Whiteboards, Magnets and Flashcards.

How useful are the new boards.

The use of new boards in all the Algerian schools is a good thing. Yes. We kept on complaining against the traditional blackboards for a long time. They were dangerous for the teachers' and the pupils' health because they were tiring and because of the dust chalk produced.
But do teachers realize how useful and important these whiteboards are? Do the teachers use them reasonably?

There are many positive sides in using this kind of boards:

• Cleanliness.
• Practical Projecting medium.
• Require less time, effort, and pressure when writing or drawing.
• More variety of colors can be used.
• Less paper is used.

There also many disadvantages:
-More expensive than blackboards. Markers are expensive and of bad quality. -Can cause contrast problems for people with vision impairment. -Problems for left-handed people. -It is not possible to accurately gauge the amount of ink available.
I personally use them in all the activities: recycling/modelling/presentation/pronunciation/oral expression...
I use flashcards for almost all the lessons. To fix these flashcards, I use magnets (very small pieces that you can obtain from a fridge joints for example) instead of scotch tape or dangerous pins.
Pupils like fixing the flashcards and taking part in the lesson performance.
I just pick up the used papers in exams and tests then keep them for further use. I print my flashcards or simply I write them.

The following passage is an adaptation from "Wikipedia Encyclopedia".

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmqydtyfwj1

Using flashcards and magnets is a good thing:

• The teachers don't have to rewrite everything. It is tiring and annoying.
• The pupils will find it attractive and enjoying especially with photos and interactive activities
• You can use it for all kinds of activities.


Think about it seriously and try it, you won't regret it.

I myself found it very very useful, time saving and motivating too. I've been using flash cards eversince I started teaching! I even created many kinds of boards to work on before the coming of white board, i made a flanel board and a slot board! I tried them, and they worked very very well. Now, everything is available and easy to use. I remember, when I started working on these kind of board (arounf 1996), I initiated by using elastic bands to make slot board, and the work went on very fast during practise session. I thought I created something original, but later I read about all of those types of boards on a booklet I'd found somewhere. It's really a goldmine that book! Now, people on the other frindge are using the interactive board, or what they call also the smart board! just google it and you'll find out what it is!