Affective Teaching

Finding the right audience and making writing meaningful are two of the major challenges teachers face when designing writing activities. What affective strategies have you used that achieved these goals? Imagine asking a ten-year old student to write about the impact of the economic collapse in the USA. This student will not have much to say and he/she will feel frustrated. Now imagine asking a 17-year-old student to write about his/her favorite toy. This student will not feel excited to write about this because it is not part of his/her reality anymore. Of course, these are extreme examples, but we do have to take into consideration many aspects such as students's age, background, reality and interests when designing writing activities. Besides relating to students lives and realities writing acitivities should also cover three moments: pre writing, writing and post writing. In the first stage, we should activate students memories, feelings and senses providing them with the ...

Task # 1Design a writing activity in which young learners can experience both grammar and writing in a creative way using concrete props. This week I worked with a book project with my  six/seven-year-old students. The idea was to create a book using the vocab and the grammar structure learned. Vocabulary: zoo animals Grammar structure: can/can't  For them, it is not an easy task to read and write in English. Since English is a non phonetic language, at this age it is very difficult for them to read and write the words without mispronouncing or misspelling them. These are the steps I followed. 1 - To practice the spelling of the words, I gave them plastic letters. I said a word and they had to find the letters and organize them. I did this activity as a game. They had lots of fun; 2 - To practice word order, I gave them cards with some words: CAN, SHE, HE, YOU, CAN'T, SWIM ... I projected a picture on the board  and showed a question mark or a period. They had to organize the c...

Discussion task #1: Getting ready for storytelling   In my opinion, first of all, the teacher has to choose a story according to the students' age, level of English and interests. Because of children's short span of attention, the activity should not only include auditory, visual but also kinesthetic elements. Teachers should engage them in the process,  they should feel that they belong to the story , by asking questions, participating... That is what will trigger their imagination. Fostering curiosity in students also make them eager to know what the story is about and what will happen next. They  don't get bored. I have a special place in my classroom where the storytelling takes place where students can sit down on the floor and feel more comfortable to listen to the story. I wish I could have cushions there :)

Discussion task #3: Building puppets with students for a specific purpose. The idea of becoming a puppeteacher enchantes me. When I saw Bilingual Birds video and everytime I see Juan dealing with Buddy I feel like I have to join this world of teaching and learning through magic. By using puppets you get access to children's world and once you do that, everything is possible.  I still haven't created my own puppet but I will! I will share here two activities I did with my students  last year in which they had to create their puppets. 1) Sock Puppet Students were learning to talk about personal information, such as name, age, favorite color or food... I noticed that when it came to answering  the questions they were doing fine, but they had difficulties to ,make the questions. Therefore, we decided to make puppets and the puppets should interview each other. Age: 6/7 Material: socks, strings, assorted buttons, googly eyes, pices of cloths, wood ... Procedures: First class: Studen...

Task #1 Goal: The goal of this project is to practice simple past in a way kids get engaged in the activity. Age: 10-year-old students Instructions: Every weekend, a kid is supposed to take Teddy the bear home. Teddy the bear has to be part of their routine. They even have to dress him accordingly. At the end of the weekend, students should write in a diary sentences describing what happened on that weekend. They should also paste pictures of him! Kids have already shared important moments with Teddy! Not only moments, but also emotions!

Task # 3 I am not allowed to take pictures of my students either, so I got these two from the internet and they do symbolize affective learning for me. I believe that when we give students room to be confident enough to fly, we achieve our goals as affective language teachers. For me, these pictures represent: freedom, creativity, empowerment, phantasy, curiosity, spontaneity and confidence.

Task #1 What do you understand by affective language learning? What are some ways that you can foster it next week? First of all, I have to say that I loved the video and that I was really glad to see that, intuitively, I already show my students that I care in so many ways. The video was also inspiring. Thank you Juan. Though I am a very affectionate person and it reflects on my teaching and on the relationship I build with my students, I know that affective learning is not about hugging, kissing and letting students do whatever they want. As I understand, affective learning is related to seeing students as unique individuals. Even when we teach a large group, we should manage to build strategies to reach individual needs, showing them that we really care. When we are teachers, we do not only teach a subject. There is so more involved. Things such as values, for example. A teacher can play a very important role in a students' life. A teacher can inspire! When we teach a language...

Hello everyone! My name is Núria and I am from Brazil. I have been a teacher for more than 20 years. In addition to my passion for teaching young learners, I am passionate about affective learning. I am really excited about this course! Cheers, Núria