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

2. 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, peer- assessment, self-assessment, portfolio) CALL (teaching & testing programs)

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

4. 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:

5. Cuisenaire Rods – description (2)

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

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

8. 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!

9. Numbers Stairs What number is dark green? Bingo

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

11. Time Specification Telling the time Morning routine

12. 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.

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

14. Goodbye!