Teaching English with everyday objects (realia)

Picture the scene: you have a brilliantly planned lesson, complete with a warmer, language input, fill-in-the-blank worksheets and a fun freer practice activity, but your students seem bored, disengaged and don’t appear to appreciate the effort you have gone to to prepare this lesson. Sound familiar?

All too often, as ESL teachers, our lessons fall on deaf ears because students can’t see the relevance to their real life, causing them to disconnect and switch off.

Over the years of teaching, I have found that incorporating realia, or everyday objects, into lessons is an excellent way to generate authentic communication opportunities, which in turn leads to motivated and enthused students.

Why use realia?

Relevance to the real world

Bringing realia into class engages students because they can see the relevance of what they’re learning to their everyday lives. Instead of memorising arbitrary lists of vocabulary for kitchen items, try bringing in utensils to class and have students talk about what they are used for. They might also like to share what they would use them to cook! Not only is this more authentic and engaging, but it also enables students to root their learning in a tangible object, making it more memorable.

Takes learning ‘off the page’

Worksheets have their place in class, but whenever there is an opportunity to take learning off the page, grab it with both hands! Realia can be a great way to change the pace of the lesson, incorporate games and role play and get students up and out of their seats: all of which promote a fun and interactive environment.

Reinforces learning as it uses more senses

Research has shown that the more of our five senses are engaged in learning, the more likely it is to stay with us. Holding a selection of fruits and vegetables, demonstrating how to prepare them, talking about their textures whilst touching them, are all ways to activate the five senses that will lead to deeper learning.

Increases cultural awareness

Giving students the chance to interact with cultural objects that they may not have come across before, as well as sharing realia from their own country, is an excellent way to promote cultural awareness. You could organise a ‘show and tell’ in class, and ask each student to give a brief talk about their object, followed by questions from the audience. You will find that students are often very willing and excited to share an item that is meaningful to them, and this generates motivation and genuine communication.

Teaches you to be creative and develop confidence teaching off the cuff!

As a new teacher, I used to feel that unless I had a perfectly planned lesson, my students would be bored and the class would be filled with awkward silences. Thankfully, as my teaching experience and confidence have grown, I’ve realised that some of the best lessons are the ones that emerge spontaneously from the resources available to me at the time! Using objects available to us in class is a fantastic way to develop your ability to teach without a structured plan. If you use your imagination, and allow students to bring ideas to the table, you will find that realia presents us with endless teaching opportunities!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

What’s in your bag?

A no-prep game in which students have to guess what is in each other’s bag. Useful for learning basic day-to-day items and practising question formation.

Show and tell

As mentioned above, show and tell is a fantastic way to give students the chance to teach each other about their culture and items that are special to them.

Just remember to prepare students in advance, and make sure they have prepared a brief talk about their object. This could be followed by a Q&A and could also lead to more discussion around their home country.

Label the room

Give students a pad of post-it-notes and have them label as many items in the room as they can as quickly as possible!

This is also a great revision activity to do at home, labeling everything within sight!

Cooking class

This might require slightly more preparation and resources, but if you are able to bring in some basic cooking equipment and food, you could have students follow a recipe or teach the class how to make their favourite dish!

Pack a suitcase

When learning vocabulary for clothes, you could bring in a selection of clothes and basic travel items, and have students pack a suitcase with you! This might lead to a discussion about what they would pack when they travel, and also what different clothing is worn in their country.

Scavenger hunt

A fun way to get students out of their seats (and perhaps out of the classroom) is to set up a scavenger hunt around the class/building/area. Give them a list of items to find and the first team back is the winner!

Ordering from a menu

A fun role play idea is to download and print some menus from popular restaurants and have students act out a scene from a restaurant. If any students own or work at a restaurant, you could ask them to bring or print menus for you!

Tips for using everyday objects in your classroom

• Keep it engaging! Mix things up - don’t always do the same activities, or use realia for every lesson. Use it as and when you feel it would add value to the lesson or when students seem to need a change of pace.

• Keep it relevant - no one wants to watch you talk about your treasured baseball cap if you are learning about cooking.

• Let the students do the talking - be careful not to turn this into a talk show with you as the presenter! Let students share, discuss, debate, present and ask questions.

• Invite students to bring objects in to share - asking students to share an insight into their lives really is one of the best ways to engage them and develop a sense of community in class!

• Don’t assume that students know what objects are - be aware of cultural norms and use this as an opportunity to learn about other cultures.

• Keep it simple! Don’t let this create extra stress, but just grab resources if they are on hand.

• Make it fun! Using objects in class is a great way to make the class engaging, fun and memorable.

Using everyday objects is a brilliant way to bring learning to life, engage the senses, connect language with the real world and help students develop a greater depth of cultural understanding. Try the suggestions above and let us know which ones have worked for you!