Teaching using visuals

I had an opportunity to participate in the webinar. The English teacher, who is working in the primary state school in Poland, was the speaker of the webinar. First and foremost, it was AMAZING! I am sure the teacher has a vocation for teaching. I am really impressed with her positive attitude and I think that her students are lucky to have her as a teacher. 

The webinar was about teaching English to Young Learners using visuals such as flashcards, realia, pictures from books, multimedia, as well as gestures and miming. The webinar was particularly beneficial for me as a future teacher because I found out about some games and online resources. The teacher believes that the function of the language is to communicate, therefore, it should be our main focus during lessons with students. 

The teacher recommends using realia while teaching online. She suggests using things that we or our students have at hand. Besides, students could be also asked to prepare something before the lesson, for example, something blue, green and red, and then share with the rest of the class. 

The teacher introduces some of the games which she is using in her teaching such as:

• Say stop! 

The teacher is moving hand over different flashcards, a student say stop and in this way is choosing the flashcard; the teacher shows it to the student who is expected to name the object from the flashcard.

• What am I drawing?

The teacher starts drawing something and showing it to students, they try to guess what it is. As a teacher, you do not need to have anything in mind at this stage, the main idea is to made students think and then they can potentially give you the answer. You stop the activity whenever you feel it is right to move on.

• Action reaction

Students are expected to follow the instruction, for example: When you see a crocodile, jump.

• Disappearing words 

The teacher shows simple words or pictures, students look at it and after a while one of them is disappearing. Students are asked: what is missing?

The teacher mentions some websites to use to find music for children:

• supersimplesongs.com
• thesingingwalrus.com 
• English Singsing (Youtube)

Moreover, the teachers shares also some online resources such as:

• wordwall.net
• learningchocolate.com
• linoit.com
• InShot (app).

In addition, at the end of the lesson, the teacher is asking children what they remember from the lesson. In the classroom, they usually sit in the circle and everyone has a chance to contribute. The activity involves the use of a stopwatch. When the stopwatch rings, the child holding the thing become a helper who is able to help others when they struggle to recall any words from the lesson.

Additionally, she really encourages to using puppets. She believes it is particularly interesting for children up to the age of 8. The teacher is proposing some activities which could be done using puppets, for example:

• What colour is your...? (clothes/school objects/pets)
• Are you...? (feeling/mood)
• True/False (Pigs are green)
• Have you got...? (family/animals/school items/school objects)
• Classroom routines (hello/goodbye)

The teacher shows the video which she has done using her puppet. Her video is about the puppet being hungry, so she is offering him some food. As a result, children could learn vocabulary related to food. The snapshot of the idea:

Puppet: I am hungry.

Teacher: Fish for you.

Puppet: I don't like fish. I am hungry. 

Teacher: Grapes for you.

Puppet: I don't like grapes. I am hungry.

Teacher: Pizza for you 

Puppet: I like pizza. 

It is a way of teaching numerous words in a creatively and funny way. I am sure children would be extremely interested in watching a lesson like this one. 

Furthermore, puppets seem to be good tools to be used during online teaching, where the significant advantage is the fact that students are not able to see teacher's hand and are more likely to focus on the puppet. 

What do you think about puppets? Would you like to use them in your teaching?

Angelika