1. Using Visual Aids &
Manipulatives
Erin Lowry
Senior English Language Fellow
Centro Colombo Americano Manizales
December 1, 2008

2. Overview of Workshop
• To familiarize teachers with a range of simple
visual aids and manipulatives that are
available
• To show teachers how to make their own
visual aids
• To show teachers how to use visual aids and
manipulatives effectively

3. USING VISUAL AIDS
What are visual aids?
How can they help us teach and our
students learn?
When can you use visual aids?

4. Visual Aids You’ve Used…
Yourself
Blackboard
Real Objects
Flashcards
Pictures Charts
Others

5. Why Use Visual Aids?
• To help present a topic
• As part of language practice
• When reviewing language that was presented
earlier

6. What are Manipulatives?
• Objects that can be
touched or moved
by students to
reinforce a concept
• A way that students
can physically
interact with their
learning.

7. Why Use Manipulatives?
• 1. Manipulatives help reach
students whose learning styles are
often ignored, i.e. kinesthetic, tactile.

8. Why Use Manipulatives?
• 2. Manipulatives empower students
to process and organize information
at their own pace.

9. Why Use Manipulatives?
• 3. Manipulatives add “novelty” to
the classroom & get the students’
attention.

10. Why Use Manipulatives?
4. Manipulatives can be used in a
variety of ways:
-introduce -process
-review -recall
-organize

11. Using Real Objects
• Allows language
learners to see, hear,
and in some cases
touch the objects
• Good for teaching:
– Vocabulary
– Specific grammar points
– Drills
– Speaking activities
– And more…

12. Using Flashcards
• Memory activities
• Drilling activities
• Identification activities
• TPR activities

13. Tips for Making Flashcards
• They should be large enough
• Pictures should be clear
• Should be made so that they can be used
again and again

14. Sorts
• By sound
– Vowel / consonant
– Initial, middle, end
• By pattern
• By sight

15. 8 Types of Sorts
• Picture sorts
• Word sorts
• Word hunts
• Closed sorts
• Open sorts
• Blind sorts
• Writing sorts
• Speed sorts

16. Picture Files

17. Using Charts
• To display more
complex visual
information, like a
series of pictures that
tell a story
• To organize tables of
structures or related
vocabulary (like verb
forms)
• To diagram how
something works

18. Using Videos
• Advantages:
- Ideal for all group types
• Disadvantages:
- Requires special equipment
- Not ideal for discussion and interaction
- Requires accurate cueing

19. Using Overhead Transparencies
• Advantages:
– Good for large groups
– Easy to create
– Easy to transport
– Ideal for interacting with groups
– Easy to update
• Disadvantages:
– Not long lasting; wear out with age

20. Big Books

21. Picture Books

22. Types of Manipulatives
Task
Cards

23. • Card divided into 2
pieces with a design cut-
out
• Students match one part
with the other
• Best for information that
has a 1-to-1 relationship

24. Types of Manipulatives
Puzzle
Pieces

25. • A blank puzzle where information is
written on each piece
• Students put the puzzle together
• Best for information in a sequence

26. Types of Manipulatives
Sequence
Strips

27. Sequence Strips
• Information is written on strips of
paper
• Students put the strips in the correct
order
• Best for information in a sequence

28. From Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis

29. Other Examples

30. Graphic Organizers
• Common language
classroom g.o. functions
– Describing
– Comparing and
contrasting
– Classifying
– Sequencing
– Cause and effect
– Decision Making
• Common designs
– Cluster/Word Web
– Describing Wheel
– Fact and Opinion
– Five W's Chart
– KWL/KWHL Chart
– Sequence Chart
– Spider Map
– Tree Chart
– Venn Diagram

31. USING THE BOARD

32. How Could it be Organized?

33. Using the Board
• The board is one of the most useful visual aids
• No special preparation, always available
• Should be used to make things clearer to class
& help focus attention

34. Basic Principles of Using the Board
• Write clearly
• Write in a straight line
• Don’t hide the board
• Talk as you write

35. Some Other Tips
• Space the amount of content (don’t clutter
your board too much)
• Charts and tables help organize information
• Write clearly, legibly and keep the font size
reasonable
• Give students time to copy
• The blackboard can also be a part of the
learning process

36. References
• Corrales, K. (2008). Getting Your Hands on Learning:
Manipulative Tools in Content ESL/EFL Instruction. Latin
American Journal of CLIL. Retrieved November 21, 2008 from
http://biblioteca.unisabana.edu.co/publicaciones/index.php/laclil/
• Doff, A. (2002). Teaching English: A Training Course for
Teachers. Cambridge.
• http://newteachersupport.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_th
e_blackboard
• http://www.usingenglish.com/weblog/archives/000228.html
• http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Mumford-Relia.html
• http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/graphic-organise