Using visual aids

1. A timeline: She was studying while I was playing basketball. Past Specific time in the past Past Now _______XXXXXXXXXXX__________________X_________
She was studying
I was playing
_______XXXXXXXXXXX__________________X_________
Two past actions taking place at the same time. both actions are taking place during the same time period in the past.
2. A visual aid based on stick figure drawings to explain “ He used to exercise regularly but he doesn’t anymore.”
The way to explain this sentence using stick figure drawings may be the following:
A picture of a figure exercising, with a title, for example “ Last week”. The next picture is similar, but with a title “ Last month”. The next similar picture would be titled “ Last year”. All of these pictures are shown to the students one by one, then all together, saying “ He exercised last week”, “ He exercised last month”, “ He exercised last year”.
The next picture would show a figure doing something else, and would be titled “ Now”.
“ He doesn’t exercise now”.
Then all the pictures are displayed together, accompanied by a conclusion: He used to exercise regularly but he doesn’t anymore.”
3. Types of realia to help students learn to ask for and give directions.
A detailed map of a certain area of the city.
A map of the city.
Brochures advertising some places in the city.
4. A chart or a diagram to teach the vocabulary words “ majority” and “ minority”.
A good option for teaching vocabulary words “ majority” and “ minority” would be a pie chart like this:
The explanation would be accompanied by some model situation. For instance, “ The blue field shows the students who like apples. The purple field shows those, who like pears. We can see that more students prefer apples to pears. So, the majority of students like apples. The minority of students like pears.”
For further practice students may use the same diagram, but a different situation.