Сuisenaire rods

ESL professionals are often looking for new ways of engaging their students in meaningful and thoughtful learning. Using Cuisenaire rods is one of such ways! If you have never heard of this word combination before, this article is definitely for you!

They initially come from Maths. Georges Cuisenaire (by the way, pronounced Kwee-zen-air), a Belgian teacher, once noticed that the students were much more engaged during their music class, where they had to constantly do something with their hands, rather than during the Maths class, where they were sitting and passively listening to the teacher’s explanations. 

That was the moment when Cuisenaire thought that it was high time to reinvent Maths teaching and make it much more engaging. This is how Cuisenaire rods were first introduced to the class. 

However, ESL teachers have come up with some ways to use the rods for their own benefit as well.

Below, you will see some ideas on how to use Cuisenaire rods in your classroom.

Realia

Say, you need to explain parts of speech. In this case, the rods may serve as a realia, and every block will represent a certain part of speech. Using yellow blocks as nouns, green – as verbs and blue – as adjectives makes it easier to learn the vocabulary, remember and recreate the correct word order, as well as complete correct-the-mistakes activities in a game form. 

Surely, it can facilitate the explanation of almost any grammar topic. For example, you can play a Past Simple game where students need to match a verb with a blue rod that means an -ed ending or a yellow rod which is an irregular verb. There are no limits to how Cuisenaire rods can be used. The application depends solely on the teacher’s imagination.

Storytelling

Every block represents a piece of text, a character or some plot twist. With the help of the rods, students are supposed to recreate a text while maintaining the correct grammar and vocabulary. 

As an alternative, you may give every rod a function (for example, blue is a certain action, green is a character etc.). Students are supposed to create a story individually or in groups and use every assigned piece. 

This type of task develops students’ creativity and soft skills in addition to grammar and target language practice.

As we can see, there are plenty of ways you can use Cuisenaire rods for the benefit of your ESL classroom. But what are the specific advantages?

The improvement of classroom dynamic

That is why rods are especially effective in various language classes where English is more like an extra-curricular activity, which means that students arrive after a long day at school, university or work. 

Students may focus on a certain activity while having fun with rods.

More successful rapport building

During activities, interaction between learners and the teacher goes quickly back and forth. There is plenty  of room for personalization and humor from both the teacher and the student. 

Students get more chances to speak

Naturally, rod activities are often connected with speaking practice.

So, if you are thinking about adding more interaction to your ESL lessons, you should consider using Cuisenaire rods.

Surely, as with any method or approach, there are some potential challenges. Here are some of them:

We really hope that we have motivated you to try implementing the rods into your lessons. Join the Grade University for even more useful teaching tips.