How Visual Aids Can Help When Teaching a Foreign Language. Essay Example

How Visual Aids Can Help When Teaching a Foreign Language. Essay Example How Visual Aids Can Help When Teaching a Foreign Language. Essay How Visual Aids Can Help When Teaching a Foreign Language. Essay are all easily accessible and can be used time and again, in different classrooms, at no extra cost. Their size and weight make them an ideal tool for the busy teacher. Magazines: Magazines have many different types of images to make into flashcards and small cards; they are full of advertisements which can be used in contrast with each other. Examples could be: an assortment of advertisements for holiday destinations, highlighting different cultures and weather patterns, or; two photographs of capital cities, each with contrasting lifestyles. Flashcards: 2 Inexpensive cards can be made by using some form of hardboard and by adding colour pictures either downloaded from the internet or bought at a local shop. The chalk tray of a blackboard is an adequate holder to keep the cards within easy reach. We can use them with whole classes or groups, or even with single students. They may display pictures, bits of language or a combination of both. The lettering should be large enough to be seen from the back of a classroom. When teaching a foreign language, teachers can try using pink for feminine nouns and blue for masculine, or they could use two different colours to show adjectives and verbs. This works especially well for visual learners. Here are some ideas on how to use flashcards: Get students in pairs to guess the words or phrases that the pictures represent. Make a team game. Partially cover each picture and challenge teams to guess the word. Further points can be added or gained by making a sentence about the picture or asking a question about it. You can use sets of pictures and ask what they have in common, e. g. all forms of nature; objects you might find in a classroom; fruits and vegetables; Asian countries; sporting activities, etc. You can use the flashcards as cues for substitution in dialogues, e. g. a lexical set of pictures of fruits on the board. Teacher holds up a card and asks students: ‘Do you like bananas? Students answer and continue practicing. The teacher then elicits questions from students using the cards and invites others to respond. The dialogue can be further refined until the flashcards serve as prompts for students working alone. If you or your students want to use flashcards repeatedly over the course of the school year then it is advisable to laminate the cards. They are a wonderful, cheap and easy resource and can be used by children of all ages. Charts and Posters: Charts and posters are additional ways to expose your students to print and word relationships. They can be as simple as a list of things to do, classroom rules, the daily schedule, or a diagram with labels. They can be shop-bought or classroom created. Some examples are colour words, number words, a food pyramid chart, parts of a body, things found in a supermarket, and types of letters and notes, with salutations and closings. Since all diagrams cannot be drawn, they need to be made on charts. Different colours should be used to bring in variety, decoration and effect. Charts are very useful for presenting and practicing structures, vocabulary items and compositions. Pictures: Picture cards or post cards are extremely helpful in language teaching. Wall pictures include maps, posters, photographs, etc. They may be used in place of things such as clouds, sea, mountain, sky, etc. , which cannot be brought into the classroom. They are excellent in practice for oral composition and question and answer drill. Realia: . A classroom by its very nature is an unnatural place to be, but by ringing in real objects or ‘realia’, the teacher can help students relate to what goes on inside to the outside world. Realia consists of actual objects or items which are used in the classroom to illustrate and teach vocabulary or to serve as an aid to facilitate language acquisition and production. It also allows language learners to see, hear, and in some cases touch the objects. Realia can include the learners themselves, the classroom, furniture, the schoo l, published material such as advertisements and menus, the contents of learners pockets and bags, and the view outside the window. They can be used like visuals to present and practice structures, and as props for role play and dramatic activities. When playing themselves they can feel shy and uneasy. Helping them into a different role or person can give them more confidence and relieve their reservations. Realia helps to create this atmosphere. Advantages of visual aids: 3 1 Visual aids promote remembering by involving the senses of the learners, by arousing their curiosity, by making use of pictorial content and by providing variety in teaching. Teaching is made more effective by creating situations for presentation and practice of language items and by reducing dependence on the mother tongue. 3 They help in formation of language habits by drill, repetition and constant practice. 4 Pupils experience of language is increased by providing rich variety and better quality. 5 They promote teachers efficiency by saving time and energy. Teachers should also ask themselves when choosing visual aids: Can this visual aid also be replaced with some of the students work? Can I prepare this visual aid on my own? Is this visual aid too expensive and thus unnecessary for my classroom learning needs? Is this visual aid user-friendly and motivating for learning? Visual aids are most effective when the information they contain are organized in a systematic manner. Present the most important key points during the first part of your lesson, when their attention is at full capacity. They should help not hinder learning. No matter what type of visual aid you choose to put together, make sure that all the information you include on it relates to the main concepts you want to teach your students.