Using teaching aids in an english classroom

INDEX TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1.2 Reasons for choosing the research 1.2Aims of the research 1.3 Scope, object and researching method MAIN CONTENT 2.1.Theoretic basis of the problem 2.2.Realistic basic of the problem 2.3.Solutions to the problem 2.3.1 General introduction 2.3.1.1 What are taching aids 2.3.1.2 Types of teaching aids 2.3.1.3 Main advantages and disadvantages 2.3.1.4 Some principles of using teaching aids 2.3.2 Some common teaching aids used in english classes 2.3.3 Some examples of using teaching aids in english lessons 2.3.31 Teaching pronunciation 2.3.3.2 Teaching vocabulary 2.3.3.3 Teaching writing skill 2.3.4 An English lesson using teaching aids 2.4 Result after applying the research in teaching CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 3.1 General overview and enhancement of the study 3.2 Recommendations REFERENCES PAGE 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 7 10 11 16 17 17 17 18 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing the research Teaching is a challenging job, whether you are in charge of a traditional public school classroom or tutoring a single child in a language Fortunately, there are many aids and accessories available to make the job easier and more effective Teaching aids can be used in almost every English lesson such as : teaching vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, listening or speaking There are some reasons that we should use teaching aids in our English teaching lessons Teaching aids are useful to reinforce what you are saying and summarize key concepts, ensure that your point is understood, signal what is important/essential, enable students to visualize or experience something that is impractical to see or in real life, engage or stimulate students’ other senses in the learning process, facilitate different learning styles Using teaching aids as tools in the language classroom is highly beneficial for students and enhanced the learning process It helps to motivate students and makes them more intersted in English For these reasons, it’s important and necessary that teaching aids should be included in the lessons 1.2 Aims of the research - To introduce some common teaching aids used in English - To show how to use teaching aids effectively - To help teachers save their time but still have an effective lessons - To motivate students to learn English 1.3 Scope, object and researching method 1.3.1 Scope : Researching in the process of teaching English at Tran An Chiem high school 1.3.2 Object: This subject is concerned with providing some types of teaching aids and ways of using teaching aids in the classroom 1.3.3 Researching method: Multi-methods are integrated to conduct this research, including mainly methods of observation and analysis Beside, the research is undertaken as a result of the reality of the long-time process of my daily teaching at school MAIN CONTENT 2.1 Theoretic basis of the problem Most of the language teachers seem to agree that the use of teaching aids can enhance language teaching As they help teachers to bring the real world into the classroom, they make learning more meaningful and more exciting Teaching aids have been an important component of the language classes over the years They have been considered a useful tool for teachers in almost every trend of second language teaching Apart from being an excellent tool to improve the language acquisition, the use of teaching aids in the classroom provides a more meaningful context for the students All these factors lead students to become more participative and communicative members of the class group Teaching aids can be used in speaking, listening, and writing skills as well as grammar and pronunciation lessons Things become easier with the help of teaching aids Now that students have every interest in English lessons, they will be completely ralaxing when learning English I hope my following research will be helpful and effective to English teachers 2.2 Realistic basic of the problem In reality, most students find it difficult to learn English As a result, they become passive and afraid to learn it Some other students feel a little bored with English classes because they have to remember vocabularies or structures mechanically Most students at Tran An Chiem High school have a low starting point with the average entrance score of English is about points or abit lower Therefore, learning English for them is really a challenging Using teaching aids in English classes is an effective solution to motivate students, to make them interested in the lessons and to love English 2.3 Solutions to the problem 2.3.1 General introduction 2.3.1.1 What are taching aids Teaching aid, as its name suggests, is a kind of aids which support the teaching and learning activities of teachers and students While the website http://www.thefreedictionary.com/teaching+aid defined teaching aids as “materials and equipments used in teaching”, the other one named http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/teaching%20aid considered teaching aid as a kind of “material used by the teacher to supplement classroom instruction or to stimulate the interest of students” To put it more specific, a teaching aid is a “tool used by teachers, facilitators, or tutors to help learners improve reading and other skills; illustrate or reinforce a skill, fact, or idea; and relieve anxiety, fears, or boredom, since many teaching aids are like games.” (http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/Literacy/ReferenceMaterials/GlossaryOfLiteracyTer ms/WhatIsATeachingAid.htm) In short, teaching aids are the useful materials and equipments which help create motivation for teaching and learning environment 2.3.1.2 Types of teaching aids The National Council of Educational Research and Training (N.C.E.R.T.) have classified various aids as follows: - Graphic Aids: Such aids include the following: Photographs and pictures; Flash cards and strips; Posters; Charts; Diagrams; Graphs; Maps; Cartoons and Comics - Display Boards In this are included the following: Black Board, Flannel Board, Bulletin Board, Magnet Board, and Peg Board - Three Dimensional Aids They are: Models, Objects, Specimens, Puppets and Mobiles - Project Aids: Films, Films Strips, and Slides - Audio-Aids: Radio, Television (TV), and Recording - Activity Aids: Field trips, Demonstration, and Dramatics 2.3.1.3 Main advantages and disadvantages a Advantages - Teaching aids are helpful in attracting attention of the students - Teaching aids saves time and energy - Teaching aids helps the teacher to create situations for teaching the beginners - Teaching aids enable the children to retain language items for a longer time - Teaching aids gives vividness to the learning situation - Teaching aids makes the abstract ideas concrete and thus help in making learning more effective - Teaching aids help in the development of various skills such as, how to draw a diagram of the topic among the students b Disadvantages - Take time to prepare - Accidental troubles can spoil all the hard work - Can be noisy - Distract learners from the main focus of the lesson 2.3.1.4 Some principles of using teaching aids Teaching Aids must be: - Well prepared - Well presented - Readable - Legible - Visible to all - Appropriate format for room and audience size - Relevant - Pertinent to topic - Up-to-date - Consistent with local protocols 2.3.2 Some common teaching aids used in english classes 2.3.2.1 Chalk Board Chalk Board is one of the most essential equipment of the class room and it is an indispensable aid for the teacher Chalk Board is a symbol of class room and is a never failing friend of a teacher - It helps the teacher to draw and hold the attention of the students while the teacher is explaining a concept on the board - The important points or the various steps the teacher writes on the board or the various sketches the teacher draw on the board in explaining a concept will help the students to correlate in a systematic way aid in better understanding of the topic - Chalk Board teaching will allow more interaction between students and teacher which will help in active as well as effective learning of the concepts by the student - Chalk Board teaching uses the oral and visual senses which aid in effective learning of the students 2.3.2.2 Flash Cards They are generally used by teachers to teach lower and upper primary classes To teach English, a flash card with a picture on one side and its name on the other side will be used This type of flash cards will be used to identify the picture, alphabets and vocabulary in English language This type of Flash Cards can be made by teacher himself or will be available in the market 2.3.2.3 Power point presentations A teacher can prepare Power point presentation on any topic in the form of slides incorporating with graphics and sounds The topic has to be designed in such a way that the slides display one by one on the screen The teacher can explain the topic by showing slide by slide projected on the overhead screen One disadvantage with this teaching aid is if the presentation is not so much attractive it becomes a failure This type of method can be advisable to use only at higher studies like Degree collages, Universities and in professional courses 2.3.2.4 Colored chalk Used to teach word order, to differentiate between speakers in a dialogue, and to illustrate question and answer format; When working with adult learners, even if you use a textbook, you should consider a range of teaching aids to supplement the work from the text This range will help you to address the varying learning styles and modalities of the learners and also, especially in the case of authentic material, help prepare them for communication in the real world 2.3.2.5 Realia The use of realia is only limited by your imagination and possibly practicality too Using realia stimulates the mind, and makes the vocabulary more memorable than a picture would Students can, touch , smell, and with a food item, taste it Realia saves time, as recognition of an object is often immediate; elicitation of vocabulary becomes much easier as simply holding up the object with a raised eyebrow, will usually result in the desired word being spoken Realia breathes life into new vocabulary, and the chances of your students remembering the new words you have taught them, increases Take the word, biscuit: the probability of remembering the word becomes much higher after experiencing the taste, touch and smell of the object Realia does not have to be limited to food or drink Timetables, tickets, newspapers, and clothes may all be used to help breathe life into lessons, and help provide interest 2.3.2.6 Pictures or photographs: personal, magazine, and others; Pictures are one of effective aids in teaching vocabulary They bring “images of reality into the unnatural world of the language classroom.” (Hill 1990: 1) Pictures bring not only images of reality, but can also function as a fun element in the class Sometimes it is surprising, how pictures may change a lesson, even if only employed in additional exercises or just to create the atmosphere 2.3.2.7 Miming Mime is useful for the explanation of vocabularies Such concepts as jumping, running or the words from, in, under etc are items easy to explain through performing those actions Mime can be great fun for learners as well Liliane Bois-Simon (1978: 64-67), who describes mime, its importance for language learning and how to use it effectively, asserts that “mime is used mostly by the teacher who has a deliberate purpose in mind and wants the students to use a particular word or structure 2.3.2.8 Tape recorder and cassette tapes Studies have shown that some students not have a long attention span in the classroom Tapes in the classroom enable teachers to constantly shift the attention of the students and hopefully work with the students' short attention spans Tapes also allow teachers to take a backseat and not be the focus of the lesson Whether using prerecorded activities or recordings in the classroom, tapes provide teachers a long and varied list of activities for their classroom The tapes can even be used in a school or classroom time capsule Recorded stories are especially beneficial in younger classrooms to help students read 2.3.2.9.Mindmap A mind map, or spidergram, is a strategy for making notes on a topic, prior to writing It is a structured strategy, which shows the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas, as opposed to an unstructured strategy, such as brainstorming, in which students produce notes at random on paper Making a mind map should be a spontaneous pre-writing activity Students start with a topic at the centre and then generate a web of ideas from that, developing and relating these ideas as their mind makes associations Mind maps work well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed Mind maps work especially well when created in groups, since the discussion this engenders aids the production of ideas, and makes the task livelier and more enjoyable 2.3.2.10 Games such as bingo and concentration: commercial or teachermade; Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson Using games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms especially English classrooms Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning.They provide language practice in the various skills- speaking, writing, listening and reading They also encourage students to interact and communicate and create a meaningful context for language use.' 2.3.3 Some examples of using teaching aids in english lessons 2.3.3.1 Teaching pronunciation Teaching pronunciation can be easier when using teaching aids In pronunciation lessons we can use pictures and audio files to help students pronounce easily Below are some examples for illustration Unit English 10: Teaching vowels /i/ and / i:/ - Teaching aids (Using pictures): Illustrative pictures of tongue positions and lips postures when pronouncing /i/ and / i:/ - Teaching aid (Using Tape recorder and cassette tapes): Native voice audio file of /i/ and /i:/ pronunciation Combining types of above teaching aids, teachers can help students pronounce these sounds easily and correctly 2.3.3.2 Teaching vocabulary Learners acquire vocabulary in various ways Students are exposed to a lot of new vocabulary during lessons: by the teacher, by texts or other materials they work with A lot of this vocabulary is automatically absorbed There are many possibilities how to explain or illustrate the meaning of the words In the first place, it is necessary to mention techniques typical for ‘Direct Method’ as Thornbury 2004) specifies them “using real objects (called realia) or pictures or mime.” (Thornbury 2004: 78) * Using pictures Example for illustration: English 10: Unit 1- Reading – vocabulary - Vocabulary: buffalo, field, harrow, local tobacco - illustrative pictures: This is a buffalo The man is harrowing Field Local tobacco In this technique, teacher shows the pictures one by one and asks students: - What does the word buffalo mean? - What does the word harrow mean? - What does the word field means? - What does the phrase local tobacco mean? By looking at the pictures, students can easily find out the meanings of these words and phrases * Using realia Example for illustration: English 10 Unit 5- Reading – vocabulary - Vocabulary: + different parts of computer systems + request for leave - Realia: keyboard, mouse, speaker, CPU, floppy disks CD Roms, VDU (we can use toy items instead of real items) When teaching these words, teacher show students real objects and let them get the meanings of these words With real objects, students will find it easy to learn vocabularies and they will be more interested in the lesson You will have probably realized by now that including realia into classroom involves a great deal of preparation in some cases Is it really worth you time? The answer is yes And your students’faces will be living proofs * Miming Example for illustration: English 12: Unit 3- Reading – vocabulary - Vocabularies: + wave + raise hand + jump up + whistle + nod + clap - Miming: Teacher use his/her actions to mine these words After each action, students will tell the meaning of the words the teacher has mined By using miming technique, teacher can help involve students in the lesson And student can remember what they’ve learned for a long time Mime and gestures will be able to facilitate communication, understanding and participation Additionally, mime and gesture will make you appear to be a more charismatic teacher Putting yourself out there, fearlessly, demonstrates confidence Your students will therefore be more engaged and more likely to retain what they’re being taught in the classroom 2.3.3.3 Teaching writing skill Mind maps can be one of the most useful aids that help support and develop students' writing skills Example for illustration: English 10: Unit 13- Writing – task -In this task, teacher helps students to choose the film they are going to write about Once the topic has been introduced, teacher encourages the students to think about it and then note down their ideas From the ideas, teacher togetther with the students will creat a mindmap to develop these ideas In this stage teacher can have the students work in groups or individuals For example: The film they are going to write about is: Tom and Jerry We will have the following mindmap 10 Ending There is a good friendship between them whenever they are in serious situations Type of film cartoon Plot the conflicts between a cat and a mouse namely Tom and Jerry living under one roof Filming place America by Walt Disney Entertainment Corporation TOM AND JERRY envious Based on the contrary natural characteristics of cat and mouse Tom Main characters Fond of surpassing Have superficial Jerry Quick-minded Have cunning After having finished the mindmap, teacher divides the class in to groups The class now has a complete mind-map that covers all the questions that the teacher sets out to cover in task of the lesson From the mind map they have created, students will work in groups to produce a complete writing about the film A mind-map is an effective means to take notes and brainstorm essay topics.Consequently, mind-mapping technique seems to be particularly suited to helping students in planning their writing as the approach encourages students to reach for and adapt a deeper level of understanding of the writing topics 2.3.4 An english lesson using teaching aids UNIT 1: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF 11 A READING I OBJECTIVES: Knowledge: - General knowledge: Students know about activities on a day in the life of farmers - Language: Sentences and expression for describing someone’s daily routines - New words: Words related to a farmer’s daily work Skills: Guessing meaning in context, scanning for specific information and passage comprehension Attitude: Students should know what a farmer’s day of work is and sympathize with farmers’ everyday work II METHODS: Integrated, mainly communicative III TEACHING AIDS: Student’s book and pictures showing farmers’ daily routines, etc IV PROCEDURES Time Contents mins I WARM UP Game: Clapping the pictures Where does a teacher work? Where does a worker work? Where does a farmer work? 4.Where does a doctor work? * Pictures Picture * Picture Picture Teacher’s and students’ activities - T explain how to play the game - T calls Ss to play the game - Ss listen to T’s questions and clap the right pictures on the board Expected answers 1- picture 2- picture 3- picture 4- picture Picture => To understand more about the life of a farmer, today we are going to learn unit “ A - T leads in the new 12 10 mins day in the life of ” II BEFORE YOU READ Activity 1: Ask and answer the qusetions about the daily routine What time you often get up ? What time you have breakfast/ lunch / dinner? What time you go to bed ? What you often in the morning / afternoon/ evening ? * Expected asnwers I often get up at 5: 30 am I have breakfast at o’clock.I have lunch at 11: 45 pm I have dinner at 6: 30 pm I go to bed at 10:00 pm In the morning I often exercise and then go to work.I often my home work and watch T.V in the evening In the afternoon I often take a short snap and prepare the lesson Activity 2: Show a picture to describe about farmers’ daily outine lesson - T askes Ss to open their book and notebook - Ss listen to the teacher and open the book – Unit 1, part A: reading - T asks students some questions about the daily routine - Ss answer the qusetions - T asks Ss to look at the picture in the book - T shows Ss to know about farmers’ daily routine 18 mins II.WHILE YOU READ Activity 1: Introducing new words - Leading the buffalo to the field - Plough /plaʊ/ (v) to dig and turn over a - T provides some new words, then shows pictures to explain the meaning of these words 13 field or ather area of land with a plough The man is ploughing a plot of land - Harrow / ‘hærəʊ/ (v) to pull over land that has been ploughed to break up the earth before planting - Students look at the pictures and guess the meaning - Ss write the new words on the notebook, - T guides Ss to read all the new words The man is harowing a plot of land - Ss read in chorus - T invites some - Plot of land /plɒt/ a small area of ground individual to read the covered by specific vegetation; "a bean plot” words - fellow /’feləʊ/ (adj) used to describe sbwho - T checks Ss’ is the same as you in some way or in the pronunciation same situation - peasant / ‘peznt/ (n) = farmer who owns or rents a small piece of land - Transplant (v) - Pump water /pʌmp/ - Contented with - / kən’tentid/ (adj): showing or feeling happiness or satisfaction, especially your life is good = satisfied with - Go off = ring - Get ready = prepare - Chat = talk in a friendly way Activity 2: Find out Mr Vy and mr Tuyet’s activities on the extraboard, using the information in the textbook * Extraboar - T asks Ss to find Mr Vy and Mrs Tuyet's activities on the extraboard - Ss work in pairs 14 Singing, leading a buffalo, getting up early , preparing meals for family, doing homework, care of children, reparing the bank of the plot of land, teaching, pumping water transplanting, ploughing and harrowing, drinking tea, playing games chatting with friends, Activity 3: (HAND- OUT) * Answers Mr Vy True False (F) and Mrs (T) Tuyet’s activities   (4:30 am - kitchen)   (In the afternoon)  mins III AFTER YOU READ *Talk about Mr Vy and Mrs Tuyet’s daily routines mins IV COSOLIDATION - Review the whole lesson and focus on the main information in the text mins V HOMEWORK - Learn by heart the new words - Do task on page 14 - Prepare the next section – section B speaking - T hands out the worksheet to Ss - Ss work in group of four - T goes around class and helps Ss if necesary - T asks Ss to close their books and to talk about Mr Vy and Mrs Tuyet’s daily routines or their parents’ daily routines - T asks some Ss to summarize the lesson - T writes the homework on the board and reminds Ss to theirs - Ss take note and the homework at home 2.4 Result after applying the research in teaching 15 After a year of applying this teaching technique, I see obviously that using teaching aids in language classroom can motivate learners, arouse their interest and expose them to real language they will face in the real world In addition, teaching aids encourage learners to learn a particular language successfully, because they notice they are dealing with the language in real life After using these kinds of teaching aids in the language classes I find it easier to organize different stages of a lesson such as warm up, presentation, practice and production I also can save a lot of time from trying to present or explaining a new language item and exploit our lessons effectively The students concentrate more on the lessons They find interests in English and find it it easy to perceive, understand, practise and use the items with confident and creativity Since then our students are fond of learning English Specific results Before using teaching aids Class The Very number of Intersted in students English Rather interested in English A little interested in English Not interested in English 10B1 40 (7,5%) (17,5%) 10 (25%) 20(50%) 10B2 41 (5%) (19,%) 9(22%) 22(54%) Rather interested in English A little interested in English Not After using teaching aids Class The Very number of Intersted in students English interested in English 10B1 40 (20%) 12 (30%) 10 (25%) 10(25%) 10B2 41 (19,5%) 12 (29%) 10(24,5%) 11 (27%) CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 16 3.1 Conclusion Teaching is not an easy job Using teaching aids helps the job less boring and makes students feel more interested in the lessons With this initiative, I would like to present some effective methods and my experience in using teaching aids in language classes This subject is given out with the hope that all of us will find out the most suitable ways to organize and carry out our task-teaching in the classes With limited time and my limited preparation I really want all of you share your opinions, constructive comments and experience in using teaching aids to make my subject more perfectively and our English classes in generally more creatively, effectively and successfully 3.2 Recommendations - Material teaching aids should be made available in schools and teachers should prepare their lessons using teaching aids - School authorities should assist the teachers by providing necessary materials such as print out materials, newspapers and magazines for effective teaching in schools - The government should provide teaching aids such as audio visual and audio lingual aids and make fund available for schools - Teachers, however, should be resourceful enough to fashion out simple material aids, they can use students to prepare them before the lesson starts to facilitate teaching and learning of essay writing Xác nhận thủ trưởng đơn vị Thanh Hoá , ngày 10 tháng 05 năm 2018 I hereby declare that this is my innovative experience and that no parts of the initiative have been copied and reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement Writer Lê Thị Huyền REFERENCE BOOKS 17 Sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 10 – NXB Giáo Dục Sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 10 – NXB Giáo Dục Using pictures in teaching vocabulary Written by: Kateřina Joklová www.motivationraising.com http://busyteacher.org Read more : http://www.ehow.com/info_7902203_tape-recordersclassroom.html The Effect Of Using Authentic Materials In Teaching Rashid Hamed Al Azri, Majid Hilal Al-Rashd Effective use of Teaching Aids by Mrs Melissa Roach 18 19 20 ... examples of using teaching aids in english lessons 2.3.3.1 Teaching pronunciation Teaching pronunciation can be easier when using teaching aids In pronunciation lessons we can use pictures and audio... applying the research in teaching 15 After a year of applying this teaching technique, I see obviously that using teaching aids in language classroom can motivate learners, arouse their interest and... , preparing meals for family, doing homework, care of children, reparing the bank of the plot of land, teaching, pumping water transplanting, ploughing and harrowing, drinking tea, playing games