Help your English students get Active when Learning English. 20 Question CHECKLIST to put the power back into their hands.
I like handing this checklist out to my English students at the beginning of the New Year as a reminder that ultimately, learning a language takes dedication and active involvement. It is important to remind our students about the difference between Active Learning and Passive Learning if they want to see lasting results.
The key difference between active and passive learning is that the active learning approach is completely learner-centered, whereas the passive learning approach is teacher-centered. Quite often, learners think that simply taking a couple of lessons will miraculously improve their fluency but it's not that simple. To really become fluent they need to be fully engaged and immersed in the English language as much as possible.
Encouraging Active Learning
Albert Einstein once said that ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results’. As teachers, our job is not to spoon feed our English students but to assist our students on their active learning journey. The goal is to keep our students as engaged as possible while guiding them towards independence.
*Practice role plays and story-telling
*Reduce TTT (Teacher talking time)
*Ask learners to summarize concepts, write recipes or book reviews
*Pay attention to learners needs and ask them for feedback
*Use a flipped classroom method so that learners prepare for lessons beforehand
*Practice skills like problem solving, decision making and suggesting solutions
*Use the Socratic method by asking open ended questions
*Ask learners to do research on upcoming topics
*Ask for news and weather reports at the start of each lesson
*Stimulate critical thinking skills by choosing intellectually interesting topics
*Never read out prompts or questions, but instead let learners do that.
*Provide learners with greater control over their learning process
The Perfect English Student
In my 15 years of teaching I have identified the ideal student. Let me tell you about Luis, a Spanish speaker who went from uttering basic phrases to having full blown conversations in only one year. First of all, he uses all new vocabulary to create short paragraphs after each lesson. He never fails to complete his homework on time and he is genuinely interested in learning English.
He watches films in English and even tries to read books like Moby Dick, written in1851! For an easier read, I recommended these ones too:
5 Great English Books For Active ESL Learners The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Animal Farm - George Orwell The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
Deeper Learning
Deeper learning is achieved when our students are cognitively involved in the process of learning. The difference between active and passive learning is not necessarily the difference between success and failure. Even though active learning is the complete opposite of passive learning, they still overlap. We should encourage our students to not only learn through absorption, but to take control of their own destiny and actively force their brains into gear. The onus lies on them.
So, at the end of the day, many learners find learning English overwhelming because they are juggling a career, family and social life in addition to learning. There is a certain level of comfort knowing that the process of education is created by the tutor and assimilated by the student. For that reason, I would suggest playing it safe and practicing a combination of active and passive learning. Our goal as educators is to foster a love of life-long learning and let's face it, becoming as fluent as a native speaker takes time and effort, but it is totally worth it!
I have designed these fun ESL Speaking Fluency Development Worksheets for just that purpose!
Check out great speaking lessons that focus on developing right brain thinking skills.
This was really helpful. Thanks!😍