Influencing policy (training slides from Fast Track Impact)
Material development journal 2
1.
2. Flashcards
We can use flashcards for memory and we
can make these activities:
a) recall: one student shows the other
student a flashcard and the other tries to
make a sentence or simply state the
name of the card.
b) memory story: student picks up a
card and makes a statement using the
target language
c) concentration: student attempts to
turn over and math from both sets.
d) snap: cards face up on the table,
teacher says a sentence and the first
student to “snap” or slap the right card
wins.
3. Reflection
From the vocabulary we had on our lessons
from the book miss Amalia gave us we had to
make some flashcards and make 2 sets. My
vocabulary was about “Office equipment” and I
made 2 sets.
I taught the vocabulary and divided the group in
2 teams so it was like a “bus stop”. I played
some music and when I stopped it the 2
students that were facing each other had to
make a sentence using the word of the
vocabulary
5. Realia
What’s realia?
Realia is all things that we can
bring to the class, concrete
objects.
It helps make english lessons
memorable by creating a link
between objects and words. It help
us to illustrate and teach
vocabulary and it also improves
students’ understanding on the
topic.
6. Why is it important to
use realia?
It brings a welcome change in the
class, a break from the typical.
It engages students.
Students will be expected to use
real material when they leave the
class.
We can also use realia for role-
plays to make the situation more
realistic.
7. Pros and cons
Advantages: Realia stimulates
the mind, elicitation becomes
easier, it makes lessons
interesting and enjoyable, it helps
students to discover and process
new input, it is accessible,
relevant, meaningful and visually
interesting.
Disadvantages: Activities with
real objects might lost the class
path.
Spending too much time in one
activity with real objects in the class
may not support cultural distinction.
8. Reflection
To give a class using realia Miss Amalia gave us
a topic and the grammar we have to teach. My
topic was “Uncountable containers” teaching
“How much & How many?”
I brought different containers with uncountable
objects to the class such as a carton of milk, a
jar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, etc. I taught how to
make lemonade so students read the recipe and
then asked questions using how much and how
many. I think realia is really useful in ESL
classes because you can teach a lot of things
with them, even if it’s vocabulary or grammar.
10. Cue-cards
Cue-cards are a fun and creative way to make
students speak.
They are smaller than the flashcards and their
main goal is to make students speak.
They can have photos or text on them
11. Reflection
We had to make an activity using cue-cards with the
speaking section of the lesson we have. My speaking
section was about making the students talk about
these topics: “Languages, people close to them,…”
so what I did is that I made the cue-cards and put a
number on it, then I put the same numbers on jenga
blocks, so the activity was that the students had to
play jenga picking a block with a number on it and
answer the question or sentence on the cuecard. It
made them speak in teams and share their thoughts.
13. Visuals, pictures and
photos
Visuals, pictures and photos motivate students and
provoke lively discussions and demand students to give
their ideas.
Visuals, pictures and photos have to be more or less big,
but most of all they have to be visible.
It encourages students’ confidence: seeing pictures of
celebrities or things allows them to talk proudly and
confidently.
14. It makes students comprehend and initiate a
variety of associations.
Students observe, wonder and infer.
You can teach grammar, create a story, describe
and draw, information gap.
15. Reflection
We made teams to teach a class using
visuals, pictures and photos. My team
had to teach a class with visuals, we
used cut-outs from magazines and
brochures to make the visuals, I pasted
the pictures on color sheets so they
could look good. We made a big board
game in the classroom, students had to
play using a dice to move around the
board game and when they stood on
one of the visuals they had to make a
story with it using prepositions because
that’s the grammar topic we were
teaching.
17. Posters made in teams
On Tuesday May 11th, 2016 we were divided in
teams and each them had a different reading
about “Using pictures” and we had to make a
poster and then explain it to the whole class.
We were learning about using pictures in the
warming-up phase because it activates the
students’ schemata (prior knowledge) which is
really important and it also motivates them.
18. We were also discussing that there
are different kind of students with
different learning styles. There are
students which are:
A) AUDITORY: Learn best through
listening and speaking.
B) TACTILE: Learn best through
touching
C) KINESTHETIC: Learn best though
activities in which they involve their
whole body
D) GLOBAL: Learn best through
group activities, holistic reading
methods and cooperative learning
strategies.
19. E) ANALYTICAL: Tend
to focus a lot more on
details and analyzing.
F) VISUAL: Learn best
by observing graphs,
charts, maps, posters,
and text with a lot of
pictures.
20. Because of the different learning
styles, it is important for teachers to
find a variety of activities to suit
their students’ learning styles.
But why pictures?
Pictures motivate students
They raise students’ confidence
They are convenient
They make students comprehend
They expand students’ general
knowledge
21. Choosing the right
picture
Size and quality
Color
Students’ preferences
Copyright and usage
restrictions
24. Alphabet
On Thursday 12th, we had to give a class using letter
tiles, I decided to teach action verbs for vocabulary. My
activity consisted in making 2 teams, both of them had
letter tiles made with plastic caps and they also had a box
with 10 flashcards on it (action verbs) and one member of
the team had to pick up a flashcard and act it out, the
whole team had to discuss what the action verb was
being acted out and they had to form the word with the
letter tiles, the first team who guesses and forms the word
first, is the one who wins.