a) What different types of visual aid can be used in the classroom?
b) What different purposes can each type be used for with learners at higher levels?
c) What are the advantages of using visual aids for these purposes?
Note that many of the purposes stated could be equally valid at lower levels, but the sample activities described show specifically how they can also be relevant in upper intermediate and advanced classes.
1. Type
: Realia, photographs (large
or on the IWB), video
Purpose: To present the meaning of concrete and other
lexis that can be illustrated – eg concrete objects, food, animals etc emotions,
and actions. This may be target language or emergent language
Advantage: An alternative would be translation into the learners’ L1. However this is not possible in a multi-lingual class, or if the T. does not know the L1 term. Even if they do, they may prefer to use visuals in order to reduce the use of the L1 as much as possible.
Sample Activity at higher levels: Emergent language : In an upper intermediate class which I teach, the term “mallard” came up. I explained it was a type of duck and then used Google images and the IWB to find a picture which showed the learners exactly what type of duck it was. I then asked them (in groups of three) to brainstorm the names of any other water bird they could think of, and while they were doing so googled “water birds” to bring up a selection of pictures (swan, penguin, flamingo, heron etc). I then elicited / fed in those in the pictures and they added others they had thought of. All the words were boarded. In the next lesson, while we were waiting for latecomers to arrive, I showed the same pictures and elicited the words and their spelling, thus consolidating them.
2. Type
: Timelines on board or on
handouts
Purpose: To clarify the use of various verb forms
Advantage: The visual conceptualisation is a memory aid, and may be particularly useful for learners with a visual learning preference.
Sample Activity at higher levels: After a presentation at B2 level of the perfect infinitive after “will” to express present predictions of past events. I would illustrate the model sentences with a time line. Eg for “He will have arrived by now”
Past Now
----------X------------------------------------
X
His arrival My prediction
3. Type
: Cuisenaire rods (or
alternatively Lego bricks in different shapes and colours)
Purpose: To illustrate and remind Ls of various
grammatical concepts eg word order.
Advantage: The use of the rods allows the T. to avoid explanation and thus cuts down on teacher talking time while also making the learners think about what the T’s manipulation of the rods is telling them. This increases the depth of cognitive processing, making retention more likely.
Sample Activity at higher levels: When focusing on the word order of exclamations as opposed to statements (eg “Was he mad!” versus “He was mad)” the T can use different colour rods to represent the different parts of the sentence. Two rods of each colour are then placed on the Ls’ desks and they are given an envelope containing individual words for five pairs of sentences – one a statement, the other an exclamation. They have to use the words to create sentences with the correct order under each sequence of rods.
4. Type
: Pictorial flashcards
Purpose: Controlled practice
Advantage: The need to physically pick up the cards, as in the activity below, helps learners who like to be physically active in the lesson, while the use of pictures ensures the learners have to think of the language for themselves rather than just being “given” it.
Sample Activity at higher levels: This activity could be used at a range of levels for many different structures, but to practise the present continuous passive, the Ls play “pairs”. They have a set of flashcards, two of each picture, which are placed face up on the desk in jumbled order, and they have a minute to look at them. The flashcards are then turned facedown and each learner in the pair/group has a turn at pointing to two of the pictures and saying, from memory, what is happening (eg In these pictures, there’s a house which is being demolished / there’s a car which is being repaired/ there's a tree which is being planted). They then turn over the flashcards and if both cards match their sentence, they keep the pair. At the end, the player with the most pairs wins.
5. Type
: Photographs
Purpose: Freer practice
Advantage: In classes where learners know each other very
well (eg older state school classes) personalisation activities are often
irrelevant as learners already know everything there is to know about each
other. Discussions based around photographs can therefore often be more
engaging.
Sample Activity at higher levels: I have often used “ambiguous” photos to practise speculating about possibilities. Eg: one shows a mother and two young boys in an airport, sleeping on hard airport seats. Learners speculate on the situation, producing modal verbs with complex infinitives such as “Their plane might have been delayed” (perfect passive infinitive). The teacher then encourages them to go beyond this obvious conclusion by asking “Why has the plane been delayed? How long have they been there? Where are they going and what will happen if they don’t get there soon?” This will produce other similar structures. If ls “avoid” the TL, the T can upgrade it in the follow-up stage by boarding it and saying eg “I heard someone say “Perhaps they’re going on holiday. How would you say that using “might”?”.
6. Type
: Video – a news broadcast in
their own language from the internet
Purpose: Development of text mediation skills– all
levels from B2 upwards. Suitable for monolingual classes only.
Advantages: a) Authentic, up to date news broadcasts in English are often difficult to obtain if you are working in a non-English speaking countries (an exception being https://abcnews.go.com/) and are, in any case, sometimes of limited interest to learners. Working on a topical event from their own country’s news can be more motivating for them. Many countries make their own news broadcasts for that day available on the web (eg in Italy, RAI Replay) and if the following framework is used no more than a few minutes of preparation is necessary.
Sample Activity at higher levels: The T chooses a short (no more than 1-2 minutes) item from the day’s news which ideally has: an introduction by the studio anchor; a voice-over film of the event; an interview between a TV reporter and a protagonist. Ls a) brainstorm what they already know about the event; b) listen and take notes of the keywords; c) in threes reconstruct the transcript of the item in English; d) compare their version with that of one or two other pairs and make improvements, aided by the T.; e) finally, a volunteer group acts out their broadcast for the group.
7. Type
: Internet video – eg YouTube videos
Advantage: Coursebooks focus on “general interest” topics which leaves out of account the fact that each learner has specific interests which are not catered for. In 121 courses the T can exploit these interests to increase engagement, and to teach specialist language which will allow them to view more of the same type of video outside the classroom.
Sample Activity at higher levels: I recently taught a C2 learner who was interested in horse riding, and particularly show jumping – an interest which I share. I therefore used clips of the last Olympics to teach her specialist lexis and give her general language practice: a) We watched the clip without sound and discussed what could be seen. I paused the recording frequently and elicited/fed in specialist lexis such as that connected with tack (girth, martingale, snaffle etc) types of jumps (oxer, double, treble etc) and with what happened (eg to have a refusal). The clip was then replayed and the L imagined she was the TV commentator and decided what she would say at each point (the recording was paused frequently to allow thinking time). We then played the recording with sound and looked at what the commentator actually said (again focusing on specialist expressions) and focused on phrases that she could feed into her own commentary. She then “commentated” on the (silent) clip again, this time in real time.
8. Type
: Realia
Purpose: To teach advanced lexis and practise circumlocution strategies
Advantage: Even advanced learners often lack knowledge of various objects or lexical fields and the use of realia can stimulate them to develop their lexical knowledge.
Sample activity at higher levels: The T takes into the classroom six or seven common household or office items that s/he thinks the Ls won’t know the names of – eg a clothes hanger, a pair of bookends; a bulldog clip; a rolling pin; a sticking plaster etc. She gives each group (or in multilingual classes each learner) a bilingual dictionary (or they can use their phones) and tells them they should find the names of the items. Once they’ve done so, they then have a couple of minutes to decide on a description of each item which they can use to test the other learners (eg “It’s the thing you put on your finger if you cut it.”) At class level, each group then asks the others about one of the items (“What do you call the thing you put on your finger if you cut it?”) and the groups give their answers. The teacher corrects or confirms as necessary and boards the correct items
9. Type
: Graphic Organisers / Mind
Maps
Purpose: To help Ls develop the skills of brainstorming
and organising information logically, as they may have to do if eg working for
the writing paper of a Cambridge exam (B2-C2) or IELTS
Advantage: This may be particularly relevant with secondary level YLs. When teaching YLs the T is arguably not “just” a language teacher but also an educator, responsible for developing higher order thinking skills.
Sample Activity at higher levels: The Ls are given a topic – eg the anatomy of T.Rex - and then shown how to organise relevant information on a fishbone diagram. They are then given another topic and create their own fishbone diagram on that topic. Back at class level the T.Rex diagram is used to formulate an organised text with a paragraph for each main topic, a topic sentence for each paragraph, connectives used to link idea within the paragraph etc. They then write a similar text for their own topic.
10. Type : Flow charts, pie charts,
graphs etc as commonly used in
business presentations, reports etc
Use/ Advantage : In general business English courses containing learners from various company departments, learners can’t always focus on their own specialist field (HR, logistics, marketing etc) and therefore can’t always complete activities from their own background knowledge. Information provided in this form is realistic for the context and ensure that when they are speaking/writing, the focus is on communication (expressing the information provided in English) and not imagination (inventing something to say).
Sample Activity at higher levels: B2/C1 learners on a presentation skills course are given graphs and pie charts showing information such as recent sales figures for the company’s range of coffee makers, information on the average age of customers for each product, customer feedback etc. Based on the information given they plan a presentation (or report) with recommendations for changes in the range and future marketing policy.
Suggested Reading
The following articles give more detailed information on some of the activities discussed above, or discuss the uses of visuals at lower levels and with different learner types - eg young learners.
Jade Blue on the use of visuals
Swift,
S Five Picture Games
Swift,
S Using YouTube for Vocabulary
Development
Swift,
S Using Balloons in the EFL Classroom
Swift,
S on Creative Visualisation
Darn,
S Graphic organisers
Taylor,
K Using DVD and Video Part One and Part Two
