How to Energize Your Students

If your students spend more time doodling on their desk than they do speaking English, it’s time create some energy into your TEFL classes. After all, you don’t want to get the reputation as the dull English teacher who puts everyone to sleep! We are here to help, by using these 5 simple ideas you can really energize your students, read on to find out how…..

1) Music

The majority of songs have ridiculous lyrics, that don’t make any sense at all to us; however there are a minority out there that actually tell a story (e.g. Stan by Eminem). Remember these songs as you can use it as a great way to get your student interested in learning new words and phrases (without knowing it!). You can do a gap fill exercise with the song words, have your students listen to the song and then fill in the missing words. You could also cut out lyric strips and have them rearrange them into the correct order. Another activity could be to get your students to write what they think happened at the end of the song, which is a great way to start story writing!

2) Games

Games are an integral part to TEFL lessons – they say to your students that English is fun and that it’s not just about the tests and complicated tenses. They can help your classes increase their speaking confidence and practise specific language). For ideas of great activities and games that you can look at this post from our TEFL tutor Emma: http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-chalkboard/emmafoers/posts/971-games-games-and-more-games or download the free eBook, 20 Classroom Activities for Elementary Learners: http://www.onlinetefl.com/activities-book/. Just bare in mind that there needs to be a learning reason to play a game rather than just for the fun of it!

3) A points system

When you first get a class, split them into teams of about 6 (this depends on the size of your class) Let them create there own team name and stick posters up on the classroom wall for all the teams. Award each team points for good behaviour, winning a game etc and points deducted for being late to lesson, not speaking English in class etc. Kids love the competition aspect and it encourages them to try harder. As it’s a team effort peer pressure helps keep your students motivated – just make sure you stick to the rules you set, otherwise you could find yourself with a mutiny on your hands!

4) Video

Depending on how much technology you have in your classroom, video can be a fantastic way to improve your students’ comprehension skills and work on specific vocabulary. i-to-i’s Chalkboard user Halidemine has a fantastic idea around video by using subtitled trailers of movies your students haven’t seen: first asking the students questions about the trailer, then asking what might happen at the end. It’s a good way to practice different tenses – ‘What will happen in the movie’ (future) and ‘What could happen in the movie’ (conditional). Check out Halidemine’s post here: http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-chalkboard/halidemine/posts/2341-using-trailers

5) Being energetic yourself

No matter how many jazzy elements your lessons have, if you act bored, your students will pick up on this and think your classes are boring. Excitement is infectious – if you at least pretend that you find the past participle the most thrilling thing since time began, a little bit of that excitement will rub off on your students and you’ll soon find them more energized and engaged, no matter what you’re teaching.