Yen lac education office
Ph¹m c«ng b×nh secondary school
Seminar
Using teaching aids
in a language class
The writer : Tr¬ng Quang Kh¸nh
The teacher: TrÇn ThÞ Liªn
School year: 2007 – 2008
Using teaching aids in a language class – By Truong Quang Khanh
A. The acknowledgement.
I. Reason for choosing the topic:
Firstly, “Teaching aid” is one of the subjects in the “Frequency Improving
Book” and using teaching aids is also an obligatory thing in class. So I think
this is a good chance for us to discuss how to use teaching aids effectively
in a language class.
Secondly, Teaching aids can be used to teach in most of the contents of an
English lesson such as teaching new vocabulary, structures, grammar,
listening and speaking, etc. Necessary teaching aids not only make our
periods more lively and exciting, but also help our students more
enthusiastically in learning English.
Further more, In the reality of teaching different aspects and skills, teaching
aids produce countless unpredictable results which an ordinary class
without any aids can not do. A class with a good exploitation of suitable
teaching aids is always exciting and sucessful. The teacher can save a lot
of time from trying to present and explain new item for students’ practice.
The students find it easy to perceive, understand, practise and use the item
with confidence and creativity.
Finally, using teaching aids is very important and necessary in new method
of teaching English.
II. Understanding the subject:
What are teaching aids ?
1. Definition:
According to Peter Wingard in Teaching English as an international
Language – A Practical Guide – teaching aids are any thing from a detailed
syllabus, a text book to audio, visual and audiovisual equipment that is used
to facilitate and better the result of teachers’ teaching and learners’
learning. They are regarded as the useful servants not masters of the
language teaching and learning process. They appear beacause the need
of this process.
2. Kinds of teaching aids:
From the obove definition, teaching aids can be grouped into three main
kinds:
- Audio aids.
- Visual aids.
- Audio-visual aids.
Audio aids:
Audio aids such as language laboratory, radio, cassette, tape, teacher’s
and student’s voice, etc, are often used for listening comprehension
practice.
Visual aids:
Visual aids are anything visible to students, which the teacher uses for
different purposes in the class. They may be objects, pieces of classroom
furniture, pictures, cut-out magazine pictures, drawings, cards, maps,
teacher and learners themselves and so on. They can be used in different
stages of a lesson, and they are rich in forms , cheap to make, easy to find,
convinient and effective use in a language class.
Tæ KHXH – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – By Truong Quang Khanh
Audio-visual aids:
Audio visual aids are the combination of the audio and visual aids for
convinient, multi-purposed use in a language class, e.g. telivision, recorded
film, video, plays, etc. They may be good for listening, speaking and other
language skill activities.
Among these three main kinds of teaching aids, the visual ones are the
most common and effective in a language class, which Vietnamese
teachers at all school levels can find, make and use easily.
III. Some principles of using teaching aids:
The first principle is “good preparation of suitable aids”. When we are
assigned with a new language item to teach, for instant, a dialogue, a
grammartical structure or a new word, we must ask ourselves the following
questions:
- Does it need any teaching aids ?
- What teaching aids will be needed for the presentation, practice and
production ?
- Are they easy for us to prepare and simple for students to understand ?
- What language content or exercises will be used with these aids ?
- When is this or that aid used ?
- How is this aid used to achieve the best result ?
- How long is this aid used ?
These questions may help us to decide on the use of teaching aids, type os
suitable aid and to prepare the language content, time and way to use it
effectively.
The second principle is that it must be exploited to the maximum in
the class or else it may waste a lot.
Another principle is that the chosen teaching aid must be suitable to
the teaching item and simple enough for students to understand.
The final principle is that the teaching aid must be big enough to be
seen or heard by all the students from different parts of the classroom and it
must be economic, durable to make and use.
B. Content:
Techniques of using some common audio and visual aids
The most common, effective teaching aids at the disposal and potentiality of
Vietnamese teachers of English are surely visual aids, therefore, in this part,
some common kinds of visual aids such as board, drawings, pictures, realia,
teacher’s action will be discussed in details in the hope that they may be the
reference to every teacher of English.
1. Board.
Teacher use the board to make thing clearer to the class and help to focus
their attention. So in order to use it effectively, we need to develop good
basic techniques of writing on the board and organizing the layout of what
we write.
When writing on the board, the teacher should follow the following basic
principles:
- Write clearly. The writing should be large enough to read from the back of
the class.
Tæ KHXH – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – By Truong Quang Khanh
- Write in straight line, neither uphill or downhill.
- Stand in a way that does not hide the board. We can stand sideways, half
facing the board and half facing the class with our arm fully extended; in this
way we can control the students and the students can see what we are
writing.
- Talk as you write. We can say aloud what we are writing so that the
students can hear or see the writing at the same time.
- Write only the necessities neatly on the board after they orally presented
and understood by the students.
About the organization of the board, there are various ways of dividing it up.
I think we should divide the blackboard into three or four patrs.
2. Drawing:
Simple drawings or sketches on sheets of paper or the board can be useful
in a language class. They can be used to show or prctise the meanings of
grammartical structures, new words about people, attitude, actions, etc in a
quick and attractive way. They can create various contexts for students to
imagine and use the language meaningfully.
Drawing stick figures:
Drawing furniture, studying objects ...
Computer telivision telephone chair table stereo
 pencil
pen notebook envelop ruler ink-pot happy sad
Tæ KHXH – English Group
Using teaching aids in a language class – By Truong Quang Khanh
Example for illustration:
English 7: Unit 3: Language focus 1(P.39-prepositions) on
Revise and practise using prepositions of position
English 9: Unit 4: Listen (used to warm up)
T draws on the board and asks some
pre-questions:
+Who are they ?
+Where is Nga now ?
+Can Nga speak English ?
+How can she speak English ?
+What for ?
Sts. look at the drawing, think and give their answers
T. “Today we are going to listen to .....”
Sts.listen to the intrduction.
3. Pictures:
Pictures of various kinds: paitnings, ready-made pictures, wall pictures,
magazine-cut-out pictures, postcards, etc, can serve as illustrations to show
the meanings of new words, structures, as cues for drills, practice or as
stimuli for oral and written work in the class.
Each picture may suggest a lot of language contents for learners to
practise. It may be for the practice of prepositions, verb tenses, pattern
drills, direct/indirect speech, a dialogue..., they can be used separately as
illustrations, cues, explanations for short language context or in a sequence
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