Infographics for the Language Classroom

Infographics for the Language Classroom

Infographics for the language classroom are a great idea to get students communicating and showing what they have learned. They are quick, easy, and simple to incorporate into the classroom.  If you have never used infographics, that’s OK. You will love them from the first use. They are a wonderful creation of art, visuals, statistics, information, and design. Sometimes there is a learning curve when using an online program, however, our students are so talented they will get the creation process way before we master it.

Here are some sites to try:

picmonkey

piktochart

easelly

There are several ideas you can use to incorporate infographics into your classroom.

• Communication purposes
• Summarizing data
• Introduce new topics
• Discussion starters
• Educational Purposes
• Station Rotations

These are just a few ways to incorporate infographics in the language classroom. However, the possibilities are endless.

Communication Purposes

First of all, you can use the infographic in the language classroom to spark a debate. Infographics can show both sides of an issue. Give the students the infographic like the student-created one shown. Give the students time to study and write ideas about the topic. Assign students a side to argue and start the debate.

Infographics are a great way to disseminate content while holding the interest of students. They show chunks of information in an easy to read manner. This makes information accessible and allows students to quickly strike up conversations.

Summarize Data

Assign students the task of creating an infographic for the language classroom. They can research a topic and put the information on the infographic instead of writing a research paper. Hey, easier for you to grade!

Students can create an infographic to share career pathways in the Deaf community, education choices for Deaf students, different manual alphabets around the world, residential schools in the US, or even communication options for deaf-blind people. Students can teach themselves using this 13-step tutorial.

Introduce New Topics

There are a ton of already created infographics available that can be used to introduce new topics. Therefore, teachers can use ones that talk about hearing loss and deafness, how to use communication in the workplace with people who are deaf, or how to include deaf students in sports.

Discussion Starters

Sometimes it is hard to find engaging tasks for our upper-level students. Infographics are a great place to start. Complex data can be easily accessed and quickly turned into communication. Because infographics use graphics and images they are ideal for student learning. Infographics can convey a lot of meaning in a small amount of time. They also challenge students to question their original ideas.

Show an infographic like the ones above and allow students time to discuss the topic in the target language. If they struggle with this task at first, that is alright. Give them conversation starters and model ideas they can use for communication. Give them quick and easy phrases to use in conversations.

Educational Purposes

Tie all of these ideas together to create a solid unit of learning. Assign small groups topics to research. Have them summarize their learning into an infographic. Share the infographic with other groups. Give students time to form opinions and digest the information provided to them. Have them choose a side. Choose a student to share their opinions on the topic with the goal of persuading others to change sides. This is a slight change from a debate. It is more of a persuasive speech.

Station Rotation

Use infographics in the classroom as a twist on stations. Place a different infographic at each station. Stations should focus on a communication task so the topics should be something students can talk about. If you use this idea with younger students, you can use a station as a writing station. Students can form an opinion and write it down based on the information provided in the infographic.