiir
1

A group of teachers was once asked what is the most effective classroom A variety of responses was visual aid given but the most common was the

these same reasons justify the use of

displays on classroom walls and bulletin boards as well as the portable aids brought in and used for a particular lesson research has proven that people learn better in attractive rooms large colorful maps or posters not only stimulate learner language but can also help the teacher be more creative verbally many times a picture already on display can be used spontaneously to provide items for a substitution drill or example sentences to answer questions raised by students these visuals should remain on display long enough for the students to fully explore them but should be changed be often enough to beinteresting interesting
visual

they completely overlooked board chalk chalkboard the obvious fact that even in this era of audio visual computer assisted sophisticated audiovisual the most the teacher is still dhe instruction ahe jhe iflu a tion le a r ni n g s sifyu ituation ald in any learning aid effective visual visualjiid never s ou jdsu aljlid al ai jshouid jasu F or this mason reason a xis for rason ji axia nyihiligm 1y morejean rejEan c ay exactly moirenean e a beregarded asnything be regarded ixia did ald aid no not t an end i n itself it can that an qq assist in a multitude of ways but the teacher te natural trying stop tr should never sto jo create Ying j2qrq ased on the real communicative events bibased nd and relationships people op 1 e emotions qqshipsa emo t io ns actions relatipnships att J ional environment instructional objects in the i6siiuct of course there are numerous occasions df when this is not possible or practical it is at these times that visual aids ought to be employed
reasons for using visual aids

wilur dpi api

as many reasons for using visuals as there are instructional aims but generally there are two main reasons t ur q a deacher de r using u sin g pic consider teacher should 66isi bic hic pictures pir 11is ilashcards realia and so forth ir st ilis fccirds realla itis first visual aids increase the effectiveness of fhe fie y clarify diffi biffi thie almost ost any lesson because they claiify ynne Wy 1d e oid d dage a age about o ld meaning ant the 0 aning instantly ins lim i ofii6 picture &efn f6f g worth a thousand words being one is nowhere truer than in the foreign language classroom this is obviously the case in teaching basic vocabulary particularly at the beginning levels but can also apply to grammar carefully selected visual aids can help students understand grammatical relationships py a often convey also they qfeaq2p urli uril information which great deal of cult cultural 01 ffilc of f d s anw6i i fail might b e ol words 6 put f to t 0 wai difficult ifi nto bolh olh er aid abd perhaps more significant and other kid icant icart way in which visuals enhance teachinglearning teaching learning afi i s iby iii rfi afi a gn nesses effective nasses effectiviiess ili gn 6fi vilt lo jnotjvation cr eo effectivenesses increasing anid if visual materials stimulate interest anji ilke p par er ly hotd ilie used properly ewers attention p6r hoid the viiewers 0 der

there are probably

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jend most teac t eachers deac nd to associate these jmqst rs jond tend with kinds kiem of visual aids w tk younger learners or with lower level classes where words alg aig ald alone dont communicate efficiently effia effla this is unsoft u n iunfoft t e because experience shows unfortunate that visuals can be employed just as proively with adults at intermediate and ductively duct advanced levels of instruction of course teachers must choose visuals with appropriate subject matter but more important than that they must carefully plan their act level difeve of adjust the levei presentation and aci 0 di e rs ffie otfie loarn ficulty of the bakic the learn learners task according to 1akic light hits simply fits m ight students aht be asked ii lower level stude dlower ctur whereas to chur e whdidas identify e n tits acil picture actions 0 id 0 ns in a pi r e sop rno hiisticate d learners lediiier s could be resophisticated more ino hice fice s make predicinferences infere quired to draw infare 41 ions 41ions situations tions or describe complex situ lons if the teacher regards visuals as useful tools the students will generally accept them and use them in the same attitude
1

pragmatic criteria for using visuals many books about audiovisuals audio visuals go into great detail concerning the criteria to use in selecting or making materials for classroom use el araby 1974 wright 1976

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TESL reporter

they normally consider such variables

as content composition color tone movement realism vs symbolism and so on

three pragmatic criteria however should

take precedence over these technical concerns
should be the appropriateness of the visual for teaching a particular lesson or part of a lesson in other words the main thing is how well it works to introduce or clarify or practice the target structure naturally a number of technical factors will influence how well it functions but if the visual really a particular structure theres fits usually a way to make it work 2 A second criterion to consider is the size and display ability of the item if the visual aid is too small to be seen by all the students it wont be an aid but a hindrance the same will be true if it is too flimsy to hold easily or if for some reason it cant be fastened to the wall in 3 finally clarity must be considered A most cases simplicity is the ideal cluttered or ambiguous presentation will make it difficult for the learners to focus on the exact feature or aspect being emphasized
1

the top priority

understand it without recourse to translation 2 explaining clarifying and illustrating grammatical principles 3 cueing bueing providing cues for drills and exercises chalk board posters display visuals the chalkboard charts can fulfill all three functions and so can realia series visuals however are most effective in cueing bueing drills
possibilities of homemade visuals
A variety of visuals are available from publishers see the list of sources below

but some of the most valuable are those here produced by teachers themselves are some examples of what you can do with homemade aids display visuals
most versatile its effectiveness however depends on careful planning anyone can learn to draw stick figures that are useful chalk board the chalkboard
is

of course one of the

A functional classification

dennis cone coordinator of the english language center at texas christian university has taught ESL for eight years in the US and overseas

of visual aids but a functional approach is this the most helpful to the teacher functional classification includes three different types
visual aids

there are various ways of classifying

display visuals usually a larger item attached to the wall which can generate a number of sentences 2 series visuals usually a group of smaller items held in the hand with each one stimulating one response 3 realia visuals actual objects brought into the classroom
1

these types of visuals can perform three basic functions in the grammar classroom 1 izing introducing a new struccontextualizing Contextual ture in such a way that student can

for presenting dialogs showing grammatical relationships and so on simple time lines help in explaining tenses and time words many grammar points can see figure 1 be illustrated by boxes or circles labeled appropriately see figure 2 it takes considerable artistic ability to produce an attractive poster but often travel or other advertising type posters can be obtained free hint before displaying these put some masking tape on the back at each corner to stick an item on the wall make a small loop of tape sticky side out and place it on the tape when you take the item down later the tape loop can easily be removed without harming the poster
aid thats useful in teaching word order basic sentence word order direct indirect objects or frequency adverbs

one

Cone Visual aids conevisual

25

of cards that can stand up along the blackboard chalk tray label each card with a part of speech to make it more interestis a set

ing each card can be designed as a railroad car for example SUBJECT can be the engine VERB the coal car OBJECT a box car PLACE a tank car and TIME the caboose there are numerous possibilities for additional cars and the train serves as a basis for a variety of exercises involving

the most useful sets modals medals action verbs places question words linking verbs along the same line cards using various symbols are great for enlivening transformation drills for example a minus sign signals a change to the negative changes of subject are indicated by pronoun cards where a lone male stick figure stands for he two females means they and so forth

student participation A cardboard clock with movable hands is of course useful in teaching the vocabulary and structures for telling time but it can also be used to give the cues for a number of different drills in practicing the present perfect continuous for instance two such clocks could be used one clock shows the beginning time and the other shows the present time students then make statements like she has been watching TV for two hours series visuals

different sets of cards with one word or phrase on each can be used to cue various drills to add interest each student can be given a card or two etc the following are

slightly more elaborate pictures stick figures and outline drawings of objects have many more possibilities for exercises you can make your own or buy them 1973 these have several adkreidler 1973. vantages since they use only stick figures you can assume its the same person in each picture and put together six or eight in a hints write your series to tell a story when cues on the back of each picture using them in a drill always take the back card and move it to the front rather than taking the front and putting it behind the others this way you know which picture is next magazine and calendar pictures can be mounted on cardboard and used in the same manner be sure they are large enough to be seen they work best when chosen
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TESL reporter

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with a particular structure in mind for example assemble a set showing situations which can be described using the passive

realia
every teacher should have a collection of small interesting objects that students can handle besides teaching vocabulary they can be used in many ways distribute items to students and have them ask each other how muchhow much how many muchkow questions about the objects pairs of objects can be used effectively to illustrate some grammar patterns for example a matchbox and a baseball could be used to illustrate too and enough the box isnt big enough for the ball give each student an object with instructions to perform some action eat an apple read a newspaper count paper clips etc
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have them ask each other what are you is he doing then ring a bell and tell them to stop now they can make statements in past continuous ending with when the bell rang
bring in materials and equipment to do a simple science class experiment during the process students can describe each step using a specified structure such as passives or conditionals these suggestions are just a beginning the possibilities for enhancing the effecti veness of ESL grammar teaching by using tiveness visuals are practically unlimited

references

el araby

1974 salah audiovisual audio visual an introaids for teaching english duction to materials and methods

london longman

Cone Visual aids conevisual

27

kreidler carol 1972 in kenneth croft english as a second cambridge mass

wright ih the 1i ai longman
ew andrew and

pictures for practice readings on ed language 378 387 378387 winthrop publishers

LINC language innovations inc

1976 976 916 visual materials language teacher london

2112 broadway 515 2112broadway515 new york NY 10023 picture pages by linda ann kunz 9 different ones order in sets of 20 or one set of ditto masters

appendix
addison wesley publishing company reading mass 01867 picture cards 12 x 16 in to accompany I and 2 of the books 1 new horizons series
american book company 450 W 33rd street 1 new york NY 10001 1000 lets learn english charts and american english charts both available in freestanding display binder american guidance service publishers bldg 55014 circle pines minn 5 5014 story and 1 I wonder posters from peabody language development kits three levels each set 10 write for catalog
256 S robertson obertson blvd SR beverly hills calif 90211

longman inc 19 west 44th st new york NY 10036 wall pictures for language practice by donn byrne and douglas hall
e progressive
0

picture

compositions

by

donn byrne situational english language picture series request catalog entitled audiovisual aids from longman free

national textbook co 111 ili 60076 iii skokiejll skokie 1 1 cards I 11 8 x I language visuals set of 81 in color showing simple objects articles of clothing etc newby visualanguage inc box 121 eville penn 19408 Eagl eagleville eaglevillepenn Flashcards life concepts flashcards 9 Flashcards flashcards for verbs adjectives and pronouns Flashcards flashcards for idioms svz some of these are on saz 8v2 x 11 paper masters and some are available on 5 x 7 card stock

easy aids inc

vocabulary through pictures les ies transparence masters andor transparenc transparencies

ditto

Fol letts michigan bookstore colletts folletts 322 S state st ann arbor mich 48106

regents publishing company inc 2 park avenue new york NY 10016 100 loo 16 posters for books 1 2 and 3 of the lado 12
english series also available on 35mm color slides
&

flash pictures by carol J

kreidler 252 stick figure and line drawings on 7 x 10 in color coded card stock harper & row keystone industrial park penn 18512 scrantonpenn scranton discussion pictures for beginning social studies by H J durrell about 60 for 80 large pictures

glenview Glenview 111 60025 e english around the world display cards 7 x 8 in some in color 7x8 english around the world posters 24 3 6 in all 16 in color x 36

scott foresman

co