Cuisenaire Rod Activities for Language Development

Alright, ESL teachers! Walk down to the maths department and borrow all their Cuisenaire rods! What are Cuisenaire rods, you ask? Simply, they are counting blocks to help students with basic math functions. They vary in length (length 1 to length 10) and color, with each length always assuming a specific color. (E.g., the 1 cm rod is always white, and the 10 cm rod is always orange.) While working in Viet Nam, I was introduced to ways Cuisenaire rods could be used for language development. The reason: Cuisenaire rods are able to take abstract concepts and make them more concrete. So, like most teachers, I took these ideas and tried to make them my own. I found that some students took to it like “fish to water”! Others took some convincing. You be the judge.

Multiple objectives