Abstract:

The way we communicate is rapidly changing and as a result teachers need to adjust their approaches to teaching to accommodate the more technologically-orientated and modern learner. Learning to read and write still remain an integral part of teaching and transformations in education are fundamental to accommodate learner needs. Using the computer in conjunction with the projector affords the teacher a powerful position of impacting learners and grab their attention. Literacy and specifically reading and writing still remain a valuable tool to measure academic success. The four skills viz: reading, writing, listening and speaking are all important and they are in fact applied in an integrated approach. In the vocational world students will be required to be visually literate and perform successfully, reflecting the ability to communicate and interpret visual material. As computers are not freely available in most of the schools managed by the government in South Africa, a good start is to equip the teacher at least to share the wonder of technology by employing the projector to put across ideas and to empower learners to become visually literate. Even foundation phase learners are using cell phones and visual material learning through images and will respond enthusiastically to material presented in an exciting and user-friendly manner. The focus in this paper is thus on how to grab attention using the projector in equipping learners in the foundation phase to learn in a more stimulating manner. Teaching phonics by means of visual instruction making use of the projector and the screen is thus a topic of concern in this article. Using visual material and the projector should not be regarded as some kind of therapy or art but as a most relevant means of instruction.

Keywords:

Projectors, technology, learner, foundation phase.