In addition to reliable and valuable content, which lesson elements or tools practically ensure language teaching and learning success?
We look forward to your getting back to (or at) us with your thoughts on the characteristics of educational materials that work best for you.
1. Entice, engage, and entertain through humor, fun, surprise, novelty, or variety. Even for serious adult students "in a hurry to learn," relaxed focus, enjoyment, interaction, and/or competition can be attractive elements of almost any kind of group or individual activity
2. Involve everyone at the same time. Use spoken, demonstrated, and written instructions as “calls to action.” Because most people like to use their valuable time “doing something,” make them eager to get started right away and to keep going.
3. Provide natural, relevant feedback. Have each step lead to related, beneficial response or other feedback--not only from instructors but also from co-learners and other people. That way, activities automatically become “self-checking” because they lead to natural results.
4. Reuse tried-and-true methodologies, reconstituted in new ways if helpful and feasible. Introduce new technology only when it works efficiently without distracting from relevant and important learning points.
5. Be efficient and effective. No one likes lessons that seem to drone on and on, waste time and energy, or provide opportunity to tune out. Match what you have to what participants want to achieve. Optimize everyone’s use of time, energy, and attention.
2. Involve everyone at the same time. Use spoken, demonstrated, and written instructions as “calls to action.” Because most people like to use their valuable time “doing something,” make them eager to get started right away and to keep going.
3. Provide natural, relevant feedback. Have each step lead to related, beneficial response or other feedback--not only from instructors but also from co-learners and other people. That way, activities automatically become “self-checking” because they lead to natural results.
4. Reuse tried-and-true methodologies, reconstituted in new ways if helpful and feasible. Introduce new technology only when it works efficiently without distracting from relevant and important learning points.
5. Be efficient and effective. No one likes lessons that seem to drone on and on, waste time and energy, or provide opportunity to tune out. Match what you have to what participants want to achieve. Optimize everyone’s use of time, energy, and attention.
For a list of titles likely to fulfill some or all of the above requirements, you can click here: Alphabetized Authors & Editors Product List. More information about products is available in the print or Online Authors & Editors Creative Language Teaching & Learning Catalog and at the Authors & Editors Online Store. No-cost materials, not necessarily as they appear in published texts or resource books but based on the same pedagogical concepts, principles, or ideas, are available at Teaching Tools, Tips, & Techniques. There are also downloadable What-to-Do Teacher-Training Workshop Handouts and links to Informational Articles & Resources.
| E-mail Address | Elaine@2learn-English.com |
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These are very general principles of good pedagogy. I’m wondering how new and experienced teachers will answer these questions: [a] Do these five hands-on principles sound like wise pieces of advice to follow? [b] How might incorporating one or more of them in each lesson or activity optimize its effectiveness? [c] Are any of these teaching tools inappropriate or infeasible for your situations? [d] And what’s missing from this list?
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