LEARN NC

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

realia

Learn more about realia

Making the most of culture kits
Culture kits — everyday objects from the country or region you're studying — can bring your lessons to life. This article will get you started using culture kits in your social studies classroom and gives contacts for borrowing culture kits from programs at UNC and Duke.
Format: article/best practice
By Regina Higgins.
Transylvania Heritage Museum
Students will learn the importance of heritage when they visit this museum in the mountains of Transylvania County. Its exhibits celebrate the history of the area and and take visitors back in time.
Format: article/field trip opportunity
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
In Bridging Spanish language barriers in Southern schools, page 3.4
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 9–10 English Language Arts and English Language Development)
By Guy Hill and Crystal Brown.

Find all 8 resources in our collection.

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.