USING VISUALS IN THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM

Mar CalvoSilvia Martin

Santiago OviedoCristina Sanz

WHY?

-Everyday sessions can be made more exciting, enjoyable, dynamic and effective by using a wide range of media and visual texts, providing interest and motivation for our pupils.-Visuals reinforce concepts and vocabulary.-Visuals add variety and emphasis to presentation.-Pictures are useful to develop English skills: writing, speaking, listening, reading and interacting.-Visuals allow you to reach those who process information best visually.

-Visuals organize your lesson plans and presentation.-Children can enjoy developing essential literacy skills through studying picture books and visuals in general.- Visuals aid communication.-They explain the relationships of parts to the whole.-They clarify something difficult, complicated or very large or stress very important points.

FEATURES

• Visuals are affordable.• They are durable.• They are eye-catching.• They are easy to transport.• They are flexible• They are motivating.• They are easy to store.

TYPES OF VISUAL RESOURCES

• Flashcards• Photographs• Posters• Diagrams• Displays• Outlines• Realia...

DIFFERENT FLASHCARDS

PHOTOGRAPHS AND POSTERS

POSTERS MADE BY PARENTS OR STUDENTS

DIAGRAMS

HOW TO GET THEM?• From the internet:

FLASHCARDShttp://www.esl-kids.com/flashcards/flashcards.htmlhttp://www.eslkidslab.com/flashcards/index.htmlhttp://www.mes-english.com/flashcards.phphttp://www.anglomaniacy.pl/topics.htmhttp://recursostic.educacion.es/bancoimagenes/web/http://www.agendaweb.org/http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/

POSTERShttp://www.wordle.net/http://www.glogster.com/http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial058.pdf

•Books and text books: Key Stages…

•Recycling old materials

•Pupils and their parents can help a lot

•Materials made by teachers on their own.

WHEN DESIGNING VISUALS YOU MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT:

-Why and how a visual should be used.-The audience to whom it is being shown.-The medium being used for the visual.-Use key phrases rather than long sentences.-Ensure that all type is visible from the back of the classroom.-Leave plenty of white space around images.-Use a graphic rather than a text.

EXAMPLES OF CLASSROOM USEUSING FLASHCARDS•Who Am I ? Game... -Have your selected flashcards on display. -Children take turns giving ‘who am I’ clues for a chosen word (for example, I am yellow, I have 5 letters, I end in ‘y’). -Other children guess the word.

•Chinese Whispers…. -Children are sitting in a circle. -First child picks up a flashcard and whispers the word to the child next to them. -The word get ‘whispered’ around to the last child who says to word out loud. -Flashcard gets held up to check of correct.

• Tic Tac Toe Here I Go... -Have your chosen word cards displayed. -Children or Teacher uses a pointer to sing as they point to the words

in random fashion… ‘Tic Tac Toe Here I go, Where I Land I Do Not Know’ -Stop on a card - children say the word. -It is fun to go really fast with this and children love being the

‘teacher’. -This has always been a simple favourite wherever I have used it.

• Stepping Stones…. -Place chosen word cards on the floor in random fashion. -Children take turns stepping on the stones (word cards), saying the

words as they step on each one. -Children be careful not to fall off into the river full of crocodiles.

• Reveal the word/picture slowly. (Guessing)• Show it backwards or upside down• Write a question on one side and the answer

on the other (they can work by themselves)• Missing vowels/consonants• Put them in order: a story/tale (with pictures,

words or both)• Play memory games

USING POSTERS•Cover the WB, the wall… with a big white paper. Project an image on it and trace it. Then you or the pupils can colour it and make a puzzle or add more things (as in a collage), so that the pupils will be making their own posters.

Wordle... -Children place the chosen word card words into www.wordle.net to make a word cloud. -Print out the word cloud and find the words within it. -Children make their own ‘word clouds’ using the word card words, using wordle as an example.

USING IMAGES•Before&after: two photos, one as babies and the other now. •The same but using a X-ray (just for fun)•Whose baby is it? Parents’ and pupils’ photos•Guess who/what: a pupil describes a photo and the rest have to guess.•Mix photos and guess

REFERENCE WEBSITES

• VIDEOShttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gagfYsoc7UU

(HOW TO USE FLASHCARDS)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Go-piDcRg

(HOW TO USE GLOGSTER)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Kphzzbf8U

(CLASSROOM POSTERS WITH EXCEL)

• ARTICLEShttp://www.iris.edu/hq/files/programs/

education_and_outreach/poster_pilot/Poster_Guide_v2a.pdf (The pedagogical power of posters)

http://www.american-classroom-supply.com/classroom-posters-article.html