Rods Cuisenarie Rods Numeri in Colore Paolo Iotti

Rods (Cuisenarie Rods) Numeri in Colore Paolo Iotti Aosta 18 – 19 March, 2010

Tips for teaching English at primary level • • • Words are not enough (realia, flashcards, gestures, senses) TPR (Total Physical Response) – children listen and follow a whole sequence of instructions, doing what the teacher says, (e. g. : TPR with clothes vocabulary, An action routine, A pointing rhyme, Miming a morning routine, Physical break chant, Right or wrong, ‘Simon says’) Variety in the classroom (activity, materials, pace, organisation, voice) Keep their hands busy! Enjoyment Motivation Content Cooperation Assessment (traditional tests , observation , conferencing , projects , peerassessment, self-assessment, portfolio) CALL (teaching & testing programs)

Teaching aids • • Toys Building blocks Cuisenaire rods Posters Readers/stories Games Puppets Class mascot

Cuisenaire Rods – description (1) The rods (numbers in colour, coloured numbers) are named after their inventor, who initially used them to teach arithmetic. In the system, there are 10 rods measuring 1 cm to 10 cm (one square centimetre in cross section). Rods of equal length are assigned the same colour. Most Cuisenaire rods follow this system:

Cuisenaire Rods – description (2)

Selected lexical areas where Rs can be used: (1) • • • colours numbers the alphabet time specification body parts family relations buildings & furniture animals food abilities

Aspects of grammar that can be ‘smuggled’ (2): • • personal pronouns articles nouns adjectives verbs prepositions word stress sequence of words in an English sentence

Letters of the Alphabet • Encode your rods! (key: t – blue, c – light green, a – black, e – brown, y – yellow, etc. ) Lexical area should be established. Team game – make as many words as possible for your opponents!

Numbers • Stairs What number is dark green? • Bingo

Numbers (2) • Hunt the “thimble” e. g. Find 2 red rods and 5 white ones.

Time Specification • Telling the time • Morning routine

Parts of the Body • Monster game (one rod = one part of the body, e. g. white (1) – an eye, red (2) - a mouth, etc. Each group throws the dice and makes appropriate parts of the body. Then children describe their monsters.

Main Advantages: C – colourful U – universal I – imaginative S – solid E – effective N – nice A – appropriate I – indispensable R – ready E – exhilarating

Goodbye!