Bridging the Gap: How Real-World Connections Make Learning More Meaningful.

Teaching young learners can feel like juggling. It’s hard to keep students’ attention. It’s hard to keep the energy focused and positive.

There are always a variety of abilities in the class. Children have different motivations and needs. It reminds you of the expression “like herding cats”. With everyone heading in different directions with their own personalities and agendas. It’s no wonder teachers can get frustrated, and progress can be mixed.

It’s often not ideal from the children’s point of view either. At any given point in time, they may not want to be there at all. Some of them may not feel comfortable with or interested in the whole idea of learning another language. They may not see the point or have an appreciation of the bigger picture.

Like anybody, teachers also have ups and downs. People get tired and demotivated. And teachers have their own lives outside the classroom and issues that might preoccupy them.

Teachers of young learners, more than pretty much any other profession, are supposed to be jolly and organised and keep everyone happy, from the school administration to colleagues, to the parents of each and every child in the class. It’s all rather complicated.

There are, however, a few principles that improve the chance of juggling well and keeping all those balls in the air. Keeping things well-paced and varied is essential. Using music and movement wherever possible.

Using children’s curiosity and sense of wonder is a must. Rituals, routines and clear expectations will also help, as will a certain degree of gamification and fun.

But above all is to, wherever possible, make real connections to the wider world beyond the classroom. “But we are only following the course book!” teachers have told me.  Well, sure, but a well-designed course like Everybody Up can act as a fun and joyful springboard and not be just a wireframe for language. It should be a starting point for exploration and a facilitating guide rather than a rule book.

Some of the ways in which we can make these connections are through personalisation to the students’ worlds beyond the classroom. We always ask “What’s your favourite colour?” but how about extending that to a parent’s or sibling’s favourite colours or the colour of the student’s front door? Asking children to talk about their homes or neighbourhoods may be the simplest way to make these wider world connections.

Making connections to what’s happening in the community beyond the classroom is also a great way to motivate language use. Making model towns, drawing and labelling maps, making menus and posters or making signs for local environmental campaigns such as anti-littering can be really fun and produce the need to activate all sorts of useful language.

Many projects of this sort will be found in a good course book like Everybody Up to use as is but they can be adapted or extended as well to suit your students’ interests and needs.

Engaging children in learning about the environmental difficulties we are facing as the climate changes and biodiversity is threatened is also a valuable way to activate language. And activities that motivate real world action beyond the classroom can be just the special sauce. Teachers have found that sending children home with tasks such as litter-picking in the local area with a parent at the weekends is beneficial to the students’ sense of belonging as well as their pride in making the world better. This opens up the opportunity to use a lot of language. “Where did you go?”, “Who did you go with?”, How much did you pick?”, “What interesting things did you find?”.

The more children can be made to feel like leaders of their own learning in the real world, the more likely they are to feel engaged and excited by what’s going on in the classroom.

Rather than asking how much learning is going on, perhaps teachers should be asking how much language use is taking place, what opportunities to take language beyond the classroom are being offered and how this is creating a happier, more creative and more connected classroom.

To find out more about teaching students about the real world and making learning more meaningful with Everybody Up new edition.

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Patrick Jackson is the author of the popular Oxford University Press primary courses Everybody Up and Shine On!, both of which help teachers connect their classrooms to the wider world. He believes that real world experiences, well designed materials and community involvement are the best ways to engage children. Patrick is a passionate environmentalist and founder of Picker Pals, an initiative that helps children discover their role as environmental stewards.