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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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realia

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Survival! A Lesson for Language Arts and Novice ESL Students
Students brainstorm to orally identify and agree upon ten elements necessary for survival. Students will create a categorized chart of the items necessary for survival. Using the chart and working within groups, students will use the chart to create a Survival board game.

This lesson serves well as an introductory activity for students who will read a novel with a setting in another country or culture, or as the basis of comparing two different time periods or cultures.

It is modified for the Novice High English Language Learner.
Format: lesson plan (grade 7 English Language Arts and English Language Development)
By Cynthia Moretz.
English language learners and special education testing
English language learners are often incorrectly labeled with learning disabilities because of inffective diagnostic tests. A more effective model of testing and instruction would be based upon the educational concepts of scaffolding instruction and the Zone of Proximal Development.
Format: article
By Mary Faith Mount-Cors.
The Cask of Amontillado
The short story "The Cask of Amontillado," by Edgar Allan Poe is an effective venue for teaching English I literary terms. The following lesson plan is designed to engage the reader in a deeper than superficial reading of the text. It is also designed to elicit discussion and written critical-thinking responses. This lesson assumes that the literary terms have already been introduced. However, if they have not, the teacher may use this lesson to introduce these terms in the context of the literature.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and English Language Development)
By Guy Hill and Crystal Brown.
Solving problems using simple machines
This lesson uses the familiar story of the three pigs and the big bad wolf to explore how the wolf could have used simple machines to catch the three pigs. By reading, analyzing, and evaluating the wolf's use of simple machines in The 3 Pigs and the Scientific Wolf by Mary Fetzer, the students will design and justify their own machine to help the wolf catch those pigs!
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 English Language Arts, English Language Development, and Science)
By Allison Buckner and Maria Tanner.
More Than Just a Rainy Day--the Water Cycle
Students will identify water sources in the school environment in order to understand the origins of our water and to gain perspective about the students' place in the water cycle. Students will learn about the water cycle using a variety of resources and discover connections between the water cycle and the water that they use every day.
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 English Language Development and Science)
By Kelly This and Leigh Thrower.

Tangible and original objects or artifacts that can be used as instructional aids.

See also primary source.

Additional information

Realia are frequently used in foreign language instruction as a means of helping students develop functional knowledge of the target language in terms of vocabulary and culture. Examples of realia include museum exhibits, laboratory experiments, and primary source documents.