Have you watched the TED talk where Linsey Pollak turns a carrot into a clarinet using an electric drill and plays his ‘carrinet’?
Apart from giving a completely new meaning to the concept of playing with food, he gives a perfect example of endless possibilities of imagination and creativity which might result in something absolutely practical: a musical instrument at a much cheaper price and a full day’s supply of vitamin A as added value.
How can we turn our creativity into something tangible and valuable for the classroom?
One of the ways is to create our own teaching/learning aids out of whatever we have available.
Today I will show how to make 5 teaching/learning aids that are
low-cost
easy to make
reusable
and require no expensive materials.
All you need to make them is a sheet of paper.
And the added value? Increased happiness. Your learners will experience the joy of creating something with their hands and see useful and tangible results of their efforts – their own learning aids.
1. A FLIP CARD
Flip cards make excellent visuals for learning and revising vocabulary and grammar.
There are several options of flip cards you can make/or your learners can make to remember word forms better.
A. A single flip card
How to make: take a strip of paper, fold one-third of it, and write the word needed.
Tip: write the resulting word first, i.e. the word with the ending on the folded part, then unfold and add the other letters (if any).
B. A zigzag flip card
You can also make a zigzag card with several words. Take an A-4 sheet of paper, make a one-third fold, then unfold and fold it in half twice to make a zigzag. Make cuts for the folds and write the words you would like to practise.
C. Can you guess?
We can make a flip card for a guessing game.
How to make: fold a sheet of paper in half, fold it to get 3 squares (or 2 squares, depending on the number of words to be guessed), make two cuts, draw three question marks and the words (e.g. irregular verbs).
2. A SMALL BOOK
If you engage your learners in a writing activity, it is a good idea to consider ‘publishing’ their own small books.
How to make:
With a bit of imagination (and scissors), you can arrange various visual displays of creative efforts of your learners. See a very interesting idea in the post LESSON TIP: CREATIVE DISPLAYS by Pete from ELT-Planning.
3. A VOCABULARY ORGANIZER
This card may be used as a vocabulary organizer with some basic information about the word and serve as a flash card at the same time.
See how to make it and use it in the classroom in the post ALL IN ONE: VOCABULARY ORGANIZER/FLASH CARD MAKER.
4. A PUPPET
If you fold a sheet of paper 5 times, you will get a puppet head. And if you get one more sheet of paper, the head will get its body.
See how to make a puppet out of a sheet of paper and use it as a learning aid in my post ONCE YOU’VE HAD A PUPPET, YOU NEVER GO BACK.
5. A GAME FIELD
You can also make a game field and turn a test into a game for your students, brush up on grammar or vocabulary, or set speaking assignments.
See how to play the game in the post The Football Game (with excellent low-tech and PPT templates designed by Tekhnologic).
What would you make out of a sheet of paper?
Happy teaching!
Other resources:
CRAFTY TEACHING: POCKET STUDY TOOL
Below are some more ways to create books. My students especially liked the ones with a stick binder.
http://www.makingbooks.com/freeprojects.shtml
Hope the link works. Heidi
Excellent! Thanks so much, Heidi!
Below are some more ways to create books. My students especially liked the ones with a stick binder.
http://www.makingbooks.com/freeprojects.shtml
Hope the link works. Heidi
Excellent! Thanks so much, Heidi!
Very helpful, creative and interactive methods. Will use them and prescribe others while practice teaching.
Thank you, Saket! Glad you find the ideas useful.
Svetlana actually I’ll have to work for poor children in future and there’ll be less resources so amazing to find such low cost methods. Kudos. ☺
Very helpful, creative and interactive methods. Will use them and prescribe others while practice teaching.
Thank you, Saket! Glad you find the ideas useful.
Svetlana actually I’ll have to work for poor children in future and there’ll be less resources so amazing to find such low cost methods. Kudos. ☺
Incredible! I love it! Thanks, Svetlana!
So glad you like it, Anna!:)
Incredible! I love it! Thanks, Svetlana!
So glad you like it, Anna!:)
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