Equipment and Teaching Aids: How to Organize Your Class Properly

This unit focuses on the different uses of teaching equipment and what to take into consideration while choosing the adequate teaching equipment. Of the many named in the lesson, I have selected 3 to discuss in further detail. The whiteboard, the DVD player, and online resources. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these, and for a teacher to have an efficient lesson, it is important to manage these resources. By managing these aids, we can fully use them to improve our classes.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Matthew S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Whiteboard

As an ESL teacher, the whiteboard is unequivocally necessary for many reasons. It allows teachers to have a lesson/vocabulary visually available to students while interacting with them throughout the class. It allows the teacher to circle or underline important details.

Students can participate and write on the board. Pictures can be hung on the board, reminders of the class/important grammar rules can be written and available to see during the study phase, tallies can be made for teamwork, etc. The disadvantage lies in that the teacher’s back is to the student and sometimes if there is too much writing, it may be confusing for the students to follow. To efficiently use the whiteboard, it might be a good idea to write ideas out before the students enter the classroom, and limit the use to only necessary information.

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DVDs

The DVD player is so useful in grabbing the student’s attention. It takes away from the monotonous classroom lecture and the teacher can find movies or clips that pertain not only to the lesson but to the students’ interests as well. Vocabulary, grammar, listening exercises, dictations, descriptions, plots, etc. can be discussed about the movies shown. Muting the movie and having higher-level students improvise is also very useful for fluency practice. The disadvantage is that it may lessen talking time, if not used appropriately. Also, students who are NOT understanding the language will most likely not actively listen. To achieve an appropriate talking-time and comprehension level, therefore, it is imperative to have a level and age-appropriate movies.

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Internet

Online resources are limitless. As an online ESL teacher, I can use online games, grammar exercises, vocabulary flashcards, fill-in-the-blanks, films, sound recordings, visual aids, etc.; virtually everything mentioned as teaching equipment. The supply is endless and there are more and more activities as the internet is more readily available in more countries, states, provinces, counties, cities, towns, etc. The disadvantage, however, is that it is easy to indulge in an easy and entertaining internet world, which can reduce both teacher and student involvement. Online resources should be limited inside of a classroom, with the option of online homework outside of the classroom.

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Fundamentally, choosing the appropriate teaching equipment and knowing the advantages and disadvantages of the teachers is a service to the students. Of some of the most widely used teaching aids are the whiteboard, DVDs, and also online resources in general. Each of them has its pros and cons in a classroom. TO assure efficient teaching, engagement, study, and activity from a classroom, whiteboards should be written on before classes with important information only, DVDs shown to a class should be age and level-appropriate, and online resources can be used about a lesson at home. These teaching aids will come in handy and will most definitely advance student involvement if managed accordingly.

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