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Motivating students by matching teaching to
their learning style preferences
On Day One, participants discussed different learning styles and how teachers can motivate language learners by adapting to their diverse styles. Here are some ideas about various learning styles and activities for classroom practice.
Seven Kinds of Learning Styles
| Musical |
Ability to recognize and produce rhythm, sounds and tunes. |
Singing, listening to songs completing gaps, learning new words from a song, etc. |
| Interpersonal |
Ability to understand people's moods, feelings, motivation, and intention and to cooperate well. |
Jigsaw or strip stories, Find someone who... game, discussing answers to questions on a text in groups, etc. |
| Intrapersonal |
Ability to understand self and own feelings and to reflect on experiences and learn from them. |
Writing learning diaries, completing sentences about themselves, keeping their own vocabulary booklet, etc |
| Linguistic |
Sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, and meanings of words. Ability to use language effectively and creatively orally or in writing. |
Telling stories, keeping diaries, making conversations, taking part in discussions/debates, telling jokes, playing games, etc |
| Logical |
Ability to use numbers and to reason well. |
Writing steps in a process, reordering events or pictures figuring out riddles/puzzles, etc. |
| Spatial |
Ability to think in pictures and images and to sense form, space, color and lines. |
Drawing pictures for a story, completing a chart or diagrams, labeling pictures, etc. |
| Bodily-kinesthetic |
Ability to use body movement to express oneself skillfully. |
Dancing, role playing/ drama, playing physical games, outdoor trips to get first-hand experience, etc. |
Making textbook activities motivating
On Day Two, participants discussed ways of making textbooks more motivating. The principles include using information gaps to make classroom exchanges more realistic, and allowing more space for students to make choices and use their own experience. Here are two specific examples. Activity
STUDENT B
1642 December 25 born in Lincolnshire,
England
......... was brought home from school to ....................................
1660 went to Cambridge Uni.1665
took a ................. degree1665
school closed because of Great
Plague, went on with his studies at
home
......... .................................... ....................................
......... March 20 died, was buried in
....................................
STUDENT A
......... December 25, born in......... England.
1656 was brought home from
school to run the farm.
1660 .............................................
took a BA degree1665-
1667 school closed because of
....................., went on with his
.....................at home
1667 went back to Cambridge
1727 .....................died, was buried in
Westminster Abbey
Instructions
This activity is based on the material about the biographical information of Isaac Newton from Unit 3, English 10, NXB Giao Duc(1997). The activity, which is designed on the basis of information gaps, can be used for developing speaking skills.
1. Divide the class into two groups A & B.
2. Distribute cards A and B below to students according to their groups.
3. Get students to prepare questions to ask for the missing information on their cards.
4. When they get the questions ready, divide the class into pairs, one student from group A working with another student from group B.
5. Students ask each other and fill in the gaps on their cards. Make sure they don't show each other their own cards. This activity is designed to suit students at different levels and encourage them to use their own experience. This is based on Activity 2 from Unit 2, English 10, NXB Giao Duc,1997. The activity asks students to write a letter to their friends describing their excursion to an interesting place.
1. Get students to copy the beginning and ending of the letter.
2. Divide students into four different groups according to their levels, from group 1 with the strongest students, down to group 4 with the weakest students.
3. Distribute the worksheets. Worksheet 1 is for the best students; Worksheet 2, good students; Worksheet 3, average students, and Worksheet 4 is for the weak students.
4. Students work on their worksheets individually writing about their excursion.
5. When they have finished, get them to exchange papers, compare or correct.
Excursions
WORKSHEET 1
You are going to write a letter about an interesting
excursion to a place of interest. These questions may be
helpful.
1. When did you go on an excursion?
2. Where did you go?
3. Who did you go with?
4. What did you do to prepare for the excursion?
5. How did you go there?
6. When did you set off?
7. What did you see?
8. What did you do?
9. When did you come back?10. How did you feel?
WORKSHEET 2
You are going to write a letter about an interesting
excursion to a place. First complete the sentences:
1. Last Sunday I went on an excursion to .................
2. I went with ...........
3. I brought with me ........ and bought ....
4. I set off ...............and went there by.....
5. I saw........................ and .....................
6. I talked to ..............who.......................
7. I came back ........................................
8. I felt ....................................................
Add more ideas if you like.
Then put it in the form of the letter.
WORKSHEET 3
You are going to write a letter about an interesting excursion to a place. First, write complete sentences based on the following words:
1. last / Sunday / went / excursion / to ....... / I
2. friends/ went / with ....../ I
3. brought ..... / with / I / me / bought ......./ and / friends / for
4. took ....... hours / it / get / there/ us
5. saw ........ and ....... / we/ a lot of
6. talked to ...... / who / many / local/ people / too
7. pictures/ we/ took/ a lot of
8. came / we / back/ in the evening/ late
9. happy / felt / tired / we/ but
Add more ideas if you like. Then put it in the form of the letter.
You can begin with:
Dear ..........,
I'm sorry I haven't been able to write to you for a long time.
I'm going to tell you about one of the most interesting excursions…..
and end with:
I have to stop now. Tell me about your summer vacation.Regards,
WORKSHEET 4
You are going to write a letter about an interesting excursion to a place of interest. First read the passage and then replace any details that are not suitable for you.
Last Sunday I went on an excursion to Hoi An. I went there with my classmates. I brought with me only a rucksack with a few personal belongings and a lot of fruit for the whole group. We set off early in the morning and went there by coach. It took us about 4 hours to get to Hoi An. When we were there, we walked along the narrow streets and saw a lot of lanterns and cloth shops. We talked to a lot of local people there. We asked them about the weather and traditional festivals and local foods, too. We took a lot of pictures with shop assistants and vendors. We came back at 4 pm the same day. It was not a long trip but it was very exciting.Add more ideas if you like. Then put it in the form of the letter.
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