A Task for Interactive Whiteboards
Getting Started - Learning English and Using the Interactive Whiteboard
Personally, I’m convinced that teachers should start using interactive whiteboards without wanting to handle them perfectly. Teachers might get started in year 5 using the basic functions of the interactive whiteboard. Learners in year 5 are supposed to learn words describing the human body. In order to practice these new words the whiteboard can be used effectively. The teacher can show a picture of a human being, like the picture of the girl below (cf. picture 1; Note: The picture is a clip art; it is taken from Microsoft Word.). I decided to use a funny picture since pupils might recall such a picture easily. This would have a positive impact on their learning process.
Picture 1
The pupils are now supposed to label the parts of the body for which they know already the English words. Then, the picture might look like the picture below (cf. picture 2).
Picture 2
When the learners cannot add any new words to the picture, the teacher can draw a “curtain”, i.e. a specific tool of interactive whiteboards. Teachers can use this tool, if they do not want to show all parts of the whiteboard right from the beginning. Now, the pupils can see new words which were hidden behind the curtain (cf. picture 3). Probably, they know already some of them, but were unable to use these words actively. Seeing the words, they will be able to move the words to the right part of the body. Additionally, the teacher might choose words the pupils do not know at all. In order to learn these new words, pupils are supposed to use an English dictionary in order to find the parts of the body they belong to. That way, they can increase their methodical skills while learning and practicing vocabulary.
Picture 3
In my opinion, it is important with regard to the learning process that the teacher does not list all words the pupils are supposed to learn because pupils should learn vocabulary in that way that they can use words actively. Thus, the first step of the task is a crucial step: pupils have to write down words without any help. For this reason, the tool “curtain” is used in a reasonable and justified way. Drawing the curtain, the teacher can give additional lexical input. This second part of the exercise aims at increasing the learners’ autonomy. The pupils are supposed to deal with these new words autonomously. For this reason, it might also be a good idea to add audio files to the new words. Pupils can listen to the spoken word several times in order to learn its pronunciation in addition to its spelling. Adding audio files, it would be appreciable to record a native speaker. That way, the teacher could include authentic language input. Using this function of the smart board, pupils can also be given the task to write short dialogs in which the new word is used as a key word. Integrating these dialogs as sound files to the picture might also help them to practice and memorize the words.
In general, using the smart board for learning vocabulary has several advantages.
- First, using the smart board helps to clearly structure the lesson as the pupils can read the tasks they are supposed to deal with during the whole lesson on the different slides. Therefore, pupils will not ask questions about what they have to do.
- Secondly, the learners’ autonomy is supported, as already pointed out. In my opinion, such an increase in the learners’ activity will influence the learning progress in a positive way.
- Thirdly, the use of the smart board might be motivating for pupils, in particular as regards vocabulary learning which is not appreciated by many foreign language learners.
- Fourthly, the use of the smart board allows the use of pictures. This method facilitates learning vocabulary for the majority of foreign language learners as they can associate a new lexical item with a picture.
- Fifthly, the use of the interactive whiteboard allows taking into account several learning channels. As already pointed out, the pupils’ learning process is supported by visual elements. It can also be supported by audio files. Moreover, the drag-and-drop function can be helpful for haptic learners.
- Sixthly, the document, the pupils create, can be saved as a file and can be printed out by all pupils. If a teacher decides to teach vocabulary using the smart board in that way on a regular basis, each pupil can compose his or her visual dictionary. Such a visual dictionary will consist of different chapters presenting new vocabulary visualized through pictures. It will be structured by topics. For instance, a teacher can decide to teach words referring to the classroom, to school, to the human body, to hobbies, etc. The pupils can use their visual dictionaries as works of reference or as learning aid for repeating words they have already learnt. Of course, such a visual dictionary can also be helpful in a digital format. Pupils can use the notebook-file to revise vocabulary in exactly the same way as presented above. That way, they can practice with a whole pool of different tasks working on different semantic fields.
These six advantages clearly point out that the use of the smart board and its tools is absolutely justified and reasonable for teaching and learning vocabulary.
Here you can download the notebook-file:
humanbody.notebook | |
File Size: | 119 kb |
File Type: | notebook |