1 Chalkboards, or backboard at they ae often called come in varying colours ana types. Some ae paced fn easels, many are fixed on eissroom walls while others move up and down or asoss on wooden struc: tures. More up-to-date models ste made ofa flexible rubberized surface which ig rlled around a specially constructed fame (roller boards). The vesatle por {able roll-up board also has a rubberized surface and \s supported at each end by # wooden rod. Why use the chalkboard? Whatever ther shape or sz, chalkboard ae very such taken for granted in classrooms an, in many cases, sly under utilized. Yet no other teaching de- ‘ce can match the chalkboard in tenms of cheapnes, ‘veratty and usefulness, Although most wachers do tie the chalkboard to introduce new vosbelary or 12 wate out grammar exerises oF tests, i i ete very areas where it would be most useful (eachisg struc. tures, prompting drils, ‘explaining dificult seas of the language, reapitlaing language taught erie) ‘hat its most neglected, primary because the tetcher seeds tobe able to do quick sketches. Instead teachers 0 to great lengths to expan points which could have been more ealy explained witha quick chalkboud drawing ‘Using the chalkboard ‘A competent teacher is expected to make good use ofthe chalkboard, When a the board, tis important to take up a good working position. The natura psi- tion fora sgh-handed person is towards the let side (nd vce vers) and in this way the teacher can tm ‘quickly to the class and ensre that onto mala tained, Working on the chalkboard calls fr the teacher to master a numberof practical sks: 1, Leeble hand writing cis most important that students can see and understand what the teacher has waiten. An accept able syle f 4 form of jined script which has 20 The Chalkboard unnecessary loops and fills. This is suitable for all levels in secondary school and uppet level in primary School. But with lower primary students, the teacher should develop a clear simple form of printing. ‘Whether writing or printing, legibility ofthe letters depends on the sie, the thickest ofthe ines andthe contcat against the chalkboard. Generally iis best to print the body of smal eters minimim of 3 em (1°) in eight with capital eters andthe remaining pats of smal letters 5 em (2°) It is aso advisable to Teave at least 3 om (1°) between lines of wetxg oF printing tis also important that the teacher wait or pit fon a horizontal ine, To help him do thishe may ike to rue semipermanent or permanent lnes on the chalkboatd (or on part of i) using a Tibar (Fig 1). “This consists ofa piece of thin plywood measuring about 1.25 m x 6 em (48" x 21"), anda block of wood for the *T* measuring 3 con x 10.cm x Sem (14" x 8" x 5°), Thiel nailed tothe top to form a "T. Holes tne drilled at regular intervals (eg. 8 cm or 3°) along tte piace of plywood, The Tar I then rested onthe top ledge ofthe chalkboard while apiece of chalk inserted in each hole in tun asthe teacher moves the ‘Thar actos the chalkboard (Fig. 2). Te prolong the life ofchalk-dawn lines, use chalk ‘that ms been soaked in water of in a dited sugar solution. The chalk should then be used wet and later Stored in an airtight container. Lipht-coloured chalks only shouldbe teated in this way as datk rich colours tend to stain the chalkboard permanently [A felutip pen provides a semi-permanent marke, Although it can be seen clearly by the teacher and «an guide his writing, iti not too obvious (and there fore dltractng) to students, Some teacher prefer to cour lines on the chalkboard with a sharp pointed {nsirumeat lke a compas, Although this produces permanent lines, any mistakes are irremovable and ‘may permanently spoil the appearance of chalk: boxed. 2, Drawing on the chalkboard ‘The sil of chalkboard. drawing is extential for ESL teaches, especialy if you ae teaching beginners ‘oF doing eriedil teaching. Chalkboard drawing is 4 | that canbe cust by any teacher. Teachers ‘need to be great artists. Indeed this ean bea di Advantage a6 109 mUEh time 6 spent on getting the Srawing sight and not enough cn the important job of using the drawing to teach, ietures hould always be simple and usambstious, Matchstick figues and outlines are adequate. Students are not oversiial fof a teachers attempts 19 draw and they do enioy seeing the teacher's sketch evolving before there), Matchstick ures are the easiest people figures to raw. With practice and By Keeping two points in mind the teacher can easly draw the matchstick fig tres Mustated on pages 22-23. The first point to remember is that the lines forthe body, legs and sams should be of equal length (Fig 3) while the kee and elbow joints are midvay along these lengths. See fondly, when drawing moving figures, the knee joints fhould always bend forwards while the elbow joints ‘bend backwards (Fig. 4). The amount of inclination tthe body wil indicate the speed at which a igure femoving. Away join the limbs tothe main body and void adding fancy hip, shoulders neckeandhands. If ‘dentfying features are required adda simple skit or A hat ora beaed or hat. Adé short lines for noses to Indicate the direction in which aire ooking iit is mo already obvious. Visualize the positioning of 3 person's limbs 2s he performs a parcuat action and tansfer this knowledge to your figure Faces and facial expressions ae ost a simple to raw if the teacher remembers thatthe eyesare paced fonesthi of the way down and the bottom of the nose tworthirs ofthe way down (Fig 5). Faces can be any shape. Expression is shown by yes, mouth and eyebsows, Again, visualize people's facial expressions, the positions oftheir features when they are happy sad, worried, et. (Fig. 6). And prac tise drawing them! ‘Objects ato probably the easiest to daw, Once ‘more, thik of the bast shape ofthe object and its Aistingushing charateritles and put in these details only ee Fig. 7)- Add no extraneous deta ike eur ‘nine at house windows, o1 Fancy plows on beds, “Animals, in contrat, are probably the most at: ‘cut things for the teacher to draw But, ab with objects, it the ditngushing charctrisi(s) that allows recognition, forexample a monkeys ta, aca” ‘whiskers, a horse's mane an elephants trunk, a B raffe’s neck. Stick figues can suffie (Fig 8) thous move ars teacher may like to Mesh out the igure to give it shape and dimension. Leave out unnecesary ‘eta ike scales on fh and feathers on chickensThe Chalkboard ae Preparing and Using Aids for English Language Teaching g2 ge Symbotsarecaiy drawn and are ready recognizable to students. Make use 4% of thought bubbles, dialogue bubbles and other expresion'symbols(Fig.9). "7, @ Y= Symbols consisting of Gos, sows and boxes can lp to chy te men == (OP sng of preposion by inden he elaonaips of vento objects Exam o/s pis e oe wove ‘eae before ting telow nese Infiortof ste backof der cs tooo = » owe a witout Gb at . ws yy lone into vee o = seo sound cory Fa. 11 Popston of eton When used nally Hts best to use such symbols in conunetion with real book ‘objects found in the class1oom, Ente —_ are thoroughly familar with the symbols they canbe seas cues ina sub tution del (ce Example 4, page 7) the teacher wants to draw pltures other than matchstick figures or sn ple objects but isnot confident of doing thitin Front of students, there area ‘uimber of ads sable to hep him: When studentsThe Chalkboard 1, Drawing rid tines, Usog the Tar (Fi 1) both vertically and horizontally, the teacher can draw 8 rid. This can be sed for writing columns of words ‘or numbers onto the chalkboard as well k fr copy: ing pictures, maps, diagrams and other istrations fom textbooks, et. on tothe eid (ee page 61 for eta ofthe gid copying technique). These ines can be drawn with watersoaked chalk, a lead pencil ora feletip pen, 2. Templates. These ae cutouts or sthovettes made from thick cardboard or thin plywood (Fig. 12) The teacher ean make a whole collection ofthese ‘of many different items, especially those that are not 0 easy t0 sketch quickly freehand. A mobile figure (Gee pages 18-21) can be made inthe sme way and tured to ilustrate actions. To use the template, the teacher hols it tothe chalkboard with one hand and with the other draws around the template with a piece of chalk. 3, Dustovers. Theve have traditional been used Jn geography clases for drawing map outlines but the English teacher can readily make a collection to suit his purposes. Dustorers are made from large sheet of sturdy brown paper. The outline of the picture or map is drawn or traced on tothe shet of paperand then tiny holes ace pricked around the outline with a needle oF still nal Several outlines can be drawn on the one duo although the teacher needs to label each ic ture appropriately. Like templates they are easy t0 use, Tae sheet ished to the chalkboard with onehand. ( taped on toi) anda very chalky dusteis rubbed ‘over the perforations (Fig 13), When the sheet is taken down an eutine of tiny chalk dots is left which the teacher can then daw over body Grid drawings, template drawings and. dustover drawings should be done before a lesson and covered . 5 with sheets of paper untd the mater isto be wsed an appropiate stage in the lesson. Simiatly, the teacher can use a fmstip projector for projecting an Image ofa picture he wishes te copy but this, to, has to be done in advance, ‘Organization ofthe chalkboard Most teachers concentrate on the centre of the board and rarely use the sides, top and bottom, Ideal: ly, the teacher should setion off his chalkboard 50 that it used to the maximum. One setion (eft ot Fight) could be left for permanent work lke the date, the alphabet (or yours students), subject headings, ‘ete, A second section could be wed for planned Work which seeds to be neat and i usvaly prepared in Avance of the lesion, A thcd section (the mila) could be Jefe for rough work-quick sketches and words of patsing importance, A few do's and don'ts Below ar afew principles of chalkboard use either not covered in the earlier sections of which need re 1. Be lerible: Students are confused, frastrated and annoyed with the eacher whose writing i impos be to understand 2. Pres down: Ghost writing on 2 chalkboard is tha to read; the chalkboard is there to make things easy fread 3, Write and draw quickly: The longer a teacher takes to-do this, the more valuable teaching time he {S wasting. Furthermore, it an open invitation to students to become unruly. “4. Get out ofthe way of what you have written: Students cannot see throveh you. Use a pointer or stand to one side as you explain. 5, Miss the lower part ofthe board: The height of hakboard is planned for student us, eather than the teacher’, Most stidents, when siting at desks cannot ste the lower rt ofthe chalkboard 6. Talk tothe cles: Talking tothe chalkboard with your back to the cass will lose your audience, It is also another invitation to paper dats, et, "1. Empty the boerd: Do not try to make your ‘writing go through 2 jungle of inelevant matter. Erase ‘everything not marked ‘Save’ of ‘Don’t rub off, Un less what iso itis needed again, clean it. It distracts ‘student to have the remains of work on the board. 8. Look out for highlights: Claes on chakboards can obscue chalkboard writing. Observe where the ares come fom a diferent times of the ay and use the area least affected. 9. Bo ot et the chalk screech: This sound eect is easly corzected by holding the chalk at an acute ange with the board and inline with the direction of weg. 10. Use colour and shading: These shouldbe used {er emphasis and not decoration 11. Check ell work written om the Board: Check that spelling corect and no words have been lft ‘out, Ure the ful forms of words and not their abbre: ‘ations, expecially for beginning students of English 12. But compler matter on the Board before the lass gins: Do not waste clas time by drawing after the opening bell what should have been completed ‘befor it Isto gives students an opportunity 1 chat- ter and to fidget whereas clas time should be fully utiized in ative learning, 13. Look after your chalkboard: Washi gu Iyspaint i once a year with black o geen matt-inish paint. Do not use oil-based ctayonsorplasticine on the surface and avoid using thumbtacks to display mate tial (ee pages 62-63 for ideas on displaying mate- tial Ideas for using the chalkboard In the ESL/EFL classroom the chalkboard shoulé bbe used for isolated, simple sketches rather than elab ‘orate composite pictues (pages 49-50) or pleture series (pagesS0-S1), The ideas below iutrate this pint: Example I: Conveyig meanings of new words ‘Object nouns canbe quickly sketched while stick figures can te used for conveying the meanings of new words. olated sketches are aso useful for show Preparne and Using Aids for English Language Teaching lng the differences between soundlike words (heep and ship) 0: groupe of words ewes, jewellery, fewel- ler), New oF difficult concepts can be ready ils: trated, for example comparison (Fig. 14) or tenses (Fig 15) ‘The following sequence can be used for teaching the present perfectipresen: progressive and/or ‘going to” future tenes Lim & going to write @ He has ust written a lever letter ‘He's ing to is desk. OR He has gone to his desk. estos dows, Hedas taken out pice of paper, te. - A fete Bok Example 2: Introducing dialogues ‘When introducing a dalogue the teacher cansketch the relevant characters onthe bosed (Fig. 16) pola Ing to each in tur asthe roles change. The diogueThe Chalkboard can then be written on the chalkboard and as stud- tents practise and laum it the eacher can point tothe ‘character, Later when the dilogueis rubbed off the characters can shy on the board as prompt for the alone. Example 3: Tine tines to fer to time and tense 'A simple diagram is often helpful when presenting and refeting 10 aspects of te (Fig. 17) More elaborate time lnes* can play avery useful part in helping to elucidate the corplex relationship that exits between “time” and “ene” English, es pecially to upper secondary and adul students Example 4: Substitution ris with symbols ‘After students ae thoroughly acquainted with the symbols illustrated on page 4, the teacrer ean incor porate them in substitutlon dels wher the symbol 4321828 a eve to the prepoiton needed. (Note: Ar swersare given in brackets) Mary walked along the rad. => > thebridge. (cies) ‘or a selection of theie (and for the ratenale behind’ them) see papes 19-23, Selections fom Modern Engsh Teacher (Ba) Helen Moorwood, Long ‘man, London, 1978 Po nen the Bex (sone) => + est. (rough) _ ‘the cinema, (to) —— the room. (into) © the pork. Ground) Example 5; Building up chalkboard stories ‘Stoves, either adaptations of wellknown ok) fairytales or orginal stores can be built upon the chullboard with the students providing the ideas a {he teacher's prompting (What hsppened nest). Al temnaively, the teacher ean tell a story with help of simple sketches designed to give practice i» pa ticular structure or structures, for example: question forms, countable and uncountabi nouns: “Teicher! One day Lena's mother oked in the ‘eupboard to see what things she had 0 buy from the shop. She told Lena to get a pencil and «piece of paper and make ait This: what she fold Lena to write: .. et. The story can continue with simple sketches to lustre ‘ey points as Lena then goes off to the shop to buy the things onthe ist. Each ofthese can be Ustated. Example 6: Developing reading sls ‘The chalkbou is helpful in teaching reading. New vocabulary can be waite on it together with the ‘meanings of equivalent words, as well as comprehen- sion passages and comprehension question. Remen- ber t0 use a roll-up board in advance of the lesson rather than write on it during the lesson, Preparing and Using Aids for English Language Teaching Example 7: Developing witing skills ‘The chalkboard, and especialy the rollup board, &s indispensable in writing out controlled and guided composition passages for the students especially if eycloatyling facies ae not avaiable to the teacher. ‘The chalkboard alzo allows the teacher to delete words ‘or phases from a passage so as to provide a more dif Felt exercise For students, Conversely, a textbook passage which may be too dificult for students can be rewritten on the chalkboard but with additional words, ec. providing more guidance. It is the Nexibi- lity of the chalkboard which makes ita valuable ad ‘nthe easly stages of waiting,