1. USING VISUALS IN
THE PRIMARY
CLASSROOM
Mar Calvo
Silvia Martin
Santiago Oviedo
Cristina Sanz

2. WHY?
-Everyday sessions can be made more exciting, enjoyable,
dynamic and effective by using a wide range of media and visual
texts, providing interest and motivation for our pupils.
-Visuals reinforce concepts and vocabulary.
-Visuals add variety and emphasis to presentation.
-Pictures are useful to develop English skills: writing, speaking,
listening, reading and interacting.
-Visuals allow you to reach those who process information best
visually.

3. -Visuals organize your lesson plans and presentation.
-Children can enjoy developing essential literacy skills through
studying picture books and visuals in general.
- Visuals aid communication.
-They explain the relationships of parts to the whole.
-They clarify something difficult, complicated or very large or
stress very important points.

4. FEATURES
• Visuals are affordable.
• They are durable.
• They are eye-catching.
• They are easy to transport.
• They are flexible
• They are motivating.
• They are easy to store.

5. TYPES OF VISUAL RESOURCES
• Flashcards
• Photographs
• Posters
• Diagrams
• Displays
• Outlines
• Realia...

6. DIFFERENT FLASHCARDS

7. PHOTOGRAPHS AND POSTERS

8. POSTERS MADE BY PARENTS OR
STUDENTS

9. DIAGRAMS

10. HOW TO GET THEM?
• From the internet:
FLASHCARDS
http://www.esl-kids.com/flashcards/flashcards.html
http://www.eslkidslab.com/flashcards/index.html
http://www.mes-english.com/flashcards.php
http://www.anglomaniacy.pl/topics.htm
http://recursostic.educacion.es/bancoimagenes/web/
http://www.agendaweb.org/
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/

11. POSTERS
http://www.wordle.net/
http://www.glogster.com/
http://
www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial
058.pdf
•Books and text books: Key Stages…
•Recycling old materials
•Pupils and their parents can help a lot
•Materials made by teachers on their own.

12. WHEN DESIGNING VISUALS YOU
MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT:
-Why and how a visual should be used.
-The audience to whom it is being shown.
-The medium being used for the visual.
-Use key phrases rather than long sentences.
-Ensure that all type is visible from the back of
the classroom.
-Leave plenty of white space around images.
-Use a graphic rather than a text.

13. EXAMPLES OF CLASSROOM USE
USING FLASHCARDS
•Who Am I ? Game...
-Have your selected flashcards on display.
-Children take turns giving ‘who am I’ clues for a chosen word (for
example, I am yellow, I have 5 letters, I end in ‘y’).
-Other children guess the word.
•Chinese Whispers….
-Children are sitting in a circle.
-First child picks up a flashcard and whispers the word to the child next
to them.
-The word get ‘whispered’ around to the last child who says to word
out loud.
-Flashcard gets held up to check of correct.

14. • Tic Tac Toe Here I Go...
-Have your chosen word cards displayed.
-Children or Teacher uses a pointer to sing as they point to the words
in random fashion…
‘Tic Tac Toe Here I go, Where I Land I Do Not Know’
-Stop on a card - children say the word.
-It is fun to go really fast with this and children love being the
‘teacher’.
-This has always been a simple favourite wherever I have used it.
• Stepping Stones….
-Place chosen word cards on the floor in random fashion.
-Children take turns stepping on the stones (word cards), saying the
words as they step on each one.
-Children be careful not to fall off into the river full of crocodiles.

15. • Reveal the word/picture slowly. (Guessing)
• Show it backwards or upside down
• Write a question on one side and the answer
on the other (they can work by themselves)
• Missing vowels/consonants
• Put them in order: a story/tale (with pictures,
words or both)
• Play memory games

16. USING POSTERS
•Cover the WB, the wall… with a big white
paper. Project an image on it and trace it. Then
you or the pupils can colour it and make a puzzle
or add more things (as in a collage), so that the
pupils will be making their own posters.

17. Wordle...
-Children place the chosen word card words into
www.wordle.net to make a word cloud.
-Print out the word cloud and find the words
within it.
-Children make their own ‘word clouds’ using
the word card words, using wordle as an
example.

18. USING IMAGES
•Before&after: two photos, one as babies and
the other now.
•The same but using a X-ray (just for fun)
•Whose baby is it? Parents’ and pupils’ photos
•Guess who/what: a pupil describes a photo and
the rest have to guess.
•Mix photos and guess

19. REFERENCE WEBSITES
• VIDEOS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gagfYsoc7UU
(HOW TO USE FLASHCARDS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Go-piDcRg
(HOW TO USE GLOGSTER)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Kphzzbf8U
(CLASSROOM POSTERS WITH EXCEL)

20. • ARTICLES
http://www.iris.edu/hq/files/programs/educati
on_and_outreach/poster_pilot/Poster_Guide
_v2a.pdf (The pedagogical power of posters)
http://www.american-classroom-
supply.com/classroom-posters-article.html