Authentic Visuals in Teaching and Learning English

Eva Homolová, Slovakia

Eva Homolová is a teacher trainer at the Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. She is interested in teacher’s and learners´ roles and using authentic material in ELT . She has written two monographs on roles and one on ways of using authentic materials in developing language skills. E-mail: homolova@fhv.umb.sk

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Introduction
Background
Calendar as an example of authentic material
Conclusions
References>

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to present ways how visuals can be used to give learners opportunities to practice English in an interesting context or situations in which they can use them to communicate their ideas. Visuals of any type play a vital role in educational process and nowadays it is simply impossible to imagine teaching any subject without using visual aids of different kind and form. Our main focus will be on old calendars as sources of authentic visuals.

Background

When we think of visuals we usually have in mind their “pictorial” sense, but in wider scope it can be anything that can be seen while language is being spoken (Byrne, 1988, p. 84). Though much has already been written about the use of visuals in ELT there are still areas which are not very much exploited. We have to stress that learning anything including English through various types of visuals provide a non-threatening atmosphere for learners. In our classroom visuals are most frequently used in a presentation stage for teaching meaning of unknown vocabulary items. Byrne (1988) suggests extending their use during the production stage and use pictures as “something to talk about” (p.89). It might be useful to summarize benefits of incorporating visuals of any type into our lesson plans. Visuals may be approached and used in many different ways to mention just a few (Gower 1995, Harmer 1993):

• Presenting new language (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation)
• Practicing new language (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation)
• Introduce texts for developing receptive and productive skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing)
• Can serve as a base for communication
• Set the scene for a story or role-play
• Make links between language learning and learner’s world
• Motivating learners
• Building cultural awareness
• Create a need for new language which the teacher can then satisfy
• Developing learner’s creativity

If we want to make the most of the use of visuals we should not forget different learning styles of our learners. By using visuals the teacher caters mostly for learners with a visual learning style.

Let’s summarize activities preferred by visual learners: Visual learners proceed information by seeing it, they require a great deal of visual stimulation e.g. by pictures, authentic objects, drawings, colours, different layout, size of letters etc.

Activities visual learners prefer, include: working with pictures/real objects, using colours, a different type of writing, card games and all activities that require visualization and imagination.

Also learners with other learning preferences may find using visuals useful and stimulating in case visuals accompany learning tasks preferred by a respective learning style e.g. listening activities, matching or sequencing pictures, drama activities, role play based on pictures etc. Visuals can be successfully used at all levels – although in different ways and we have to consider our objectives. The way we work with visuals depends on the form of a visual and the objective of the lesson. It is advisable to combine several techniques to reach the objective. It is possible to suggest more demanding techniques that can be successfully adapted for the use with visual materials:

1. Description – a learner describes everything s/he can see in the picture. A sense for details is being developed
2. Identification – a learner identifies with a person (animal or thing) and leads a dialogue with a selected item from the picture. Creativity and fantasy is being developed A view out of the window - a learner is in the role of an observer and observes the picture from inside the room.
3. Film shot – a static picture is being animated and a learner creates a story around it.
4. Mirror picture– it is a specific type of identification when the learner is a person from the picture and compares his/her real “self” and the “other self” from the picture.
   The techniques mentioned above are intended primarily for a higher language level and more mature learners and the teacher can successfully use pictures from calendars. Well chosen visuals can serve as a springboard for learner’s oral or written output.

Calendar as an example of authentic material

A calendar is a type of a present one often gets as a Christmas present from friends from English speaking countries. After a respective year is over I always have to solve a dilemma – should I throw it away (recycle it) or keep it for classroom use? As I feel a bit guilty to get rid of “useful things”, and so today I am a proud owner of a collection of old calendars.
Old calendars offer a ready-made source of a pictorial material for communicative language teaching and learning. Each calendar usually consists of twelve pictures that are big enough to be visible to all learners in an average-sized room. Pictures (photographs, drawings, paintings) carry usually the name of the place/sight or a similar short description to make the user familiar with the picture. The last page usually presents an “overview” of all pictures used in the calendar for respective months. The calendar can be effectively used for the whole class use but also for pair and group work. For some activities it is necessary to use cut-outs. In general we can summarize advantages of using old calendars as follows:

• learners are more or less familiar with it
• learners can easily predict kind of information it contains
• it brings reality into the classroom
• it is suitable for presenting and practicing specific language (dates, months, holidays…)
• it can be used as a springboard for other useful and “real” activities
• it develops cultural awareness (holidays in Britain, famous places etc.)

Creative use of calendars in the class

I would like to share some ideas how it is possible to include calendars in the lesson plans.

Month classification

Aim: asking and answering questions
Material: calendar pictures (cut-outs), an overview of pictures (the last page)
Procedure: Learners work in pairs. Learner A has an overview of all pictures used in the calendar, learner B has mixed up pictures. By asking questions learner B has to reconstruct the calendar month by month by matching pictures to respective months beginning with January, February… etc.

Scan your calendar

Aim: developing reading strategies: skimming and scanning
Material: one calendar for a pair, a handout with questions
Teacher has to prepare a handout for each calendar unless calendars are from the same year and country.

Examples of questions:

Was 2007 a leap year?
What do people in Wales celebrate March 1st?
When did summertime end in 2007?
When is St. Patrick’s Day celebrated?
Was June 5, 2007 Tuesday?
How is Friday before the Easter Holiday called?

Procedure
The teacher distributes a calendar with a respective handout to pairs. Learners try to answer questions from the handout as quickly as possible. This activity is suitable as a warm-up activity and can be related to the topic of the lesson e.g. Seasons of the year, Holidays in Britain etc.

Match the text and pictures

Aim: Developing cultural awareness, guessing meaning
Material: A calendar with famous places, sights etc. The teacher has to delete the texts that accompany pictures and write them on separate slips of paper.
Procedure: Learners have to match texts and the pictures focusing on key words such as: a cathedral, a castle, a church, a bridge, a river etc.

Study and compare

Aim: Developing cultural awareness, comparing holidays
Material: Slovak and English/American calendar from the same year.
Procedure: Learners work in pairs /small groups and study calendars to find out which holidays we have in common, which country has more holidays etc.
There exist an endless number of other activities a creative teacher can come up with. Their character depends on needs of the learners and types of calendars available.

Conclusions

To conclude we should not neglect the power of authentic visual material using of which can become valuable in developing learners’ language proficiency and cultural awareness. Building up communication competence is a long lasting process. Undoubtedly, it is the teacher of a foreign language who can lay its firm foundations by using suitable teaching materials.

References

Byrne, D. 1988. Focus on the Classroom. Modern English Publications.

Gower, R. et all. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook. Oxford : Heinemann.

Harmer, J. 1993. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.

Homolová, E. 2003. Autentický material ako prostriedok rozvoja jazykových a komunikatívnych kompetencií žiakov. Banská Bystrica : FHV UMB.

Straková Zuzana. 2004. Introduction to Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Prešov : FHaPV PU.

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.