Motivating
the teenage learner
A two-way street
Anna Whitcher
Faces of the teenage learner
What do they have to say?
What do they respond to?
What are their interests?
Who do they talk to?
How do they communicate?
The norm:
operating on multiple channels
What works in their world?
Going from the classroom …
…to building a two-way street
How do we create flow?
Find an equal playing field
• Discover what’s unique
about your class
• Take an inventory of the
class’s interests
• Find parallels with your
material
• Create dialogue based on
their interests and
support it with your
material
What they bring to the game
• A variety of
communication methods
• Effective ways to send
and receive messages
• Efficient language
chunks
• An ability to
communicate meaningful
content
• Multiple channels
What you bring
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Your knowledge of the target language
Your experience as a facilitator
An openness to new ways of communicating
An instigator of dialogue
An ability to listen
An effective communicator inside and outside
the classroom
• Possibly a multiple channel user already
Naming the content
• What do you have already in your classroom?
• How do the interests of your students fit with
the material you have?
• Narrow it down
• Pull ideas from your chosen areas (based on
student input) and expand them
• Ask students to become involved in the contentbuilding process
Finding the material
• Don’t limit yourself to one medium
• Choose the best way for you to present an idea
and be flexible
• Don’t rely on technology – use it for a specific
purpose, not just for the sake of it
• View your students as a resource, not only for
ideas but for actual materials
Students as a resource
• Identify the different
types of characters
• Group them according
to their interests
• Find crossover areas
• Capitalize on what they
have to offer
Actors, models, musicians
Collectors, inventors, sports fans
Using their own visuals
“This is my favourite photo
because I remember feeling
really happy and free.”
Elena, 14
“This is my best friend and me in my bedroom.
We are cross-eyed and I love it because in this photo
we are doing stupid things, like we always do
when we’re together, so this photo expresses
perfectly how we are.”
Irene, 15
Have them bring in
their works of art…
their passions and collections …
their opinions and emotions …
Creating the conversation
• By bringing in their ideas, interests and even
their own work, you are validating who they are.
• You are letting them start the conversation
which you then build with them.
• They feel motivated to speak about topics and
issues that concern them directly.
• You are helping them connect the dots between
their interests and the new language.
Building materials with students
• Once students have their item (s), start with
something simple
• Make the task something all can achieve at some
level
• What works for one student might not work for
another
• Make them aware of their audience
Short writing samples
Photo diaries and videos
Class photo albums
• Have students bring in
the vocabulary items for
your current topic
• Take photos or have
them take photos of each
other
• Upload them and have
pairs identify and
describe the photos
Written interviews
When did you start making jewellery?
I love all kinds of art – photography, sewing and knitting. When I was little, I made
dresses out of plastic bags. And I built things from trash. By the time I was eight, I
started to make sculptures and jewellery.
Why do you enjoy working with metal? And where do you get your ideas from?
I like metal because you can do different things with it. I like making all kinds of
shapes and I love trying new ideas. Other artists inspire me too.
Using online tools to create materials
• Online tools are another good way to build
student-generated text in your own classroom
and many are free
• These can be done in class if computers are
available or at home
• Be selective with the tools and experiment with
several before you try them out with your class
• Be aware of privacy issues and select the
education option if a site has one
Glogster
• www.glogster.com
• Choose a topic
• Give students several
writing prompts
• Have them write bits of
text
• Have them select photos,
videos and other
graphics to illustrate their
ideas
Storybird
• www.storybird.com
• Students select a title and
story content
• Choose a variety of art
and styles
• Build their story content
on the visuals
• Publish their own stories
together or individually
ifaketext
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•
•
Enter a name
Choose a carrier
Enter a conversation
Create your screenshot
Students can create
conversations together
or separately
• Good functional writing
practice
www.ifaketext.com
via Nik Peachey
@NikPeachey
Grockit
• www.grockit.com
• You and your students
sign in as users
• Select a video from
YouTube
• Video will appear with
question fields
• You can indicate your
questions at any point
Integrating CLIL
• Connections with CLIL (Content and Language
Integrated Learning) and content teaching
• A lot of what your students suggest might bring
in topics that are new to you
• Consider the unusual and/or more controversial
topics suggested by your students
• Use a variety of ways to convey the content,
both from student-generated materials and
outside sources (e.g. videos)
A two-way street
Creating a continuous flow
• Keep the dialogue open at all times
• Have them bring their own experiences to the
topics
• Go further and have them supply their own
visuals to create their own materials
• When possible, use the same communication
channels you all use in your own lives
• Use online tools to help build student-generated
materials
Contact
Anna Whitcher
anna_whitcher
Brookemead ELT
London & San Francisco
info@brookemead-elt.co.uk
www.brookemead.com