A flannel board (a board covered with flannel or other soft fabric for sticking
pictures on its surface). It is used for creating vivid situations which would stimulate
learners' oral language; the teacher can have a flannel board made in a workshop or
by one in a specialized shop; the use of a flannel board with cutouts prepared by the
teacher or by the students leads to active participation in the use of the target
language as each pupil makes his/her own contribution to working out "a scene" on
the flannel board.
A magnet board (a board which has the properties of a magnet, i.e., can attract
special cards with letters, words, phrases, or pictures on it) used with the same
purpose as a flannel board.
Mechanical aids are: the tape-recorder has come to be an invaluable aid to the
language learner and teacher, and after the blackboard, is probably one of the most
commonly used pieces of equipment in the classroom. The tape-recorder can
obviously be used for all the listening activities. Listening is a skill which requires a
great deal of concentration so it is a good idea to limit the time spent on continuous
listening.
An overhead projector used for projection of a table, a scheme, a chart, a plan, a
map or a text for everyone to see on a screen. They can be used both in a daylight and
artificial light.
Computers are used for all kinds of activities: during the presentation of a new
material, for listening and reading activities as well as for exercises with
pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.
A language laboratory. This is a special classroom designed for language
learning. It is equipped with individual seats or semi-private stalls. They are
connected with a network of audio writing, the nerve centre of which is the
monitoring console which has a Switch board and tape decks, making it possible to
play tapes and send the programme to all or any combination of booths. The teacher
at the monitoring console can listen in, or can have a two-way conversation with any
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student. The teacher must know about each aid described above, be able to operate it,
and train students to use it.
When used in different combinations teaching aids can offer valuable help to the
teacher of a foreign language in making the learning of this subject in schools more
effective for students.
6. Teaching materials
By teaching materials we mean the materials which the teacher can use to help
learners learn a foreign language through visual or audio perception. They must be
capable of contributing to the achievement of the practical, cultural, and educational
aims of learning a foreign language. The following teaching materials are in use
nowadays: teacher's books, pupil's books, visual materials, audio materials, and
audio-visual materials.
A teacher's book must be comprehensive enough to be a help to the teacher. This
book should provide all the recorded material summaries of the aims and new
teaching points of each lesson; a summary of all audio and visual materials required;
suggestions for the conduct of the lesson and examples of how the teaching points
can be developed.
Pupil's book must include textbooks, manuals, supplementary readers,
dictionaries, programmed materials.
Pupil's book/Textbook/Course-book. This book is one of the most important
source. It contains the material at which students work both during class periods
under the teacher's supervision and at home independently. The textbook also
determines the ways and the techniques students should use in learning, the material
to be able to apply it when hearing, speaking, reading and writing. The modern
textbooks for teaching a foreign language should meet the following requirements:
1. Textbooks should provide students with the knowledge of the language
sufficient for developing language skills, i.e., they must include the fundamentals of
the target language.
2. They ensure students activity in speaking, reading and writing, i.e., they must
correspond to the aims of foreign language teaching in schools
3. The textbooks must arouse students' interest and excite their curiosity
4. The textbooks must extend students' educational horizon, i.e., the material of
textbooks should be of educational value.
5. They should have illustrations to help students in comprehension and in
speaking.
6. The textbooks must reflect the life and culture of the people whose language
the students study.
7. Every textbook for learning a foreign language should contain exercises and
texts. The textbooks should provide the revisions of words in texts, drills and speech
exercises. Exercises for developing oral language should constitute 40-50 % of the
exercises of the textbook. The other 50 % will be those designed for assimilating
vocabulary, grammar, the technique of reading etc.
Manual is a handbook which may be used in addition to the textbook.
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