The monthly newsletter
Issue 92 | April 2013 | www.ei-india.com
This Month’s Issue Visuals to Stimulate ....... 01 Nizamuddin Baoli ........... 02 Junoon Arts .................... 03 Students’ Responses ....... 04 Video Review ................. 06 Teacher’s Bite ................. 07 ASSET Poster ................... 08
Visuals to Stimulate Creativity We all know that the use of visuals is fundamental to teaching and learning, but how many of us use them in actual teaching? ‘Visuals’ not just in the pictorial sense but anything ‘that can be seen while language is spoken’ can be used at all levels, for listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. One can build a ‘picture bank’ of cut outs from magazines, catalogues, travel brochures, and newspapers (especially the Sunday Supplement). A thought-provoking picture can make students comment, argue, disagree and enter into a discussion as pictures have an openended, potential ambiguity about them that sets the imagination working. Teachers should choose visuals relating to students’ experiences. Here is a collection of ideas to use visuals in different ways. The Joy of Living: Each student chooses a picture representing the joy of living and discusses his choice with as many different partners as possible. Different pictures with different themes like, freedom, ideal holiday, the underprivileged, the roofless, etc. would be useful. Guess the Picture: A student or teacher describes the picture of an incident,
without showing it to the class. The class asks questions, then sketches the picture, asks further questions and completes the drawings. Finally, the class is shown the picture. The class can then be encouraged to rewrite a clear description for the same picture.
Linking Pictures to Form a Story: Small groups of students are given two or more pictures based on which they build up a story. Words to Form a Story: The class is divided into two groups and each is given a selection of pictures. Each student selects a picture and writes down seven words associated with the picture. All the lists are collected and distributed to students in the other group. Each student writes a paragraph using the seven words listed. The teacher displays the pictures on the wall. On completion, students look for the picture they believe they have described and put their paragraph under it. Students circulate and read each
other’s compositions. Giving Directions/Instructions: Writing directions using city maps and recipe writing can help students practise the use of imperative language. Floor Plan of an Ideal Classroom/ Bedroom: Students draw the plan of an ideal classroom or bedroom and then describe it. To make it more interesting, provide students with cut outs of objects from a magazine, Ad. or catalogue so they can put in the fittings and furniture where they want it. What is the Story? A comic strip with no speech bubbles is cut up into different frames and one frame is provided to each student. He decides the order of each picture in the comic by questioning others about the details in the pictures. Then students write the narratives for the comic strip individually. Many more such ideas involving the intellectual and emotional stimulation of learners may have occurred to you by now. Suggested Reading Visual Aids for the Classroom by Susan Holden, Modern English Publications Visual Materials for the Language Teacher by Andrew Wright, Longman Handbooks for Language
Teachers Adapted version of the article that first appeared in Teacher Plus, Issue No.2, September-October 1989.