زيزي
10-27-2007, 05:59 PM
Teaching Aids
The teacher is urged to benefit, as much as he can, from aids in teaching foreign ********. These aids are of various types. Firstly, there are aids that are solely visual, e.g., the chalkboard, picture, chart, and flash cards. Secondly, there are aids that are solely aural, e.g., radio and tapes. Thirdly, there are aids that are simultaneously both visual and aural, e.g., motion pictures and television. In the following sections, we shall see how and when each aid may be used and get acquainted with the limitations of each aid.
1-Chalkboard:
*****The chalkboard can offer the greatest help to the teacher. It may be used for different purposes such as:
A-The teacher writes the date, lesson, part, and page on the chalkboard at the beginning of her period.
B-The chalkboard is used to write new vocabulary, items and their meanings.
C-It is also used in the presentation of grammatical structures.
D-It is used to write questions to be answered by students in the cases of practice and testing.
E-The teacher uses it to write assignments for homework.
F-She uses the chalkboard to demonstrate model hand writing.
G-She uses it to draw some pictures or diagrams to explain some difficulties.
H-She may ask students to write words or sentences on the chalkboard to check the correctness of spelling or structure.
I-She may use it to write model answers for a test or an exercise followed by collective correction of mistakes.
*****As a matter of fact, those are just examples of the different usages of the chalkboard. Besides one can easily notice that the chalkboard has several advantages over some other aids:
A-The chalkboard exists in every classroom. Actually, it is considered an essential part of the classroom.
B-It is a simple aid devoid of any technical complexity. Therefore, it can be easily used without any special training.
C-It is effective for a wide variety of purposes and functions.
D-It is relatively cheap if compared to some other aids. The only co equipment needed is an eraser and chalk.
E-Finally, it is cheaply and easily maintained.
*****However, this does not mean that the chalkboard is to be used haphazardly or thoughtlessly. It must be used with attention to the following:
A-The teacher has to use the chalkboard neatly through dividing it into three columns or more to maximize, benefiting from the space available.
B- The teacher has to use the chalkboard in an orderly manner without jumping from one side to another. Each column has to be filled before moving to the next.
C-The teacher should use coloured chalk purposefully and not for mere decoration. Besides, over-usage of colored chalk is self-defeating because it causes the loss of its effect.
D-The teacher has to write on the chalkboard so heavily that every student in the classroom can see easily.
E-Not only that, the letters themselves have to be large and clear enough to be easily perceived by all students.
2-Pictures:
*****Pictures are another visual aid and may be used for the following purposes:
A-Pictures are good at achieving what may be called the collective eye of the class: students are made to focus their attention on one thing at the same time. In this respect, pictures and the chalkboard are similar in function.
B-Pictures may be used in teaching the meanings of new words through word-picture association.
C-Pictures may be used as stimuli to conversation and other similar oral activities.
D-Pictures may supply situations suitable for practicing some grammatical structures that are taught for the first time or reviewed.
E-Pictures may function as visual cues in substitution drills.
F-A picture may be a topic of a written composition on de******ive or narrative themes.
G-A picture may be used as an aid in explaining the ******* of some reading material.
H-Pictures can introduce some sort of variety and, consequently, be a source of external motivation in the foreign ******** lesson.
*****However, one has to remember those points before and while using pictures:
A-Pictures are not always photographed or printed. They may be drawn by teachers or students. In fact, some students are quite skilful at drawing and do wait for an opportunity to exhibit their skills.
B-Pictures prove more effective in teaching present tenses than in teaching past or future bones owing to the present- time suggestions implicit in pictures by their very nature.
C-The picture need not be too detailed
D-A picture of a certain being should not be usually used when the being itself is available. For example, there is no point in drawing the pictures of pens, pencils, and desks when there are dozens of these articles existent in their concrete form in the classroom.
3-Flash cards:
*****Flash cards are another visual aid mainly used to teach reading. These cards may be of different colours and sizes with words, phrases, or sentences written on one side or both each card. The card is shown to the class for a few seconds and then students are required to say what they have just seen. These cards are helpful in several ways:
A-Flash cards train students to widen their eye span by urging them to catch large reading units at a glance. The urge comes from students' exposure to fairly long units under the pressure of time.
B-These cards help students increase their reading speed because they become gradually accustomed to perceiving several words as a totalized whole.
C-Flash cards bring to the classroom atmosphere some kind of desirable competition, which normally speeds up students' performance rate of reading, a phenomenon verified by experimentation.
D-Flash cards bring to the class some change, variation, and *******ing feelings, all of which are additional sources of motivation, which is necessary for attention, which is essential for learning.
4-charts:
*****Charts are cards of reasonable sizes and may be with or without illustrative pictures. These charts may contain the letters of the alphabet, selected words, special sentences, idioms, proverbs, the months of the year, the days of the week, or any other learning material, the teacher wants to reinforce in students memories. Such reinforcement is attained through fixing those charts on the classroom walls for duration of time ranging between a week and the whole year.
These wall charts are not useful as a reinforcement means only, but they are equally useful in several other ways as well:
A-The teacher may use the material on the charts for occasional choral or individual reading.
B-The words written on wall charts are suitable as cues in substitution drills. The teacher points at the word on a certain chart and the student responds by placing the cue word in the key sentence.
C-These charts function as sources of permanent reinforcement of previously taught material because they remain under students' perception for a long duration of time.
D-The very process of making charts is an activity that involves an opportunity for self- realization, by which students themselves write and draw on charts under the teacher's supervision.
E-Charts made by students are one application of the theory of learning by doing.
F-Charts may be also used as a means to encourage students to improve their handwriting. The teacher may ask each student in his class to prepare a chart and tell them in advance she will stick to the classroom wall the neatest charts only. This competition usually motivates children to do their best.
G- Finally, one has to remember that a good chart should meet some requirements. A good chart must be large enough to be seen by all students in the classroom. Further, it must be clear enough to be legible and neat enough to be attractive.
5-Tapes:
*****Tapes are an aural aid that may be employed for more than a purpose:
A-Tapes may be used to provide students with recorded samples of native speakers' pronunciation and intonation. Students' are exposed to these recordings repeatedly so as to catch the different aspects of pronunciation such as stresses, pitches, terminals, and phonemes. These tapes may be a part of a ******** laboratory or a part of a tape recorder brought to the classroom. Students may just listen to the recorded material or repeat after each utterance depending on the design followed during recording.
B-Tapes may be used in grammar drills. Students listen to a recorded sentence, at the end of which there is a pause long enough for students to repeat that sentence or answer if the sentence is an interrogation.
Besides, the tape may give a cue and then a student gives a response followed by the correct response on the tape, which is finally followed by a choral repetition of the whole class.
C-Tapes may be used in aural comprehension. Students listen to a story or a passage recorded on a tape. Then they are given written or oral questions to answer.
D- However, it must be pointed out here that tape recordings have no magic in teaching a foreign ********. If students listen to tapes for a short time, the teaching outcome is most probably very limited. On the other hand, if thy over–listen to tapes, this will most probably be at the expense of other ******** skills such as reading and writing. In fact, a great deal depends on the foreign ******** program, its goals, and duration.
*****In addition, when tapes are used, the teacher is reminded to consider the following:
A-Tapes are not to be overused in order not to sacrifice other ******** skills.
B- Tapes are not the best medium of learning for some students. As a matter of fact, research has shown that average students prefer learning through the eye to learning through the ear.
C- The recording on the tapes has to be technically and sonically clear. Experience has shown that ill-recorded tapes are utterly useless and a mere waste of time. Not only that, but such tapes may be almost a real torture to teachers and students alike.
D-The speed of recorded speech has to suit the learners' level. It often happens that a native speaker records some material on tapes so quickly that students cannot understand what they hear and, consequently, cannot repeat or respond. Actually, the speed of speech comprehensible to native speakers of a certain ******** is higher than the speed comprehensible to foreign speakers of that ********.
E- If sentences are recorded to be repeated. They must be short enough to be grasped and then reiterated by students. If the sentence is a long one, it should be broken into shorter units when recorded. Otherwise, the tape has to be continually played back and forward to help students catch a long sentence, which will be an impractical, tedious, and boring task.
F- If a recording is designed for intervening repetition or responses by students, the pause between each recorded unit and the following one must be adequate for a specific group of students to respond. If the pause is inadequate, conducting such a drill will be quite troublesome.
6-Other Aids:
*****In addition to the previously mentioned aids, there are other ones probably more expensive and, therefore, used at a narrow scale as:
A-Slides: slides are pictures projected on a screen be a slide projector.
B-Film strips: They are slides on one film roll.
C-Opaque projector: The opaque projector is an apparatus that can project any picture or written material on a screen in a darkened room.
D-Overhead projector: This projector reflects whatever the teacher writes on a special film in front of her.
E- Motion pictures: they may be the most effective aid because they consist of picture, color, sound, and movement combined together in a realistic and interesting manner.
F-Television: Television may offer programs that help teachers and students. Such programs supplement the teacher but cannot take his place. Through television has its own limitations, it introduces change, motivation, entertainment, and additional learning opportunities into the classroom situation.
The teacher is urged to benefit, as much as he can, from aids in teaching foreign ********. These aids are of various types. Firstly, there are aids that are solely visual, e.g., the chalkboard, picture, chart, and flash cards. Secondly, there are aids that are solely aural, e.g., radio and tapes. Thirdly, there are aids that are simultaneously both visual and aural, e.g., motion pictures and television. In the following sections, we shall see how and when each aid may be used and get acquainted with the limitations of each aid.
1-Chalkboard:
*****The chalkboard can offer the greatest help to the teacher. It may be used for different purposes such as:
A-The teacher writes the date, lesson, part, and page on the chalkboard at the beginning of her period.
B-The chalkboard is used to write new vocabulary, items and their meanings.
C-It is also used in the presentation of grammatical structures.
D-It is used to write questions to be answered by students in the cases of practice and testing.
E-The teacher uses it to write assignments for homework.
F-She uses the chalkboard to demonstrate model hand writing.
G-She uses it to draw some pictures or diagrams to explain some difficulties.
H-She may ask students to write words or sentences on the chalkboard to check the correctness of spelling or structure.
I-She may use it to write model answers for a test or an exercise followed by collective correction of mistakes.
*****As a matter of fact, those are just examples of the different usages of the chalkboard. Besides one can easily notice that the chalkboard has several advantages over some other aids:
A-The chalkboard exists in every classroom. Actually, it is considered an essential part of the classroom.
B-It is a simple aid devoid of any technical complexity. Therefore, it can be easily used without any special training.
C-It is effective for a wide variety of purposes and functions.
D-It is relatively cheap if compared to some other aids. The only co equipment needed is an eraser and chalk.
E-Finally, it is cheaply and easily maintained.
*****However, this does not mean that the chalkboard is to be used haphazardly or thoughtlessly. It must be used with attention to the following:
A-The teacher has to use the chalkboard neatly through dividing it into three columns or more to maximize, benefiting from the space available.
B- The teacher has to use the chalkboard in an orderly manner without jumping from one side to another. Each column has to be filled before moving to the next.
C-The teacher should use coloured chalk purposefully and not for mere decoration. Besides, over-usage of colored chalk is self-defeating because it causes the loss of its effect.
D-The teacher has to write on the chalkboard so heavily that every student in the classroom can see easily.
E-Not only that, the letters themselves have to be large and clear enough to be easily perceived by all students.
2-Pictures:
*****Pictures are another visual aid and may be used for the following purposes:
A-Pictures are good at achieving what may be called the collective eye of the class: students are made to focus their attention on one thing at the same time. In this respect, pictures and the chalkboard are similar in function.
B-Pictures may be used in teaching the meanings of new words through word-picture association.
C-Pictures may be used as stimuli to conversation and other similar oral activities.
D-Pictures may supply situations suitable for practicing some grammatical structures that are taught for the first time or reviewed.
E-Pictures may function as visual cues in substitution drills.
F-A picture may be a topic of a written composition on de******ive or narrative themes.
G-A picture may be used as an aid in explaining the ******* of some reading material.
H-Pictures can introduce some sort of variety and, consequently, be a source of external motivation in the foreign ******** lesson.
*****However, one has to remember those points before and while using pictures:
A-Pictures are not always photographed or printed. They may be drawn by teachers or students. In fact, some students are quite skilful at drawing and do wait for an opportunity to exhibit their skills.
B-Pictures prove more effective in teaching present tenses than in teaching past or future bones owing to the present- time suggestions implicit in pictures by their very nature.
C-The picture need not be too detailed
D-A picture of a certain being should not be usually used when the being itself is available. For example, there is no point in drawing the pictures of pens, pencils, and desks when there are dozens of these articles existent in their concrete form in the classroom.
3-Flash cards:
*****Flash cards are another visual aid mainly used to teach reading. These cards may be of different colours and sizes with words, phrases, or sentences written on one side or both each card. The card is shown to the class for a few seconds and then students are required to say what they have just seen. These cards are helpful in several ways:
A-Flash cards train students to widen their eye span by urging them to catch large reading units at a glance. The urge comes from students' exposure to fairly long units under the pressure of time.
B-These cards help students increase their reading speed because they become gradually accustomed to perceiving several words as a totalized whole.
C-Flash cards bring to the classroom atmosphere some kind of desirable competition, which normally speeds up students' performance rate of reading, a phenomenon verified by experimentation.
D-Flash cards bring to the class some change, variation, and *******ing feelings, all of which are additional sources of motivation, which is necessary for attention, which is essential for learning.
4-charts:
*****Charts are cards of reasonable sizes and may be with or without illustrative pictures. These charts may contain the letters of the alphabet, selected words, special sentences, idioms, proverbs, the months of the year, the days of the week, or any other learning material, the teacher wants to reinforce in students memories. Such reinforcement is attained through fixing those charts on the classroom walls for duration of time ranging between a week and the whole year.
These wall charts are not useful as a reinforcement means only, but they are equally useful in several other ways as well:
A-The teacher may use the material on the charts for occasional choral or individual reading.
B-The words written on wall charts are suitable as cues in substitution drills. The teacher points at the word on a certain chart and the student responds by placing the cue word in the key sentence.
C-These charts function as sources of permanent reinforcement of previously taught material because they remain under students' perception for a long duration of time.
D-The very process of making charts is an activity that involves an opportunity for self- realization, by which students themselves write and draw on charts under the teacher's supervision.
E-Charts made by students are one application of the theory of learning by doing.
F-Charts may be also used as a means to encourage students to improve their handwriting. The teacher may ask each student in his class to prepare a chart and tell them in advance she will stick to the classroom wall the neatest charts only. This competition usually motivates children to do their best.
G- Finally, one has to remember that a good chart should meet some requirements. A good chart must be large enough to be seen by all students in the classroom. Further, it must be clear enough to be legible and neat enough to be attractive.
5-Tapes:
*****Tapes are an aural aid that may be employed for more than a purpose:
A-Tapes may be used to provide students with recorded samples of native speakers' pronunciation and intonation. Students' are exposed to these recordings repeatedly so as to catch the different aspects of pronunciation such as stresses, pitches, terminals, and phonemes. These tapes may be a part of a ******** laboratory or a part of a tape recorder brought to the classroom. Students may just listen to the recorded material or repeat after each utterance depending on the design followed during recording.
B-Tapes may be used in grammar drills. Students listen to a recorded sentence, at the end of which there is a pause long enough for students to repeat that sentence or answer if the sentence is an interrogation.
Besides, the tape may give a cue and then a student gives a response followed by the correct response on the tape, which is finally followed by a choral repetition of the whole class.
C-Tapes may be used in aural comprehension. Students listen to a story or a passage recorded on a tape. Then they are given written or oral questions to answer.
D- However, it must be pointed out here that tape recordings have no magic in teaching a foreign ********. If students listen to tapes for a short time, the teaching outcome is most probably very limited. On the other hand, if thy over–listen to tapes, this will most probably be at the expense of other ******** skills such as reading and writing. In fact, a great deal depends on the foreign ******** program, its goals, and duration.
*****In addition, when tapes are used, the teacher is reminded to consider the following:
A-Tapes are not to be overused in order not to sacrifice other ******** skills.
B- Tapes are not the best medium of learning for some students. As a matter of fact, research has shown that average students prefer learning through the eye to learning through the ear.
C- The recording on the tapes has to be technically and sonically clear. Experience has shown that ill-recorded tapes are utterly useless and a mere waste of time. Not only that, but such tapes may be almost a real torture to teachers and students alike.
D-The speed of recorded speech has to suit the learners' level. It often happens that a native speaker records some material on tapes so quickly that students cannot understand what they hear and, consequently, cannot repeat or respond. Actually, the speed of speech comprehensible to native speakers of a certain ******** is higher than the speed comprehensible to foreign speakers of that ********.
E- If sentences are recorded to be repeated. They must be short enough to be grasped and then reiterated by students. If the sentence is a long one, it should be broken into shorter units when recorded. Otherwise, the tape has to be continually played back and forward to help students catch a long sentence, which will be an impractical, tedious, and boring task.
F- If a recording is designed for intervening repetition or responses by students, the pause between each recorded unit and the following one must be adequate for a specific group of students to respond. If the pause is inadequate, conducting such a drill will be quite troublesome.
6-Other Aids:
*****In addition to the previously mentioned aids, there are other ones probably more expensive and, therefore, used at a narrow scale as:
A-Slides: slides are pictures projected on a screen be a slide projector.
B-Film strips: They are slides on one film roll.
C-Opaque projector: The opaque projector is an apparatus that can project any picture or written material on a screen in a darkened room.
D-Overhead projector: This projector reflects whatever the teacher writes on a special film in front of her.
E- Motion pictures: they may be the most effective aid because they consist of picture, color, sound, and movement combined together in a realistic and interesting manner.
F-Television: Television may offer programs that help teachers and students. Such programs supplement the teacher but cannot take his place. Through television has its own limitations, it introduces change, motivation, entertainment, and additional learning opportunities into the classroom situation.