#teachingisfun

Canva is a free design tool. There, you can design anything you’d like! I highly recommend using Canva for creating handouts for your lessons, workbooks, e-books, and presentations. I guess all teachers design handouts, right? In addition, you don’t need to have any design knowledge. You can add things by dragging and dropping them, for example, pictures, elements, graphics, etc. Plus, there are thousands of templates that you can use right away. You can choose the ones you like the most, change colors, fonts, and sizes of fonts, add your own text, use different elements, etc. 

This year, Canva celebrates 10 years! Wow! Time flies! I’ve been using Canva since 2016. I love how they are growing and that these days you can find so many more templates and options than in 2016! 

I’ve been using it for my website, blog, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, designing handouts, e-books, logos, and even postcards (every year I send the designs to a publishing house, and they print postcards that I send to my current and previous clients). People are thrilled to get professionally printed postcards nowadays.

1. Handouts

You can create different handouts for your lessons. There are many templates that you can adjust: colors, fonts, elements, pictures, etc.

I have a website page where you can find many printable handouts for English lessons. Soon I will add some for Spanish and German lessons.

2. Comics

Creating different comics is a great, engaging activity that can be done in a classroom or given as homework. This activity is good for all levels.

3. Classroom poster

From now on, there is no need to buy classroom posters! You can create them yourself!

4. CVs

Teaching how to write a CV in a foreign language is an important topic. Or when we have a topic like “About Me,” we also use these templates. In addition, you can ask your learners to create a CV using Canva.

5. Presentations

I create presentations for my learners and also ask them to create presentations as homework.

I love using presentations when we learn articles in German. My learners take control of the presentation and match the nouns to articles. We all enjoy it!

6. Mind maps

Mind maps help learners memorize and recall information. They not only make the learning process more fun. Moreover, they help simplify difficult rules or concepts.

There is a great research study, “The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique” that I recommend reading.

7. Bookmarks

Wouldn’t it be cool to create your own bookmarks and use them during lessons?

8. Letter Covers

A cover letter is a one-page document that you send with your CV when you apply for a job. Cover letters tell employers about you, your strengths, how serious you are about getting that job, and why they should hire you. Such letters are often included in curriculums.

9. Letters

I believe that we all teach our learners how to write different kinds of letters and emails.

It is important to teach how to write letters because it will improve social and communication skills, vocabulary, and the ability to express thoughts.

My learners often write letters, for example, to a lost and found office, answering an ad, letters of complaint, etc.

I have uploaded some guidelines on how to write different types of letters, with examples from my learners.

10. Thank you notes

Thank you notes help express gratitude. They show recipients that you are thankful and think of them kindly.

11. Class Schedule

If you have a class schedule in your classroom, your learners will know what is expected of them. It will also help teachers identify behaviors that should be directly taught to learners, which will help them develop greater student autonomy, responsibility, and a sense of self-control (Downing & Peckham-Hardin, 2001). 

Canva for Teachers Community

Did you know that there is a Canva for Teachers community? Canva for Teachers community is for all teachers from all over the world. They have an array of local teacher communities for several languages.

Canva for Education

Canva for Education is totally free for K-12 (primary and secondary) teachers and their students.

You and your learners can create and personalize your own designs from scratch, or choose from thousands of high-quality, educational templates. From presentations to posters, and infographics, to worksheets, project-based learning, and lesson plans, the possibilities are endless.

Check out if you are eligible to use Canva for Education.

Conclusion

All in all, Canva is an excellent free tool to design many useful things for you, your learners, and your classroom. You don’t need any designing knowledge to use Canva.

Do you use Canva? If yes, what do you use it for?

Used sources:

Downing, J. E., & Peckham-Hardin, K. D. (2000, November 30). Daily Schedules: A helpful learning tool. TEACHING Exceptional Children. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ619779 

How to use CANVA for education. (n.d.). https://www.canva.com/learn/canva-for-education/