Teaching Language to Uninterested Learners

A parent was telling me about how she finds it almost impossible to get her son to sit down and read English or even do practices. Wasn't he scared of the approaching exams? Doesn't he want to do well? Maybe the book is not interesting enough. These were all the questions that were swimming around in the mother's mind.

So I thought I might share some tips that I think are useful to motivate picky learners of the English language.

1) Movies, radio shows and sharing. 

What kid doesn't love a good movie? I find that any kind of exposure to good language, not only just reading and writing helps build on core verbal and grammatical skills. Pick movies that provide some lesson learnt with ample dialogues (not something where all the kids hear are bangs and sound effects). I also love the podcasts that BBC has for kids. They talk about interesting people, hobbies, different parts of the world and all things that kids love to learn about. Beginners and students with problems with the language may have difficulty understanding the language through the British accent. So start them off with movies and work your way up. Some good movies are Finding Nemo, Brave and Up.

Also, sit down with your child and ask him why he liked the movie and make sure he uses good English when telling you about it. This is the most important part. I try and incorporate sharing sessions about movies kids love, radio shows I let them listen to before class and get them talking about it in class. When the language they use is not grammatically correct, I say 'Sorry, I didn't understand that. Could you maybe repeat what you said with proper grammar?' I have some of my students so well trained with this that all it takes some times is a raised eyebrow and they giggle and switch to proper grammar immediately. However, it can get tiring for both the kid and you if you pick out every single error. Stick to correcting sentences with colloquial and slang in them (i.e. Singlish)

This technique when applied consistently and together with proper grammar skills drills, can help to improve a child's English fast.

2) Speech and Drama lessons

 Find a good speech and drama teacher who is fun and teaches the children to learn to love expressing themselves. If you can, find a course where the class works towards a play, drama or poem recital at the end of the course. This would mean that the student works on developing his language and works towards a fun goal. It also a great way for kids to de-stress once a week.


3)  Sneaky tests

 Both parents and teachers will find this one useful. Over the years, I have discovered that children love to do crossword puzzles. I give them a 'cheat-sheet peek' before starting a crossword game. The 'cheat-sheet peek' is just a vocab list with new words to learn. Students are allowed to pair up or get into groups of 3 and pour over the list for 5 minutes before the lists are taken away and crossword puzzles are given to them. The first group to win then gets a small present or treat. This is much more fun than getting students to learn vocabulary over the weekend or keep word banks.Also, they are forced to learn the spelling of the new words because otherwise it doesn't fit in the crossword. I use commonly tested words that I collate from past year papers and will post some of them in the next post.

Although the above are alternatives to reading, they are never meant to replace. The processing and learning of language requires that students read amply. These are however fun ways to 'trick' your picky readers into learning.

Cheers
Miss Raja






3) Sneaky exercises.