Apart from being a?great hobby?and fun?activity, it can help children improve in many areas of their lives through developing?key transferrable skills. Reading in their native language and English can bring a whole range of benefits. To engage everyone, they must?understand the benefits themselves.? ?
Ask your students why it's important and create a mind map of ideas. You may also?wish to use some of the points below to start the conversation. Having a common idea that everyone agrees on can help build motivation and engagement in the classroom.?
Regular reading develops children¡¯s linguistic skills ¨C it helps them learn good?sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary and?improves?spelling in their own language and in the English language too. Reading aloud?also strengthens?knowledge of phonics and improves?pronunciation?and articulation.??
It can help to develop knowledge of phonics and vocabulary?recall and improve focus and concentration?¨C all necessary skills when learning a language.?
Books help kids¡¯ imaginations to grow?and?encourage them to be?more open-minded. They?help us to learn about other cultures and encourage us to think more creatively. Through subtle messages,?reading?builds?an?awareness of the world in which we live and?enables?children to form?their own?opinions?and ask questions.?
Stories help to develop children¡¯s emotional intelligence?and?empathy towards?others. Exploring?topics and characters allows them to learn about?real-world situations?and think about how they would feel?in?somebody else¡¯s shoes. It encourages?respect for others¡¯ feelings?as well as?other?cultures.??
It is a great way to?calm the mind and help us relax and destress. Children can learn to use it as a helpful tool in their day-to-day lives.???
Children develop their confidence, communication, resilience, patience, social skills and connect?with the wider world, culture?and communities.?
So how do we motivate our young learners?(even our most reluctant readers)?to develop a passion for reading??
Well-known adaptations?can remove barriers, support and encourage students¡¯ imagination,?and?spark?a genuine interest. They?give purpose and relevance to the students as most students have watched a movie?at some point in their lives and most students have a?favorite movie?or character.??
There are plenty of English Readers to choose from?¨C if the students can choose their own readers, they will likely be more motivated and focused. Choice gives the students power and makes it more relevant to them. Ask your students to choose their?favorite movie?and?have a vote as a class. Get to know your students, find out what interests them, and base your?book choice around this.?
To motivate students, they?must know that they are?making progress. Reward students for their achievements ¨C for example,?create?a vocabulary wall or?a class book chart and give rewards?like?a?sticker?or?a postcard?to take?home.?
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Here are five practical, fun ideas on how to further motivate your learners and engage them in reading both in and outside the classroom.
Making a?bookmark?is a fun way to get children into the habit of reading more regularly. If they have their own bookmark, then they are more likely?to want to pick up a book and read it. In the activity, the children can make their own?bookmark?based on their?favorite?book as well as?draw a picture of their?favorite?scene.
There¡¯s space for them to write about their?favorite?character and any new words they have learned. The?bookmark?then becomes not only a way to?find your page but?it?can?also?help kids engage in English conversations about the stories and make them feel like they are making progress.
A mind?map is an activity that helps children to understand and?analyze?what is happening in the book they have just read. It?is a great way to show their understanding of the story clearly. It could also be used?for doing?a short presentation on the book or?for helping to?write a short paragraph about it.??
This activity is creative and asks the children to choose their?favorite?reader. They then use their imagination to write a short story about what happens next. They can place characters?in a completely different story of their own?and send them off on a new, exciting adventure?or decide what happens next in the original story.
Writing stories like this helps young people to explore their ideas, express their creativity and reinforce?sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar at the same time.
Motivate children?by giving them clear and achievable goals. Asking them to fill in a passport as they read a new book is a fun way to encourage them.
Each book allows each child to enter a different world and?once they have visited each place, they complete a new page in the passport and receive a stamp.?You could even make this a class competition to see who can fill in the passport pages the quickest.
Ask the children to choose their?favorite?character and produce a?movie?poster?on that person. Ask the students to draw a picture and?write?key details about the character, such as name, age, physical appearance and interests. This activity motivates the students as seeing their?favorite?character in a different context can be entertaining and engaging.
With these simple activities, you can make reading a more enjoyable experience, as well as helping with learning English for kids and developing their overall reading skills.??
Learning English with music can enhance learning and create a more engaging and dynamic classroom environment. In a previous post, we discussed if music can help you learn a language; this post looks at how music can be incorporated into the classroom.
Using music in your classroom can help improve student motivation, focus, and retention of information. Here are some ways you can use music to enhance your classroom teaching:
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Have you considered studying abroad? Moving to Canada to study? With more than 100 world-class universities across the country, there¡¯s good reason to. From coast to coast to coast, it offers many international students a safe and supportive learning environment and the opportunity to work after graduation.
Want to learn more? In this guide, we cover ten things you should know about studying in Canada:
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Teaching teenagers can be a rewarding yet challenging experience.
When planning classes, we need to consider the environment in which the students are growing up. Most of our teenage students do not know a life without the internet, instant messaging or Google.
Commonly referred to as ?(or Gen Z), they are the most tech-savvy generation to date; this should be reflected in how we teach them.
However, not all of us have access to computer labs, interactive whiteboards or class tablets. But there is something that many of our teens bring to class in their pockets and bags every day.
You¡¯ve guessed it - a phone.
By bringing students¡¯ phones into your classes, you can bridge the technology gap between the learners and the curriculum, keep them engaged for longer and make them feel more empowered at the same time.
Here are four low-tech activities that use phones in class.
Activity requirements: one phone per student (or group of students) and a pre-made quiz.
is an app designed to help you create quizzes online, which can be a fun, engaging way to challenge your learners in the classroom.
Quizzes are an ideal activity to use at the start of a class to recycle previous vocabulary or to pre-teach new language.
For example, you could choose 10 British English phrases or idioms. Write a series of four possible definitions for each word, phrase, or idiom (with only one correct answer).
In class, ask your students to take out their phones, find the app, and link to the quiz.
Tell the students that they must vote for the definition they think is correct. They can keep track of their scores directly on the app while competing with their friends.
Not only will it immediately engage your learners and help them interact with what¡¯s being learned, but they¡¯ll also have a lot of fun.
Activity requirements: a phone with the Google Translate app installed and a pen and paper per pair.
Did you know Google Translate has a feature where you can ? This is a perfect tool for text that you might find on a poster, in a book or uses an alphabet which you are unfamiliar with.
Bring in samples of different languages to class ¨C the more complex, the better. If you don¡¯t have anything suitable at home, find something online and print it out.
Get one student to take a photo of the text using the app and with their finger, select the section of the text they¡¯d like to translate from the original language to English. (Note: if you download the Google Translate language file to your phone, it will translate everything automatically).
Then, have them dictate what it says to their partner, who has to write it down.
Finally, they work together to improve the English translation. After all, everyone knows Google¡¯s English isn¡¯t perfect (not yet, anyway).
Activity requirements: a mobile phone with a camera per student.
Do your students love taking photos? Tap into their love of photography and make activities more exciting by incorporating the photos on their phones into your classes.
Adapt speaking activities from common exams such as the B2 Cambridge First. Instead of using the pictures in the book, put the students in pairs and get them each to choose a more relevant photo from their phones. You may find they have more to say and will communicate naturally while still practicing the necessary language and skills required in the exam.
Another idea is to get students to take photos of things they encounter in English in the street. This could be on a sign outside a restaurant or in their favorite clothing shop. Use these photos to start the next class with a discussion about where they saw it, what it means and if the English is correct.
You could also nominate one student each week to bring a photo they took that weekend. Share it with the class and get everyone to write Instagram captions. You wouldn¡¯t believe how many already do this in English, so why not help them?
If you are worried about the misuse of mobile devices in your class ¨C don¡¯t be! Here are our top three strategies to help avoid students getting distracted:
