Photos and gifs: https://giphy.com/ and pixabay.com
In order to continue with our neuroscience series in the ESL, EFL, and EASOL classroom, I wanted to share with you some interesting information about the brain, curiosity, and novelty. Once more, this article is based on the book Neuromitos-en-educación written by Anna Forés, José Ramón Gamo, Jesús C Guillén, Teresa Hernandez, Martha Ligioiz, Félix Pardo, and Carme Trinidad, and it states that effective learning implies the connection of certain brain circuits and the blocking of distractors. This means that to achieve ideal learning levels, we must be able to focus on the object of study and disregard other factors such as noises, background music, toys, or any other element.
Adriana, we all know that! To learn, our children need to pay attention and avoid any other distractions that might not support their learning. The real question would be, How do we do that?
You’re absolutely right, that’s the question and…my dear friends, this is the answer to it:
As teachers, we must spend looooooooong hours designing certain types of tasks that require high concentration levels, but at the same time keep our students away from their common distractors. As you can imagine, this is extremely challenging since the tasks need to be relevant, motivating, enhance the sense of novelty, and boost positive emotions, while at the same time they must foster self-control and continuous effort. In a nutshell, we must ensure that our students genuinely learn and are curious. In order to do that, the authors suggest that teachers include in their lesson plans the following:
1. Intriguing questions: Dedicate time to create and ask your students interesting and appealing questions that nourish their desire for learning and pique their You can ask them about any inquires they may have regarding the English language, the different cultures that surround it, and how it can be learned.
2. An optimistic and engaged environment: Promote the love for knowledge by being the “happiest beaver” in your classroom. That’s something that always works for me! Enjoy and participate in all your own activities; this makes your children feel closer to you and to start loving your class, as well as the English language.
3. Challenging activities: Ensure that your students find your lessons challenging but attractive at the same time. Propose activities that invite learners to solve a problem or find a new and unique solution for it. Our objective is to promote and feed “cognitive awe.”
4. Provoking material: Expose them to stories, texts, videos, comics, or any other material that invites them to reflect upon something, and use well-designed questions that promote critical thinking and analysis.
5. Students’ interests: Always try to find a way to include your students’ study interests in your lessons. I know it is not an easy task if you have to follow a textbook or such, but it may make it easier if you create a list of questions related to the content found in the textbook that help you explore the inquires learners have about these specific topics. It would be a great motivational contribution to include some topics outside the textbook and integrate them into your planning; for that, you could conduct a vote among the students.
6. Respect for the students’ learning rhythm: When planning your lessons, you must think about each one of the student’s work rhythms and keep at hand some additional resources for faster and/or slower learners, as well as students with special needs. A good alternative to doing this might be the use of BOOM CARDS and arts in the classroom. If you don’t know anything about these topics, be sure to read the following two articles:
7. Free play moments: At some point during the lesson or during the week you need to assign a moment in which your pupils feel free to decide what they want to do or play. You may interleave indoor and outdoor places where they can be creative. Locations such as the playground, green areas, the library, art, music, and technology rooms have the potential to foster an optimal environment for cultivating a sense of freedom and autonomy among your learners.
Wow Adriana, these lessons sound pretty interesting and dynamic but …
Don’t worry, here are some instructional approaches that match most of the characteristics previously mentioned:
1. Project Based Learning: In this approach, the children are asked to discuss and vote for the topics, language contexts, or situations they would like to do some research about. The class will work in groups and each one of the students must state specific responsibilities for its members. (Depending on the project, you might want to assign more or less students and responsibilities.) After having done this, and based on your learners’ ages and skills, you will probably have to provide the resources for the research needed to develop the project(s). Remember, it is extremely common to include more than one subject in PBL, turning these projects into something interdisciplinary. These types of assignments are typically carried out over a long period of time, so it is best to divide them into stages, set dates, and establish a timeline.
2. Flipped Classroom: This is an instructional strategy in which our children are once more the core of the class. You must provide them with some videos, texts, or any other type of resource and teach them how to work with these before coming to the class. During the lesson they are supposed to use what they have prepared as homework to discuss, debate, and deal with new language experiences. Your mission is to guide them while they link their individual work to these new engaging educational activities you have previously designed for them.
Discussion about this post