We were playing around with cuisenaire rods in the session this week, something that I don’t think I’ve ever used in lessons as a teacher or learner. I remember them a little from my CELTA, but the session really made me want to get a set to use in class. There were some great ideas being shared around.
The great thing about cuisenaire rods is that they can add variety to traditional grammar lessons, adding both visual and kinaesthetic elements. What’s more, they can be used in a multitude of ways: the only real limitation is your imagination.
Here are a few of my favourites:
Grammar and Vocabulary
- as an alternative to a timeline on the board
- to illustrate active vs passive/question forms with auxiliaries
- to illustrate morphemes
- to practising prepositions – an information gap ‘tell and make’. Have SS arrange the rods and then describe to a partner who replicates it.
- to practise comparatives by describing the rods
- to illustrate pre-fixes/suffixes
Pronunciation
How do you do?
- to highlight long and short sounds
- to mark word stress and/or syllables
Creative
The story of my life
- to tell a story for example about your life, practising tense use (Earl Stevick’s Islamabad activity, 1980)
- to create a few different scenes, SS interpret them and tell a story.