Realia

AKDENİZ UNIVERSITY
ELT MA

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

REALIA
Sebahat YILMAZ
20118509716

Outline
 Realia Definition
 Why Should We Use Realia?
 How can we decide if materials are appropriate?
 Using Realia:
For Young Learners
For Learning Vocabulary/Grammar
In a role play
With Reading Instruction
 Implementation
Ways to Bring Real Life into the Classroom
Activities Involving Realia
New Uses For Realia
Quick Ideas
 Virtual Realia
 Tips& Warnings
 Advantages of Using Realia
 Disadvantages of Using Realia
 Conclusion
 References

Realia Definitions
 If you‟re thinking the word „realia‟ sounds vaguely Latin,
then you‟d be correct. In the TEFL classroom, the
word realia means using real items found in everyday
life as an aid to teaching English. Using realia helps to
make English lessons memorable by creating a link
between the objects and the word or phrase they
represent.
 Realia are physical objects that are related to the target
culture.
 Realia refers to objects or items from real life , which
are used in the classroom to illustrate and teach
vocabulary or to serve as an aid to facilitate language
acquisition and production.
 Realia are objects from real life used in classroom
instruction by educators to improve students'
understanding of other cultures and real life situations.

Realia Definitions
 (inlanguage teaching) Actual objects and
items which are brought into a classroom as
examples or as aids to be talked or written
about and used in teaching. (Longman Dictionary of
Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics. Richards, Platt, &
Platt. 1992. Essex.)

 Anything which has a purpose outside of the
ESL classroom and can be brought into the
classroom. (Realia: Bringing the Real World into the
Classroom.Dickens, Robertson, Hofmann.1995.
Victoria, BC.)

 Objectsof any origin used to illustrate
vocabulary and structure in the L2. (Celce-
Murcia & Hilles, 1988)

 Concrete objects and the paraphernalia of
everyday life. (Zukowski-Faust, 1997)

Realia Definitions
 Realia in EFL terms refers to any real
objects we use in the classroom to
bring the class to life. (Admin, 2008)

 Everyday objects that surround us by
relating them to langauge and looking
at them in new ways. (Munford ,
2008)

Why should We use Realia?

 Kinesthetic learning is the type of
learning that students will most
effectively acquire, mostly because they
will have hands-on experience.
 The use of realia brings a welcome
change in the class, a break from typical
class activities like reading and writing.
 They are often more interesting than
material from text books and can be on
subjects that will really engage the
students.
 Students will be expected to use real
material when they leave your classes.

Why Should We Use
Realia?
 The unexpectedness of having to suddenly interact with
real objects will keep students on their toes; it will
create excitement, and they’ll have fun.
 Students have the chance to practice real life
situations like using maps and asking for directions in
a foreign language, but with the guidance of someone
who speaks fluently and will help them get it right. Once
they hit the street, they will feel more confident in
speaking the language with the locals.
 Students will clearly understand the reason they’re
learning a particular ESL component. Inste ad of
wondering when and where they might have use for a
particular language element, they‟ll know the reason.

How can we decide if materials
are appropriate?
 Decide if the topic matter is
appropriate for your students, if you
are not sure you can ask them or find
out what their interests are.
 Look at how much new vocabulary
and grammar structures are in the
materials. If students are to cope with
real material, they may have to learn
to deal with topics with a lot of alien
vocabulary.

Searching for Appropriate
Realia
One solution for culture-content based
EFL teachers is to keep their eyes
open for useful realia such as
magazines, adult education pamphlets,
menus, newspapers, advertisements,
maps and voting brochures.
Teachers must develop an awareness of
what can be utilized in a classroom. This
involves both becoming more creative
as materials designers and also more
sensitive to the target culture and to
the culture of the students.

Common Realia for Different
Levels
Beginners Intermediate Advanced

• Television • Teenage • General
timetables magazines newspaper article
• Cinema timetables Surveys & • Magazine articles
• Train timetables teenage issues • Academic material
• Restaurant menus • Newspaper • At advanced level
articles from you can choose
• Postcards (Writing)
tabloid nearly anything,
• Utility bills newspapers because they
• Application forms • Instruction should have
• Classified adverts manuals developed
• Recipes • Adverts & flyers strategies to cope
with unknown
vocabulary.

Using Realia
for Young Learners
 If you are going to teach English to young
children, realia is a must. Young children are
at the perfect age to learn a language and as
visual learners, you should try to tap into
their natural creativity. Bring in fruit,
vegetables and lots of toys. Children love to
role-play and enjoy playing games, so ask
them to move animals onto tables, under
tables, or around the farmyard. Make up
simple stories using toy animals or puppets,
and children will enjoy their English lessons,
and be motivated to learn.
 TPR & Imperatives

Activity Time

When ı
grow up...

You are
I want to be a doctor. going to tell
I want to be a teacher. us what you
I want to be a rock star. are and
WHY…Have
Fun!!!

Choose the things that fit you, to dress up…..

Don‟t be shy ; Like your
at the end dream!
when you are
ready…

We may use these
realia in many other
ways.
What are these ways?

Using Realia
for Learning Vocabulary/Grammar
 It is unrealistic to bring real objects
into your classroom for every single
word that you wish to teach and some
words will lend themselves better than
others to using realia. Remember,
realia can be used indirectly as a
tool for teaching grammar; for
example, items of food and drink are
perfect for teaching uncountable and
countable nouns.

Using Realia with Reading
Instruction
Bad Kitty Gets a Bath by Nick Bruel
Another installment of "Bad Kitty," Bruel offers us an insightful and
hysterical look at how to give a cat a bath. The Introduction reminds
us of what happens when we have asked Kitty to do things that Kitty
did not want to do...such as eat vegetables...before beginning the
saga. The pictures are definitely worth a thousand words, especially
with the expressions on Kitty's face!
Examples of Realia:
*sponge
*brush
*towel
*stuffed animal (cat)
*soap or shampoo
*band-aids
*"tub" (to serve as bathtub)
Suggested Themes:
humor
inference (using the pictures to have students predict Kitty's
feelings)
prediction/connections (reading strategies)
cats

Using Realia with Reading
Instruction
The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens & Susan Stevens
A dog drops its tennis ball into a prairie dog hole and the result
is a good lesson on supply and demand! Prairie dogs, at first
frightened by the strange object, soon discover how
appealing and troublesome its fuzz can be!
Examples of Realia:
*stuffed animal (prairie dog)...if not available, substitute with
picture of prairie dog
*tennis ball
*Great web site that includes pictures, sounds, video about
prairie
dogs:http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammal
s/prairie-dog.html
Suggested Themes:
supply/demand (economics)
sharing/respect (character education)
bullies

Using Realia in Role-play
Don‟t stop at using realia to learn vocabulary or
grammar. Use objects in role-plays to make the
situation more realistic. This could be something as
simple as a mobile phone or your train tickets.
Using realia is only limited by your imagination:
here are some ideas on how to use realia in your
lessons.
 Use your country‟s flag and a map to show
students where you live and to help them learn the
names of foreign countries.

 Timetables, tickets and pedestrian maps of London
are great for practising role-play scenarios such as
asking for directions, or buying tickets.

Implementation
Ways To Bring Real Life Into The
Classroom
We may teach a subject with
flashcards or picture. However, if we
bring realia students will be surprised
and thrilled and will never forget this
lesson.
This is what the use of realia in the
classroom is all about: the use of real life
objects that students can touch, feel, and
even smell to effectively teach ESL
components.
Here are some ways to take full
advantage of the possibilities offered by
the use of realia in the classroom.

Ways To Bring Real Life Into
The Classroom
5 o’clock tea
 This is by far the best way to teach table
manners, requests, or expressions related to ordering
or serving tea, coffee, or any meal in a home setting.
For the following dialogue:
 - Would you like some tea?
- No, thank you.
- What would you like?
- I‟d like some coffee, please.
- With milk and sugar?
- Just black coffee.

 Simply bring a children‟s tea complete with tea cups,
saucers, spoons, teapot and/or coffee pot, sugar bowl,
creamer, biscuits, etc... and have students practice
offering and serving each other coffee or tea. You can
make it as simple or as complete as you wish, or as
time allows.

The Classroom
Eating out
 Obtain or Design and print
out a menu with the food you'd like to
teach including starters, main
courses, and desserts.
 Have one student play
the role of waiter and take orders,
while the other students order
their meals. Then have students switch roles.

Students may ask the waiter for a
missing item like a spoon, fork, or napkin.

The Classroom
Location, location, location!
 To teach prepositions of place take
common classroom objects like pens,
pencils, books, balls etc…
 Place them on or under desks, and around
the classroom; then have students simply tell
you where each item is, or take turns asking
each other where their own personal items
are.
 Also for teaching “this”, “that”, “these”, and
“those”, as the perspective of having items
near and far from you clearly illustrates the
differences between the demonstrative
pronouns.

The Classroom
Tell me about your family
 Real family photos are
great for not only
learning about relationships
but also physical descriptions.
Have students bring one family photo
each and describe family members.
Students may also take turns asking
classmates questions.

The Classroom
Let’s have a fashion show
 Children love to play dress up, and
what a better way for them to
learn items of
clothing and colors
than put them on and strut around the
classroom to show off their unique
style?

Adult learners can also model the
clothing they‟re wearing.

The Classroom
Celebrate the holidays
 Learning English is not only about learning to speak in a
foreign language. Students should learn about cultural
elements as well. Special holidays
likeHalloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas offer
unique learning opportunities.
To teach students about Halloween,
plan a celebration
complete with
pumpkin carving, costume contest, and
typical games like bobbing for apples.
Give your students the
chance to experience the
holidays and not just read about them.

The Classroom
The Job Interview

 Do you have students who will be applying for
jobs in English? Try to get your hands on some
real job applications and have students
practice filling them out in class. You may also
conduct job interviews using real life interview
questions.
 not only teach them the vocabulary they should
know, give students the boost of confidence
they need.

Role Play Time
 Be in groups of 4-5, There should
be a total of 4 groups.
 One person from each group
comes and picks an envelope.
 Read the instructions, and pick and
use necessary realia for your role-
play.
 You have 5 minutes to complete it.

Activities Involving Realia
About me
Gather some bits and pieces that you
have in your bag, purse and around the
house such as used cinema or concert
tickets, train or bus tickets, cards you‟ve
received, passport photos, shopping
receipts etc.
 Stick them on a piece of card or on a
cork board. Get students to ask you
about the items to gather information
about you.
 As a follow up, ask students to do the
same and bring in some bits and bobs
they have for their classmates to ask

Identity envelopes
Get three or four envelopes and fill them
with bits and bobs you find around the
house such as foreign currency, shop
receipts, postcards, photos, buttons, etc.
Put students into groups and ask them to
have a good look at the objects and to
decide who they belong to.
 They should be able to build up the identity
of a character from the objects.
 You could say they are all suspects from a
crime and they have to decide who did it, or
simply create the characters to use in a role
play.

Recycling race
 (Depending on the recycling facilities in your country you will
need to adapt the task accordingly) For this you just need a
bag of rubbish (clean items out first) that you are about to
recycle like tetrabriks, glass jars, cereal boxes, tins, old
newspapers etc.
 Ask students what all the objects are and which container
they‟d put them in to recycle them.
 Draw a picture of each of the possible containers and get
students to come and choose an item and tell the class where
they‟d put it to recycle it and why.
 You could make this into a team race by giving each team the
mission of collecting all the items for their container one by
one. You could then use the recyclable material to make a
poster with your students about recycling.

Island survival
 Bring in a selection of items such as a coat hanger, a
corkscrew, a packet of dental floss, a clothes peg, a
plastic bag, a wooden spoon, some swimming goggles,
elastic bands etc.
 Put the students into groups and tell them they have
been ship wrecked on a desert island with their group.
Luckily there are some random items on the island they
can use to help them survive.
 Reveal the items one by one and elicit vocabulary.
Then tell students they have ten minutes to think about
how they are going to use the items to help them
survive. At the end, listen to each group‟s ideas and
vote on which group you think would survive the
longest.

New Uses for Realia
1. Specific Grammar Points
Scissors and the Present Perfect Tense
 Write three sentences representing different uses of the present
perfect tense on the board. Hold the scissors pointing up, so the
class can see, with one hand on each handle.
 Open the blades by moving the left hand up, keeping the right hand
still. Now say the first sentence, 'I have lived in London all my life',
slowly closing the blades with your right hand.
 Open the scissors as before, read the second sentence: 'I have
seen that film three times', but this time stop the blade three times
on the way, to represent the three times.
 For the last sentence, 'I have just had lunch', open the scissors
slightly then snap them shut. Note: The upright blade represents the
present and the moving blade represents time moving between the
past and present. By moving the blades you can show that all three
sentences have the connection between past and present in
common, even though the last sentence is dealing with a very short
time ago. As you are facing the class, you should move your left
hand, not right, so that the students will see the 'past' blade moving
toward the present, from their left to right.

A Corkscrew, a Bottle Opener, Action and
State Verbs
 The different ways of opening wine and beer
bottles can be related to state and action verbs.
Explain that when you open a beer bottle the
bottle is either open or closed, i.e. it is in one
state or the other. Compare this to the opening of
a wine bottle. This is a process which you can
see, as the screw is pushed in and pulled out.
Hold a corkscrew in one hand and a bottle
opener in the other. Say a verb and hold up the
appropriate instrument (bottle opener for state
verb, corkscrew for action verb). Get volunteer
students to do the same. (NB some verbs e.g.
'think' can be both, so you may need a tool that
does both!)


A Pencil Sharpener and Reduced Relatives
Clauses
 Again, metaphor can make the unfamiliar more
familiar. Students may not be familiar with
reduced relatives such as
'The man (who was) killed in the accident was my
neighbour'
where the words in brackets can be omitted.
Explain that by taking out the two words, you
make the sentence better, more economical, and
sharper, as a native speaker would. The
metaphor of a pencil sharpener works like this:
you cut off something to make the pencil sharper
and more efficient.

A Tie and Prepositions.
Show the students how to tie a tie.
 'Put the tie round your neck.
 Cross the ends in front of you, then
pull the smaller end under,
 Then over, then under again, over
again, then up, behind the knot,
through the knot, then down.
 Pull the knot up.'

2. Drills

A Whistle and a Pronunciation Drill
 Write the vocabulary that you want to
practise on the board. Mark the stressed
syllable(s). Now use the whistle to
demonstrate which word you want the
students to repeat by blowing the
syllable pattern, e.g. blow 'long short
short' to elicit 'confident' and 'short short
long short' for 'population'. You need a
variety of word lengths and syllable
patterns for this.

2. Drills
A Ruler and a Drill
 Use a ruler or any similar object to
'conduct' a drill as follows: Write a
sentence on the board. Practise the
sentence, marking the stressed
syllables. When the students can
remember it, go to the back of the class,
and ask them to turn and face you. Now
conduct the drill, using the ruler as a
baton. Looking at the board, beat the
stressed syllables with the ruler while the
students take their cue from you.

2. Drills
An Empty Bottle and a Drill
 Say a sentence into a bottle. Screw the lid on
and tell the class that the sentence is in the
bottle. Now open the bottle and let the
sentence out one word at a time, that is,
students repeat the sentence one word at a
time. Put another sentence in the bottle, and
tell students to pass the bottle round the
class, letting one word out at a time, one
word per student. Then let students fill the
bottle in the same way. The point here is to
get students to listen and focus on word
order.

3. Free Speaking Activities

Discussion and a Microphone
 This is suggested by television
programme hosts, who control
conversations by the use of the
microphone. Put students in groups, and
give one student the.
 Say a group of six students are talking
about 'holidays', the person with the
microphone can move around the group
giving different people the chance to
speak, ensuring everyone gets an equal
chance to contribute.

3. Free Speaking Activities
Tennis Balls and Conversation
 A tennis match can be a metaphor for a
conversation. Put students in pairs facing
each other, as in doubles tennis. They should
be about 1 meter apart. Give one student a
tennis ball. He starts talking about a subject
then throws the ball to someone on the other
team, who should continue on the same
subject, before returning the ball to someone
on the other team. They should keep the
conversation moving swiftly. You can have a
referee to penalise slow turns, 'foul' throws
and dropped balls, and keep the score as in
tennis, e.g. 15 love.

New Uses for Realia
 Classroom aids are all around us, but
sometimes we need to think about the
best ways to use an object. 'Mapping'
the use of an object onto a language
point, or finding a language related
use of an object are two ways of
using realia in class. Have look around
the staffroom. The teaching aids you
need may be closer than you think.

Quick Ideas
 Take along a hat, scarf, gloves, to introduce
winter/winter activities.
 Teaching business English? Make use of
mobile phones to create realistic telephone
conversations. Use diaries, to schedule
meetings, and plan events.

Virtual Realia
Virtual realia: (in language teaching) digitized
objects and items from the target culture
which are brought into the classroom as
examples or aids and used to stimulate
spoken or written language production.
 It is a collection of linguistic and non-
linguistic authentic materials which have
been compiled, scanned, and posted on
WWW server.
 It benefits especially those international
teachers who are less mobile or unable to
collect their own materials.

Virtual Realia
Can virtual realia still be considered
realia? The larger question regarding
authenticity of which realia is a part
paints a confused and contradictory
picture at best. What does seem clear,
however, is that authenticity is a
relative matter and that different
aspects of it can be present in varying
degrees (Taylor, 1994).

Virtual Realia
 But virtual realia isn't really the
object at all; it's just a digitized image
of the item.Foreign language
practitioners do accept modifications of
realia items such as the lamination of
authentic materials onto a card
(Zukowski-Faust, 1997). Wood (1980)
even presents the postage stamp as a
cultural artifact that may be easily
photographed and enlarged to facilitate
its use and discussion in class.

Tips & Warnings

 Prepare your materials and supplies before
the lesson. Purchase all the necessary
supplies beforehand, rather than wait until the
last minute to go shopping for them.
 Make all photocopies necessary or cut
flashcards. Organize these into envelopes. If
you‟re using clothing, pack them into a bag
the night before.
 There must be :
a purpose of the language and content,
accordance with level, age , complexity,
students interests and needs,
quality rather than quantity.

The Advantages of Using
Realia
 As English teachers, the use of realia is only
limited by your imagination. It is possible to use
realia to teach almost any subject. Using realia
stimulates the mind, and is one way of
encouraging creativity by involving the senses.
Realia saves time, as recognition of an object is
immediate and so cuts out the need for lengthy
explanations and drawing funny pictures on the
board. Elicitation becomes much easier and
holding up the object with a raised eyebrow will
usually result in the desired word being spoken.
 Realia breathes life into new vocabulary, and
the chances of your students remembering the new
words you have taught them increases.

The Advantages of Using
Realia
Using realia in the EFL class proves a positive
and rewarding experience since it
 makes lessons more interesting and
enjoyable
 is a link between language learning and
sociocultural learning
 brings EFL classes nearer to the English
speaking countries
 helps students to discover and process new
input
 is a good complement to the usual reading
materials

Advantages of Using Realia
 Accessible
 Relevant
 Visually interesting and captures the
attention of the learner
 Provides a focus away from the written
word or the 1:1 interaction – it‟s like a
„third person‟ that can be spoken about
(without consideration to feelings, social
conventions etc)
 Useful to help your students grasp the
cultural differences or learn practical
skills.

Disadvantages
 Real objects may not support a cultural
distinction.
 Activities with real objects might lose
the class path.
 Spending too much time in one activity
with real objects in the class.

Conclusion
You will have probably realized by now
that including realia in the classroom
involves a great deal of preparation in
some cases. Is it really worth you
time? The answer is, yes. Absolutely!
And your student‟s faces will be living
proof.

References
 Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching with DVD (4th Edition) (Longman
Handbooks for Language Teachers). Pearson Longman ELT. pp. 177. ISBN 978-1-4058-5311-8.
 Jean-Pierre Berwald. 1987. Teaching Foreign Languages with Realia and other Authentic
Materials. Eric. Center for applied linguistics. Washington.
 Autumn 2004 CATS: The IATEFL Young Learners SIG Publication .
 Simon Mumford. Using Creative Thinking to Find New Uses for Realia. Izmir University of
Economics Turkey.
 Penny Ur. Grammar Practice Activities. Cambridge University Press. 1988
 http://authenticteaching.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/business-english-realia/
 http://busyteacher.org/
 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/realia
 http://www.ehow.com/how_4549705_use-realia-esl-lessons.html
 http://elementaryreadingrealia.blogspot.com/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realia_(education)
 http://iteslj.org/Articles/Smith-Realia.html
 http://www.jamesabela.co.uk/advanced/realia.html
 http://www.learner.org/libraries/tfl/key_terms.html
 http://oupeltglobalblog.com/tag/realia/
 http://www.stephenhenryconsulting.com/letter/dr_lozanov.php
 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/teaching-tips/realia
 http://www.usingenglish.com/weblog/archives/000228.html

Karaoke Time?

As a post activity or to spend last 5
min. in an enjoyable way we may
listen and sing a song with our mic.

Thank You.

Realia

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