Using the Board

This series of articles from the British Council aims to help you think about your teaching and bring new ideas and activities into your classroom. The series covers topics including homework， working with large classes and finding resources. Today we look at using the board.

Read these comments from teachers. Do you agree with them？

“I feel my board is too untidy. I’d like it to be well organised and clear.”

Girish， India

“Where there is a shortage of resources in the classroom - the board is responsible for the success of a lesson.”

Ridha， Tunisia

How can we use the board to help us give effective classes？ Look at this list of ideas.

■ Is your writing on the board tidy and the correct size？ Do you write in straight lines？ Can everyone see what you’ve written？ Check by looking from the back of the class.

■ As you write on the board， turn around frequently to check on the class. If possible write texts or exercises on the board before the class starts.

■ Make sure you turn to face the class when you speak.

■ Is your board organised？ Some teachers write a list of the class activities on one side of the board， use the other side for vocabulary and the middle section for writing and rubbing off as necessary.

■ Ask “Can I clean the board？” before cleaning. Remember to clean the board completely for the next teacher.

■ Reinforce your spoken instructions by writing page numbers， exercise numbers and homework on the board.

■ Using different colours can draw attention to specific language.

■ Use the board for drawing stick people to tell stories or present new language. Use speech bubbles and symbols such as “！” and “？”. Number pictures to help students follow and recall the story.

■ Draw a spidergram on the board to present or revise vocabulary. Students add more words related to the topic.

■ Display posters， flashcards， maps， and pictures by sticking them on the board.

■ Students usually like to write or draw on the board. For example， groups race to write words connected to a topic—each group has a section of the board. Have a space at the bottom of the board where young children can reach to write.

■ Play games such as hangman， noughts and crosses， pictionary （draw a picture and guess the word） on the board.

■ Use the board for discipline. Write the name of a badly behaved student on the board. Remove the name when the student behaves well. With young children， draw a happy face and a sad face. Add names under the faces for good or bad behaviour.

■ Copying from the board can calm an overexcited class.

The board can be a really useful resource. We need to be organised and include board work in our lesson plans.

What do you think？

Luis from Argentina writes:

My board work was a disaster. I had very large writing. I often had no space on the board later in the

lesson so I had to write very small words in the corners of the board.

By dividing the board into a 4-box grid at the beginning of the lesson I solved this problem！

Now I write smaller to fit into each box. As a result， I have both more space and clearer writing. I fill

one box at a time so there is lots more space. I can clean just one box if I need more space.

?

A classroom activity—stop the bus！

Play this game on the board with any age group or level by changing the category headings.

■ Draw on the board a table like the one below. In teams， students copy it onto a piece of paper.

■ Choose a letter. Each team writes one item beginning with that letter for each category.

■ The first team to finish shouts “Stop the Bus！” Everyone must stop writing now.

■ The winning team write their words on the board， for example:

■ Give 10 points for each correct word. The other teams score 10 points for each correct word that is different from the one on the board， 5 points if they have the same word.

■ Repeat with a different letter.

■ The team with the highest total is the final winner.

Tip: Reduce the number of categories the teams have to fill for “difficult” letters.

Glossary

Flashcards are pictures on cards to help students to understand new vocabulary without translation.

Revising is practising language that learners have seen previously.

A spidergram is a spider-shaped diagram with the main topic （for example， “clothes”） in a central circle and related words as “l(fā)egs” （for example， “get dressed， put on， take off”）.

Think about

Sit down in one of your student’s chairs after the class and look at the board.

■ Is it organized？

■ Is the writing clear？

■ Could you present the information in a clearer way？

■ Does the board give you a clear idea of what the lesson was about？