How can I make my lessons more interesting?

[Maudlin]

Hi, folks.

I teach English to students of different ages. I love my job. However I find teaching little children one of the most challenging and difficult parts. My youngest students are seven year old first-graders. Sometimes I have the feeling they are bored and not fully concentrated. Surely, I try to organize many different games, dialogues, make fun or engage their interest in different activities. But I hate seeing how they yawn or don't listen to me.

How can I make my lessons more interesting? Do I have to change my teaching methods? Do I have to organize different activities? I am absolutely determined to improve my performance in terms of bringing better quality to the intellectual product I offer.

All advices are highly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[emsr2d2]

Do you notice that they start to yawn after a specific period of time? Is it possible that they have reached the end of their concentration span? Do your lessons follow roughly the same pattern each time? Do the kids get to interact with each other and move around the room or are they just sitting at their desks?

 

[Maudlin]

Thank you for the reply. I'll try to be as accurate as possible.

Do you notice that they start to yawn after a specific period of time?

Usually that happens in the second part of the lesson.

Is it possible that they have reached the end of their concentration span?

It is possible, but I think it is unlikely. Tell them they are going to have fun or pleasure activities and they are in the game again.

Do your lessons follow roughly the same pattern each time?

Recently - yes. I have followed the pattern of following the pace and activities offered in the book (and teacher's resources) + some games, words drilling and games like crosswords or song videos.

Do the kids get to interact with each other and move around the room or are they just sitting at their desks?

In 99% of the time they sit and they are restless on their seats. They often jump off the chairs or lean their legs on the desks. I give them sometimes activities like "running the train" when for instance we exercise the directions "turn left or turn right". They enjoy that since they could walk around the room.

I forgot to mention that they hate writing. Perhaps I concentrate my efforts too much on writing, but this is how they trained us on the CELTA course (not to mention I had only 45 minutes training regarding teaching kids on CELTA, but this is a different story). Kids hate writing, because they can not get the logic of the language. "Why do we write something and pronounce it differently? It makes no sense to us" - a question often asked.

P.S. Sorry for the messy reply. I am still not confident with the "Multi-quote" option.

 

[Tdol]

Do they really need to do much writing?

 

[Maudlin]

Do they really need to do much writing?

Well, writing is crucial since they have books and we want to develop other skills like reading for instance. How are they going to understand a written text if they can't read it? Tell them a word and they will quickly tell you the meaning in native language or associate it with a picture. Write the same word on the board and the nightmare begins - they are completely lost.

 

[neiltalkshop]

In reading, you can ask them one by one to read in front of the class or they can tell a story. This will improve their reading skills and at the same time they will not get bored.