TKT Unit 25:

Selection and Use of

Teaching Aids
What are teaching aids?

Teaching aids are resources

and equipment available to us
in the classroom, as well as
the resources we can bring
into the classroom.
classroom
They include:
Blackboard / whiteboard
Cassette recorders
CD players
Video players/ recorders
Overhead projectors
Visual aids
Realia
Computer / language laboratory
The teacher him/herself
How do we select and use
teaching aids?
Think carefully about the main
aims and subsidiary aims of a
lesson.

Choose the most appropriate

teaching aids.
What are the teaching
purposes for using the
following classroom
equipment?
Blackboard /whiteboard
Main purpose - writing up planned
vocabulary, grammar examples
and explanations
Other purposes:
◦ Writing words and ideas that
come up in the lesson
◦ Drawing or displaying pictures
◦ For learners to write answers
◦ For whole class compositions
Cassette/CD player/ recorder
Main purpose – listening practice
Other purposes:
◦ Presenting new language in
dialogues and stories
◦ Giving models for pronunciation
practice
◦ Recording learners’ oral
performance
◦ Listening for pleasure
 VDO player/ recorder
Main purpose –listening practice
with added visual information
Other purposes:
◦ For information gap tasks with one Ss
viewing and one just listening
◦ Viewing without sound and guessing the
language
◦ Pausing and predicting the language
◦ Filming learners’ performance
Overhead projector (OHP)
Main purpose – displaying prepared
exercises on transparencies
Other purposes:
◦ Displaying result of group work
◦ Building up information by putting one
transparency on top of another
◦ Covering up or gradually uncovering part
of the transparency
◦ Displaying pictures and diagrams on
photocopiable transparencies
 Computer
Main purpose – presenting new
target language
Other purposes:
◦ Narrative building with word processor
◦ Supplementary materials for coursebook
◦ Online language tests / exercises
◦ Online dictionaries/references
◦ Using CD-ROMs
◦ Online communication, etc.
Language Laboratory
Main purpose – listening & speaking
practice
Other purposes:
◦ Pronunciation practice
◦ Grammar drills
◦ Extensive listening
◦ Monitoring and giving feedback to
individual learners
◦ Develop speaking skills
 Realia
Real objects we can easily bring
into the classroom, as well as real
texts (e.g. menus, timetables,
leaflets, etc.)
Used to teach vocabulary
As prompts for practising grammar
or for building dialogues and
narratives
For games and quizzes
 Flashcards
Like realia, flashcards can be
used for teaching individual
words or as prompts for
practising grammatical
structures, as well as for
games.
 Puppets
Puppets are an excellent
resource for teaching young
learners. For example, we can
introduce new language in
dialogues between pairs of
puppets (or between one puppet
and the teacher). Ss can also
make their own simple puppets.
 Charts
We can use posters and
wallcharts (drawings or graphs
that can be put on the wall of
a classroom) to display larger,
more detailed pictures, or a
series of pictures telling a
story or showing related
objects in a lexical set.
A phonemic chart shows the
phonemic symbols and the
positions in the mouth where the
different sounds are made. The
teacher can point at the symbol
to prompt learners to correct
their pronunciation. We can also
use charts to display diagrams,
prepared drawings and tables of
irregular verbs, or to build up a
class dictionary.
 The teacher
The teacher can use hand
gestures, facial expressions and
mime (actions without words) to
elicit vocabulary items, clarify
meaning and create context. We
can also build up a set of signals,
such as finger correction, which
learners recognise as prompts to
correct their own mistakes.
 Key concepts
It is a good idea to divide the
blackboard into different sections
for different purposes.
Aids that you can prepare in
advance, like charts, flashcards and
transparencies for the overhead
projector, will help you to make
sure that lesson procedures match
your aims.
 Key concepts
You may save teaching aids and
reuse them in future lessons.
Make sure that you check any
equipment before the lesson. Use
the counters on cassette recorders
and video recorders to make a note
of where recordings begin, so that
you can find the place easily when
you rewind.
 Key concepts
If you use computers or the
language laboratory, advance
preparation is essential. You
need to plan all your
instructions very carefully, as
well as the sequence of
activities for the lesson.