This autumn, I took part in a training session at Oxford University Press on encouraging students of all ages to speak English and on developing creativity. 4 speakers from different countries around the world shared their experiences and we, as teachers, were able to participate in distance learning. The main insights that made me think and that I want to share with you:
1. ,,I really like ERRORS!” When I make mistakes, I learn to find the right answers. Teachers are encouraged to SPECIFICALLY say the wrong answer and see how quickly the pupils spot it. In this way, learning takes place and pupils feel confident to apply their knowledge and correct the teacher or their friend.
2. “Success for everyone!” Teachers are encouraged to adapt the tasks to students of different abilities and to require 3 to 5 answers rather than just one, so that the weaker student who answers fewer questions also succeeds.
3. “Those who feel safe speak!” Teachers are encouraged to create a safe, calm speaking environment where mistakes are not emphasised and correct phrases are repeated many times. Speaking is compared to mother-infant communication, with lots of smiling and calm repetition of words. Efforts should be made to maintain a calm atmosphere and to encourage students to speak, to repeat, to motivate, to use a more restricted vocabulary, but to use sentences.
4. “Creativity helps you learn the rules of grammar”. Teachers are encouraged to provide students with tasks in which they can use the rules of a particular grammar topic while engaging in creative activities. For example, creating a story with clause sentences, creating a digital poster with the rules of the tenses, filming clips of pupils interacting in English, creating digital questionnaires, making presentations, creating audio recordings, etc. This is followed by a presentation of the work and the repetition of the same material again, but the lesson becomes interesting and colourful.
There are lots of ideas that really motivate a teacher to look at traditional teaching from a different angle.
The only thing left to do is to motivate students to do unconventional tasks. And I think this generation of students is particularly lucky, because they can not only learn, but also develop as individuals.
I think these tips can be applied not only by teachers, but also by parents who help their children learn. Students themselves can also take a creative approach to the whole learning process by learning English on their own, and enjoy it.
So see you in the classroom, where we’ll make bold mistakes and correct them, talk comfortably, create new stories and unleash our creativity!
