Affective Teaching

Discussion task #3: Building puppets with students for a specific purpose Please watch the Funtastic world of puppets video and choose one puppet your students can build and use during the English classes. Then design a guided activity that your students will use their puppets for a specific purpose. They could use their puppets to practice a dialogue, read, review, etc. Please share your puppet choice and your activity with the group. I find it amazing that, in my head, creating puppets was so hard and after showing the video, how wrong I was! Creating them can be so simple and it doesn't demand too many resources, just creativity. And as a result, here's my activity: I tell students they are in Potato city now. I ask them about a different name if they want to (e.g. Potatoville, potatoland, etc) and make potatoes doing different activities (e.g. playing soccer, watching TV, using a cell phone). I ask students to name them as they like it. Then, I say a Potasteroid crashes in...

Task 1: Storytelling is a memorable moment in which learners establish strong connections with the language. What aspects are important in your opinion to take in consideration when planning a storytelling activity? How do they affect the moment in which we are with our students? Seeing this question reminds me of my favorite teachers back when I was a kid. They always had an interesting tale, there was a hook, building tension and the outcome would always makes us laugh, or at least get startled by it. And as a teacher, I try to implement these elements in the stories I create for students: there should always be a hook, where I draw all students' attention to what I'm doing, and there must be some kind of conflict/tension we need to solve. I try to involve students in the story as they are co-authors in it (even if they don't know it) by asking questions, letting them decide which way the story should go and not letting it drift too much off track (or maybe doing it, ofte...

Task #1:  This is a private minigroup (2 people) I have. They are elementary students with little contact with English but very positive attitude towards it. In this activity, students were given the opportunity to practice life-like conversations in common situations. They practiced how to start a conversation, introduce themselves and spell their names when necessary and give information with numbers when requested. I showed them a short model conversation where they should continue the conversation. I added a twist: the person giving information rolls a die. If it's odd, she selects who she is (and I encourage them to take on a different role, like an actress or a singer). If it's even, the other person selects who she is. They had fun selecting an alternative persona for each other, as they had to interpret friends in common and a boss who liked the f*** word very much (swearing is caring, they said). Since they were adults and friends and it was just the three of us, I did...

Task #2 Danilo Ribeiro and I interviewed each other, and here are our answers: "Tell me about your teaching place(s), special features, student profile and other interesting things you believe should be mentioned" DANILO: I am currently working at a mainstream English school for young learners and teenagers who mostly are sons and daughters of well-educated, well-off parents. I teach young learners aged 7 to teenagers who are taking a prep course to start college. It is worth mentioning that these kids are usually cultured and have travelled abroad, and therefore always have something to share about their personal lives. And what kind of affective learning strategies do you use in class, or intend to use? I absolutely love teaching children aged 7 to 11. I believe this is the right time to foster learning and encourage them to always do their best. So, here are some of the techniques and activities I use on a daily basis.  THIAGO: I am currently involved in private tutoring, ...

Oh, is there anyone interested in taking part of an interview for task #2? I would really appreciate to get to know about different teaching contexts other than mine, plus sharing experiences about my own :)

Task #2  A positive relationship between the student and the target language is one of the goals of affective language learning. How has your relationship with English changed since you were a student? What has influenced these changes?  It has changed completely. I was not the best of students behavior-wise, and I took for granted the fact I was learning English because as a teenager I could do so many things in English in my own way. I played videogames, watched series and posted on forums about games and bands I liked. Internet provided me with access to people around the world and that was enough for my English-building skills. As a teacher, I had to revisit my own English foundation, fill in the gaps with research and study. It’s not wrong to say that sometimes I was learning as much as my students were. Furthermore, I felt my pronunciation never met desirable standards for myself. Teaching made me self-aware about these areas I ignored when I was only a student. After I set areas...

Task #1: Task #1 What do you understand by affective language learning? What are some ways that you can foster it next week?  I believe affective and ‘effective’ teaching is the foundation of success in the classroom environment. When you forge a bond between learners and language/culture, learning takes place in a natural way, it feels pleasant, it builds up motivation and students are not as self-critical as they are in a production-based environment. Regularly, students are assessed according to their production through tests and exercises which work up stress and anxiety, generating a gap between students and the abilities to be taught. Furthermore, students face labels upon themselves, such as ‘good at…’/’bad at…’, ‘intelligent’, ‘smart’ and so on. These labels generate competition and do not stimulate social skills, failure and not fitting in are common feelings. That is why affective teaching is important. It creates safe environments where students are encouraged to cooperate i...