Student Whiteboards

In my classroom I like to encourage students to practice the four core English skills.

1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Speaking
4. Listening

The student whiteboard is by far the most flexible tool in my arsenal and has has proven itself to be invaluable over the years. You can design a broad range of ESL activities and games that center around practicing the four core English skills with the aid of a whiteboard. 

If your English department has a decent budget, you probably have some mini whiteboards floating around that you can hand out to students. If not, it's dead easy to make your own. Just laminate a piece of A4 white paper. I like to print the outline of a smartphone on mine as I believe it helps reinforce to my students that my classroom is a fun environment for learning. 

As I said, this is a hugely flexible tool to have in your ESL arsenal. It's a fun way for students to write answers to quizzes, work in teams solving English problems, practice their writing, and easily correct each other. From the teachers point of view, it makes it easier to monitor students which leads to better classroom participation and identifying difficult areas for students. When students are put into groups to solve problems, it also takes some of the pressure off the teacher and allows students to engage in collaborative learning. 

You can download the smartphone whiteboard outline I use here, or make your own if you want. I cannot recommend this ESL teaching tool highly enough. Give it a try in your classroom. 

DOWNLOAD ESL STUDENT WHITEBOARD