Among various roles played by the teacher of a language classroom, the material developer is a significant one. There are many educational institutions in Bangladesh where English language teachers are required to develop their own materials. What do you think of materials development? Is it all about ‘writing’ the teaching instructions? Probably many of you would agree on the fact that ‘designing’ is a predominant part of material development. How can we design the teaching materials effectively so that learners become motivated and engaged in the activity? Yes, you have got it right: my today’s blog post is about a designing tool, Canva.
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Canva
Canva is an incredible graphic design platform on which
immense varieties of visual content can be produced. This tool can foster
creativity and autonomy among learners by allowing them to design for their
presentations, posters, and projects. Moreover, by using this tool, they can
demonstrate their content knowledge and skill-based knowledge of the language
which establishes a visual communication with the audience. As a whole, the procedure
of producing necessary visual content can be highly satisfying and motivating
for them.
How to use
You can just use your Gmail or Facebook account and log in
to it. After logging in, you will be able to see your own account on Canva
which will be attached to your email account. In your own folder, you will be
able to store and work further on designs. Not only that, Canva also gives you the
option of downloading your designed materials. Everything is available!
A sample task:
Suppose you are preparing your students for an International
Students’ Conference where they will be attending discussion, seminar and workshop
sessions on their desired projects. For presenting a project, visual
demonstration of acquired knowledge is immensely important. That’s why, show
them the following infographic and ask them if it is possible for them to
create one like this:
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Show them the following video which provides a step-by-step procedure for creating an infographic on Canva:
Now, divide the class in groups of 2/3 and ask them to prepare an infographic on Canva on any one of the following themes and give a short presentation after uploading their infographics on Google classroom. While the groups deliver their presentation, project their prepared infographic from Google Classroom.
Benefits
Canva has an immense variety of templates, frames, and
formats for creating and designing books, magazines, worksheets, lesson plans, presentations,
infographics, or even Instagram posts! You will just be overwhelmed by the
diversity and variety it provides!
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The designing procedure is relatively easy and does not
require any technical knowledge. If you can operate MS Docs and PowerPoints,
you will be able to operate Canva, trust me!
There are already various types of templates available to be used in education, language learning and language teaching. So you can just
select one and let it go…
Shortcomings
O my goodness! I am struggling to find any shortcomings of
it! This is because, it also has the paid and non-paid distinction but the free
account is more than enough for your purpose. The only thing that is peeping
through my mind is that the designing procedure is indeed time-consuming. Then
again, this is not a downside of Canva but all designing procedures, I believe.
So, hurry up! Try it this hour!
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