EFL Board-work for the Classroom

Basic Concepts

Organizing the board for a more effective lesson is the mark of a skilled EFL
teacher. KISS or “Keep it Simple for Students” is a good rule. Walk through your
lesson and as you do it, put everything on the board. Ideally, you don’t erase
anything in one lesson and by the end of the lesson, it should look very well-
organized and understandable. Check it from the back of the room.

Usually the best way to organize your board-work is to literally present the
lesson in a dry run and write everything on the board including target language,
grammar structure and vocabulary. As you think your way through the lesson,
you will probably notice that you need to reorganize or restructure your
thinking. This is an excellent practical exercise just to catch the flow of your
lesson as well as for organizing your EFL board-work.

Note that in some classrooms, students will not be able to see the bottom one-
third of the board from the back of the room. In some classrooms, the far left
and right sides of the board may not be visible to students on the far opposite
side of the room due to the extreme angle or from bright light from windows. If
there are curtains in a room, use them. Write on the board in the classroom and
walk around the room to see if your writing is BIG enough, clear enough and
visible to everyone.
Never erase anything from the board without asking your students first. Why?
Your very best students are taking notes! Just a simple, “Okay if I erase this?”
and a fast look around the room will do the job. It’s only polite, isn’t it? Good
teachers certainly don’t mind waiting while their best students are taking notes.
A good lesson plan should have an example of what the board will look like on
the last page. This will help you plan your EFL board-work in advance.
Expanded Concepts

Board-work is a fine art that the best teachers practice improving regularly.
Help your students by presenting your lesson clearly, visibly and in an
understandable manner. Make a habit of regularly walking around the room and
to the rear of the room to be sure what you are writing is legible and easily seen.

A good EFL lesson plan will include the board-work that the teacher has
thought through for the class.
Ok now read the following with purpose!

Do you have a blackboard, a whiteboard or an IWB? Whatever type of board you

have in your classroom it is important to be organised and to put yourself in
your students' shoes for a moment.

What do they see when they look at your board? In this article we will consider
ways of getting the best use out of your board and perhaps give suggestions for
exploiting your board in a different way.

 Board basics

 Organising your board

 What we can do with the board

o Displaying
o Playing games
o Using visuals

 Final tips
Board basics

 Your students should have a clear, uninterrupted view of the board. Be

careful that you don't block learners sitting at the sides of the room. When
you write something on the board move away quickly so that students can
see what you have written.

 Especially with classes of Young Learners you need to develop the ability to
write on the board with eyes in the back of your head. Don't turn your back
on the class for too long. Good teachers have the ability to write on the board
while still keeping a sharp eye on their students!

 Write clearly on the board and make sure that you have written words/text
big enough for everyone to see from the back of the class. With chalk and
blackboard make sure that you wash the board often so that the writing
stays clear. With a whiteboard make sure that the pen you are using is in a
colour that everyone can read - black or blue are best.

 Practise writing in straight lines across the board, particularly if you have
students who are not used to Roman script. In some languages letters may
look slightly different or handwriting styles may be different. Point out the
differences to your students and make sure they can read clearly what you
have written.

 Check what you write as you write. Many students have visual memories so
we must be careful about accuracy of spelling and grammar, especially if we
intend students to copy it down in their notebooks to learn.

 Check with your students that they are ready for you to clean the board. If
you are waiting for some students to finish copying or doing an exercise
don't leave the others twiddling their thumbs. Ask them to make a
personalised example or start the warm-up for the next exercise orally.

Organising your board

If your board is messy and untidy then what your students write in their
notebooks will be messy too.

 It is a good idea to divide your board into sections. Have one part for use
during the lesson which can be cleaned off and re-used. Use another part for
important information which can stay there for the whole lesson. For
example, you could write up a list of the basic aims/activities for the lesson
so that your students know what is coming. Tick items off as they are
achieved during the class. At the end you can review the lesson aims for
students to evaluate what they have learnt.
 For older learners you could write up other important information - key
grammar points or vocabulary needed for the lesson, or test dates etc. With
Very Young Learners it is better to write this kind of information at the top of
the board. Leave the lower part empty for you and the students to write on.
Remember they probably won't be able to reach the top half of the board.

What we can do with the board

We can use the board in many ways in the classroom, not just for writing up
new vocabulary. You can use your board for giving instructions, reinforcing oral
instructions. For example, just writing up the page number and the exercise on
the board in a large class saves a lot of repetition! When doing group work or
project work use the board to organise your class - write up a list of who is
doing what in each group.

 You can write up messages, exercises, short texts or items for correction
from oral activities. Coloured chalks or pens are very useful for writing up
dialogue parts.

 Use your board to provide records of new words, structures, how a word is
used. Or brainstorm new vocabulary with the class in a spidergram. With
more advanced classes you can provide a record of a class discussion, or
give help with planning for writing e.g. for exam tasks.

Displaying

You can use the large surface of your board to display all sorts of items -
posters, pictures and flashcards. Use large pictures for class oral work but have
students come out to the board to point to or talk about various items. Magazine
pictures can be used for a variety of oral activities. Flashcards can be used for
many games apart from simple matching activities.

 Try to encourage students to come out to the board to choose, select, order
or describe pictures. All of these will make your classroom more interactive
and avoid too much teacher talking time.

 You can display other items such as authentic materials - e.g. maps,
adverts, photos, as well as learners' own work. Remember that you don't
have to stick to the board.
 You could display items around the room, particularly if they are not large
enough for the whole class to see at the front. Ask your students to move
around and look at the materials.

Playing games

We can play many different games using just the board. Teachers need a
repertoire of board games as warmers, fillers or lesson-ending activities which
require no preparation.

 Apart from the traditional games of hangman, and noughts and crosses
(answering questions for O or X) you can play many others.

 ‘Pictogram' can be played with all levels (Draw a picture and guess the word).
With younger learners spelling races are very popular.

 Word games are an excellent way of settling classes and revising vocabulary.
Use anagrams or jumbled sentences or for Very Young Learners words with
missing vowels.

Using visuals

You don't have to be a genius at drawing to use pictures and drawings with your
students. In fact, the worse the drawings are .. the more fun! Try to master basic
stick men and faces with expressions, especially if your students are young
learners.

 Drawing pictures is an essential skill for explaining texts and stories to our
students. Practise story-telling with basic pictures on the board. Remember
you can ask your students out to the board to draw too - this is a fun
activity at whatever level. You can create picture stories with your students
and use these for further oral or written work.

 Other visuals which are useful to draw are large-scale pictures such as
maps, a plan of a town, a plan of a house/school/new building etc. These
could be used with stick on cut outs to provide a wealth of language
practice.
Final tips

Try to make your board as interactive as possible.

 Ask students to come out to draw, write, present or even work. You could
allow one group to work at the board when doing a group task.

 Use your board as support for your voice - to give instructions, examples and
feedback.

 You can use board activities as an aid to discipline - settle a noisy class for
example by giving a quick copying exercise or word game. Write a child's
name up on the board if they are talking too much instead of just telling
them off.

 Your board is an organisational tool too. Use it as a memory store for things
to do or keep you on track with a lesson. Remember the more organised you
are on your board, the more organised your students will be too.