I subscribe to the Edutopia newsletter which occasionally has excellent articles. I particularly like any dealing with aspects of memory however this article – Getting (& Keeping) Young learners Attention, caught my eye.
After reading the article, right down the bottom was the option of asking the AI tool to summarise the ideas from the article!!
Below is the edited version of the AI summary so that it targets language teaching specifically:
- Visual Hooks: Use video clips, picture walks, and images to capture students’ attention. For example, show a quirky image or a photo taken of a student in a previous lesson and use it for circling & thus repetition of target structures.
- Interactive Hooks: Engage students with activities like Kursi Luar Biasa, where a student is invited to sit on the special chair and be deferred to throughout the lesson. The joy of this is immeasurable with egocentric young learners.
- Audio Hooks: Incorporate songs, jokes, riddles, or rhymes to make lessons more engaging. Use or adapt song lyrics or nursery rhymes to ensure comprehensibility.
- Environmental Hooks: Use props and puppets during lessons. For example, use puppets to tell a story, to speak to & interact with students using repetitions, or to use props to support classroom expectations, for students to demonstrate comprehension (ie asking in the TL, do you want the big hamburger or the small hamburger?) or to ramp up story acting.
- Board Messages: interesting inclusion for pre literate students however we will have students with emerging literacy and any opportunity to celebrate this should be grasped with two hands. Instead of messages though, I have consistent behaviour management signs that are always on display in the exact same place & I refer to each when necessary by tapping on it with my finger & saying the word (eg making eye contact with someone doing the right thing, pointing to the pandai sign & saying clearly ‘pandai’) whenever needed. Never fails both as a positive classroom management tool & a way to sneak in repetitions.
- Adaptable Hooks: Customize these hooks to suit different grade levels, cohorts, and student groups, ensuring they are relevant and engaging for your specific classroom needs.
Link to original article: https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-keeping-attention-early-learners
Indonesian Teacher Reflections 