ARTESOL NEWSLE~~--'I ARGENTINA
TESOL
Summer 1998 - 1999
ractical materials for multiple intelligences By Oya Buyukyavuz Reprintedfrom Materials Writers IS Column, rESOL Matters, August / September. 1998
Fortunately, the past decade has demonstrated to all of us that we possess a number of intelligences; some of these intelligences dorninate depending on our cultural setting or the environmental conditions that we are exposed to. In the past, we were made to believe that there were some blessed people that possessed intelligences like mathematical skills, verbal skills and so on. Today, we happily realize that all leamers possess a variety of intelligences ready for us to use. The theory of multiple intelligences is now very popular in some fie1ds of study, including our profession. Materials design is an important aspect of the profession. Just as painters need brushes and oils and musicians need inspiration, we language teachers cannot teach effectively without holding on to some teaching materials. . In this article, I show how we can use our imagination to create very simple, practical materials for our students, who possess a number of intelligences. Most of us have colorful magnets that remain stuck to the refrigerator door. These magnets can be very useful for students with visuallspatial intelligence. A collection of animal figures can provide an activity for 5th or 6th grade students , starting with the students talking about their favorite animals and the characteristics of these animals. Following this warm-up session, display the animal magnets on the whiteboard and ask your students to review the data you collected in the warm-up. Then have the students form pairs and give them a handout on which they are asked to categorize the animal s by their size, color country of origin, what areas they live in, what they eat, what they have in cornmon, and which animal farnily they belong to (that is, whether they are camivorous or herbivorous). This list can be ex
panded. When they are ready with their lists, elicit their answers and write them on the board. Then, to check comprehension, ask students whether they see any wrong information given in the lists on the board. In this part of the lesson, encourage cooperation among students by having them actively engage with the information collected. For instance, they might have placed a camivorous animal in the same category with the herbivorous animals. Get them to correct the information. This activity rnight be a warm-up preceding a unit on animals. As you can see, this activity rnight work well for number-smart (mathematical/logical intelligence) students by urging them to create categories through logical reasoning. In a second activity, the materials could be either personal photos, drawings, or cartoons without captions. This pair activity is suitable in 5th grade language courses. Whatever medium you choose, it is important to find pictures that tell a story with a beginning and an end. Use one set of drawings, photos, or cartoons for each pair or group. For 10 cartoons that tell one story, pass out the cartoons to each pair and ask them to look at the cartoons for a while, noticing any special details. Then ask them to put the cartoons in order so that they tell a story with a beginning and an end. To facilitate the activity, you rnight write an informativesentence on the cartoon that starts the story such as: "On a sunny day Hilary met Teresa ... " When each pair is done with their cartoons, they display them on the board and share their stories with the others. This activity rnight work well for number-smart students, who are good at categorization through logical reasoning, and spatial students, who like the "big picture". Sharing the story with the others at the board also appeals to word-smart (Continues on page 4)
Artesol Newsletter Summer 98
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