Module 3.4.

Teaching Aids
At the end of this module you will:

 recognise errors
 have some understanding of why students make them
 be able to prepare useful remedial exercises

Introduction
Audio-visual aids should be seen as just that - aids. They are props, pieces of
equipment which help us to put across our teaching point. We do not advocate building
a lesson 'around the aid', we promote the use of audio-visual aids as our 'helpers'. The
aid and the topic content are vehicles for language, not the focus of the lesson.

If you enter every class with a 'bag of tricks', including a flip chart, a DVD player, a
laptop, an LCD computer projector, etc, you may eventually become a slave to these
aids and deprive your students of the ultimate aim of communication. They will have no
time to communicate if they are watching a video, listening to a song and looking at a
presentation on the Interactive Whiteboard all in one lesson. That would be a very
teacher-centred lesson, and students would use mainly their receptive skills.

First write your lesson plan, then see where you can generate more enthusiasm and
facilitate more understanding by the use of aids. The need comes first, and the need
decides the type of aid and the way of using it. The aids must allow us to explain our
target structures and concepts simply; otherwise they are not necessary in that
particular lesson.

Nor should audio-visual aids be used as a 'treat' for the students (do this boring
exercise, then I'll show you a music video and you'll go home). They should be
integrated into the lesson to promote practice in spoken and written English.

Avoid over-use and the regrettable temptation to allow the aids to become poor
substitutes for preparing a lesson! Remember that your students learn through the
quality of your teaching and the use of your materials, not by the use of gimmicks or
your technological know-how.
Now that you are aware of the pitfalls, do make use of realia and audio-visual aids to
practise language points and to provide extra stimulus.

Let us look at the teaching/learning aids that are available to us beginning with simple
non-technical ones and continuing with modern technical ones.
Lesson 1. Audio - Visual Aids
Audio-visual aids should be seen as just that - aids. They are props, pieces of
equipment which help us to put across our teaching point. We do not advocate building
a lesson 'around the aid', we promote the use of audio-visual aids as our 'helpers'. The
aid and the topic content are vehicles for language, not the focus of the lesson.

If you enter every class with a 'bag of tricks', including a flip chart, a DVD player, a
laptop, an LCD computer projector, etc, you may eventually become a slave to these
aids and deprive your students of the ultimate aim of communication. They will have no
time to communicate if they are watching a video, listening to a song and looking at a
presentation on the Interactive Whiteboard all in one lesson. That would be a very
teacher-centred lesson, and students would use mainly their receptive skills.

First write your lesson plan, then see where you can generate more enthusiasm and
facilitate more understanding by the use of aids. The need comes first, and the need
decides the type of aid and the way of using it. The aids must allow us to explain our
target structures and concepts simply; otherwise they are not necessary in that
particular lesson.

Nor should audio-visual aids be used as a 'treat' for the students (do this boring
exercise, then I'll show you a music video and you'll go home). They should be
integrated into the lesson to promote practice in spoken and written English.

Avoid over-use and the regrettable temptation to allow the aids to become poor
substitutes for preparing a lesson! Remember that your students learn through the
quality of your teaching and the use of your materials, not by the use of gimmicks or
your technological know-how.

Now that you are aware of the pitfalls, do make use of realia and audio-visual aids to
practise language points and to provide extra stimulus.

Let us look at the teaching/learning aids that are available to us beginning with simple
non-technical ones and continuing with modern technical ones.
 Lesson 2. Simple Aids
Realia
The word 'realia' means 'real things'. These can include
 the things normally found in the classroom such as pens, pencils and notebooks,
windows and tables;
 the things that you bring in for simulation of some sort of real world activity.
The advantage of using objects normally found around the classroom is that they are
already familiar to the students, and the practice you can get out of them is extensive.
Place things to practise prepositions - in, on, under and behind. Teach comparatives
asking which of several similar objects is bigger, smaller, more expensive and so on.
Use them to build dialogues asking for things or buying and selling things. But don't
over-use items of stationery! Remember they are not usually found anywhere else!
Real props brought into the classroom provide an extra, interesting stimulus. Set scenes
by using any props you can get hold of. Hats to change characters, flags to show
nationalities, toy phones, toy vehicles, dolls, tea-sets, etc, can all be very useful. Bring
in a few objects that have special meaning to you and get your students to guess
something about you. They can then bring in something that is special to them and talk
about it.
People
If you are introducing or practising the use of has, has got, wears, has got on, etc, what
better props than your students? Personal questions (usually the first thing students
learn) are best practised with the students themselves: 'I'm Greek, I'm from Crete' and
so on. Students love to learn more about each other.
Use your own body as a visual aid. As the teacher in an EFL situation you should be
able to mime and not be afraid to do so. Throw yourself into it and you'll enjoy it as
much as your students will!

Simple Aids: The Board, Flashcards and Wallcharts

The board: black or white

One of the most commonly available and inexpensive visual aids is the blackboard, or
more often now, the whiteboard. All you have to do here is to make sure you have chalk
or marker pens and a cleaning cloth or sponge.
Always make sure your board work is clear. Remember that learners tend to copy down
everything that the teacher writes and their notebooks are then used for revision! If
there is confusion on the board, there will probably be confusion in the students' heads.
 Where possible, prepare beforehand and don't stand writing/drawing on the board for a
long time during the lesson.

Flashcards

These are pieces of card on which words and/or pictures are written or drawn. They
should be large enough to be seen from the back of the class. Have them laminated if
you want to preserve them.

Flashcards can be used for practice and consolidation of vocabulary, building up

sentences, prompts for dialogues or drills, etc. They are invaluable, and several sets
can usefully be prepared in advance. What is on the board does not move round the
class and is always at the front, but flashcards can be held by students or stuck on the
wall.

It is easy to use flashcards to elicit and drill vocabulary. With a picture on the front and a
word on the back of each card, you can use them as cues, holding up a card with the
front side facing the students and getting them to tell you the English word for the thing
shown on the card. Get them to repeat the word, chorally and individually, to
consolidate its meaning and pronunciation.

Here are a few more ideas for using flashcards:

 With a small class, stick the pictures or the words on the wall and get students to walk
to the right picture/word when you say it. Then they need to pronounce the word they
are standing at. This works very well with pronunciation practice. Make a storyboard
around the class and get students to follow it.

 Shuffle the cards and hand them out face down. Students ask each other questions to
work out which card their partner has.

 Give students cards showing actions and objects and get them to make a story from the
pictures they have: eg. skating, banana, dog...
Wallcharts

These could be helpful but beware! Many wall charts which look beautiful in the shop
are virtually useless and end up spending most of their life rolled up in a cupboard.
Flexibility is what is needed in a visual aid. If you can prepare charts which will be
helpful for various levels, to demonstrate a variety of points and in different teaching
situations, then they will be worth the hours of preparation time which they require.
Lesson 3. Technical Aids
LCD projectors

The modern equivalent of the once popular OHP (overhead projector, which used
transparencies) is an LCD projector connected to a computer.

Because of the accessibility of the internet in more and more places around the world,
the LCD projector provides you with almost limitless possibilities to project images onto
the big screen for the whole class to see directly from your computer screen. Unlike with
an OHP, these are not only static images but videos as well, for example the content of
such popular video sites as You Tube and Vimeo.

The progress made in the development of external data storage devices in recent years
allows teachers to store huge amounts of data on tiny USB flash drives. As you prepare
materials for your lessons or look for them online, save them on your personal flash
drive. Systematise the materials into folders and subfolders (for example, you can group
them according to the class, year, textbook used or level), and it will be easy to find the
necessary file when you need it. Then all you have to bring to a classroom already
equipped with a computer and projector is your pendrive. If there is no stationary
computer, you'll need to bring your laptop.

But remember to save a back-up copy of all your materials! Just because the USB flash
drives are so small, it's equally easy to keep a large amount of information and to lose it.

The Interactive Whiteboard

The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) is a wonderful development. It remains a luxury in

many countries and teaching locations but if it is not in your school yet, then it may
come soon. So read about it now and be the first to have training when it arrives!
 An IWB is a large display connected to a computer. The computer's desktop is projected
onto the board's surface, where users control the computer using a pen, finger, stylus or
another device. The board is typically mounted to a wall or floor stand.

Since an IWB can recognise handwriting, it becomes a combination of a computer and

a regular whiteboard. An IWB can import language, pictures or even movie clips from
online sites and project them. Your lessons can look very tidy and can be prepared
beforehand. The lesson notes can be printed out at the end to reflect what actually went
on.

Here are some ideas for using the IWB with your students:

 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.

Technical Aids: Audio and Video Equipment and

Language Labs
Audio recording and playback equipment

This is essential because 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, and your textbook will probably come with a
set of CDs or a link to audio tracks on the web. You can use your own recorded
materials as well. Discussions among you and your friends on a variety of contemporary
subjects, a conversation in a shop or pub, directions in the street, etc, can prove
invaluable aids in overseas teaching situations.

It can also be useful to record the voices of your students. You can provide them with
helpful feedback on their reproduction of English if you play back a dialogue done
during pair work, for example. An option still available in some places is a cassette
 recorder with a record function. This can be moved around the classroom and does not
have any compatibility problems. More modern ways of recording include

 a digital Dictaphone
 computer software, such as the free application called Audacity, and a microphone
 a hand-held digital camera
 your smartphone

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.

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.

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 recording, fast forward and reverse it; this is invaluable for correction.

Language labs

Many schools have some sort of a room that you can book with your students for use on
a regular or irregular basis. In some schools this is called a self-access centre or SAC.
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 or they may need to be taken in by their teacher.
One type of a self-access centre is called the language laboratory. Originally, these
were rooms with a number of consoles connected to a master console operated by the
teacher. Each console had headphones where students could listen to recordings and
speak into a microphone at their own pace. The consoles have recently been replaced
by computers in digital language labs.

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 needs your
opinion, here are some points to bear in mind.

1) It must be properly serviced and maintained and therefore requires someone,

preferably on the spot, who can do that.
2) It needs a considerable supply of materials which wear out.
3) It is expensive to install and to run.
4) It takes the space of a classroom.
5) It must justify the expense in your size of school. Perhaps the money would be better
spent on buying a few extra laptops, digital cameras or projectors.
A software-only language lab changes the concept of where and what a language
laboratory is. Software can be installed and accessed on any networked PC placed in
any location. Software-only systems can be located in the same room, different rooms
or even on different campuses.
 Lesson 4. Syllabus or Textbooks
The Most Important Aid: Your Syllabus or Textbook
Many teachers find themselves in a situation where they have to stick to a rigid course.
That can be terribly frustrating. However the opposite can be equally difficult. Teachers
asked to teach their classes without a detailed syllabus will find themselves faced with
the impossible task of collecting and creating all their own material.

The ideal is to be allowed (or encouraged) to roughly follow the syllabus, using your
own materials where appropriate. Teachers should be free, within limits, to vary the diet
of any ESOL class.

The textbook is our friend because:

 It sets out 'bits' of language to teach.

 The Teacher's Book helps the teacher plan lessons.
 It has reading and listening materials.
 It helps with managing time.
 It saves on photocopying, provided that each student has a copy of the book.

The way you use the textbook should take into account the specific needs of your
students. Textbooks are written by teams of writers for an abstract class, but you are
always teaching a specific class whose interests and needs you know better than
anyone else. That is why faithfully following the order of units and activities in a single
book without adding, removing or adapting anything can be counterproductive.

Adapting means changing your materials so they are more suitable for your class.
Sometimes reading and listening activities are too long and complicated, so cut the
texts into chunks and write different exercises. In some books every chapter has the
same order to the activities, eg. look at the pictures, talk about them, then a listening,
then a reading. Bring variety into the lesson by varying that order.

Unless the school administration demands that each and every chapter be used and
you are not able to convince them otherwise, feel free to remove a unit or part of a unit
of the course book from your personal syllabus. Sometimes there are too many boring
exercises. Sometimes the topic is not one that your students are interested in.
Sometimes the materials are very out of date such as an interview with Margaret
Thatcher in a unit talking about contemporary politics. Your textbook may be 10 or more
years old.

Adding in a more up-to-date newspaper article or a different song of your own can be
much more interesting. Also look for pictures from websites or magazines to replace or
add. You may want to add some extra information on a grammar point too.

However be careful:

If you add too much, then it may be easy to lose continuity of the course and your
lessons may end up too eclectic and hard to follow. If you remove too much, then you
will have a lot of work to do to fill up the time. Excessive changes may cause your
students to lose trust and interest in the course book. So maintain a balance. And don't
add or remove at the last minute. Look ahead in the course book and get your materials
ready.