Glenys Hanson, France
Cuisenaire rods can be used to present visually almost any structure in any language. They can also be used to create virtual clocks, houses, towns, fairy stories and so on.

There are a number of on-line articles describing how they can be used here:
assoc.wanadoo.fr/une.education.pour.demain/articlesrrr/
and links to other articles here:
assoc.wanadoo.fr/une.education.pour.demain/articlesrrr/links
There are also interactive on-line exercises featuring virtual rods here:
assoc.wanadoo.fr/une.education.pour.demain/rodsex/rodsindex.
and
cla.univ-fcomte.fr/english/dictations/rodspeople/begsindex.
which can also give teachers ideas for using them in class.

Cathy de Raes, Belgium
I use Cuisenaire rods to visualise stress in words. Pupils sometimes find it difficult to hear the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables. But if you combine sound with the rods they can also 'see' what you say. Use one colour for unstressed and another colour for stressed syllables. If you think that in a class of 30 pupils not everyone can see those small rods, then you are absolutely right. A solution there is to put the rods on the OHP (use really contrasting lengths, eg. the rod for 2 against the one for 10)

Susan Geiblinger, Austria
Here is a possible use for the cuisinaire rods, although I am only accustomed to using them for maths.

Practising word order.
Write on each one with a permanent marker the parts of speech. I would use the smallest one for the subject of a sentence as although the subject is very important it is usually only very small. So like this:Subject, Verb, Object, Adjective, Adverb, Preposition, Pronoun etc.Then your students can practise mixing them around.Second option: Write a relatively long sentence on the rods with various parts of speech. Then write on the opposite side of the rods the corresponding parts of speech. The students can either try forming the sentence and then turn over the rods to learn about where to place the parts of speech or of course vice versa.