You Should Know How To Motivate Your Students!
I guess one of the things that a lot of English teachers struggle with is how to make the classroom both productive and fun. In other words, how to stimulate your students' enthusiasm for classroom participation?
Please imagine your students are drowsy, in a daze, or unwilling to answer your question. What an embarrassing thing it is! Is my class so boring? 😨
Don't worry about that! You should know:
The teaching environment in particular needs to be sensitive to changes and adapt to the learners' current needs, learning content and preferences (Kaur & Naderajan, 2019).
In this digital age, technological innovation has created many learning tools. These tools help improve the effectiveness of language teaching according to the changing educational environment.
In theory, fun and competitive games increase students' responsiveness and participation in the learning process and motivate them, which helps students achieve positive language learning outcomes (Dellos, 2015).
Update your ideas!
Games are not a scourge.
"Gamification aims to make the learning process much more interesting and promotes a fun learning environment that motivates the students."
(Kaur & Naderajan, 2019, pp. 50)
Even in class, we can use some game-like learning tools to help us students learn and make them happy.
Therefore, I would like to recommend a useful game-like tool for you！
Kahoot!
👉👉👉 Why this tool?
Kahoot! is a game-like interactive platform, which contains quizzes, discussions and surveys.
Students usually compete in small groups. It means, the individuals are "anonymous". It will reduce the risk that students refuse to take part because sometimes they are afraid of making a mistake and being exposed to others.
Competitive group activities can make your classroom fun and often motivate students. Students get immediate feedback on the questions and can view all group's scores and rankings in real-time.
In addition to interaction and cooperation, Kahoot! also exercises students' independence to some extent. Because students can get systematic feedback independently without the involvement and interruption of teachers, they can continue the task without interference.
👉👉👉 How does this work?
1. The teacher should first sign up for your account.
2. Add questions to quizzes or surveys. These questions are usually multiple-choice questions with four choices.
3. Begin the Kahoot! quizzes. And a unique game Pin will be created.
4. Each group can choose a name for themselves, and then use the game Pin to enter the Game.
5. Students look at their own game board, containing questions and answer choices. The game interface is a 2✖️2 grid with different colours and shapes.
6. Students will be given a score and a leaderboard in real-time, depending on their answer choice and speed.
In addition, you can set time limits based on how difficult these questions are. In this way, it is convenient for you to control the flow of class time.
It's worth noting that the background music in the game is both fun and inspiring!
Click on the below link to enter the exemplary Kahoot! class in one second!
(D_void_201510, 2021, 00:04:19)
👉👉👉 Statistical function
In Kahoot!, data for every interaction will be kept backstage. Therefore, the teacher can check the proportion of right and wrong in each question after class. You can learn the students' mastery of knowledge. And in this way, teaching objectives and achievements are evaluated, and improved teaching methods could be applied to the next class.
👉👉👉 You should also pay attention to:
Since this is a video game, there are network and equipment requirements. You need to make sure the school has free Wifi and each group has at least one electronic device!
You also need to consider whether, if your students are young learners, playing video games in class will make them unable to refocus after the game is over.
The language used in this game is English. If English is a second language for your students, then you need to consider their level of English proficiency.
💟 💟 💟 Hope it helps~
References:
Dellos, R. (2015). Kahoot! A digital game for learning. International Journal of Technology and Distance Learning, 12(4), 49-52.
Hi, Suri! I love your lead-in at the beginning of this blog. It really draws my attention to keep reading the following content. I also agree of what you said that this software might distract young learners' attention after the game is over. I believe this software is mainly targeted at young learners because of its colourful layout, so how to use it appropriately in young learner classroom needs to be carefully considered.
ReplyDeleteThat's my concern, too. Perhaps after the Kahoot activity is over, the teacher can engage in activities that require concentration, such as discussions or other interactive games! If it is quiet reading or the teacher's unilateral explanation, I think students may lose their concentration more...
DeleteHello! This blog really motivates me to explore the tool Kahoot! I am agree with you that there are some requirements that we need to consider if we want to apply it in the class. But this is still a great game to draw students' attention to the class.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is an interesting and helpful tool. But I haven't experimented with it in my own class, especially with a large number of students or younger students. There may be some problems！
DeleteHi Ying,
ReplyDeleteI like your focused post on anonymity and the statistical features and how you make a direct link between them and motivation. It is really amazing! Good job.
Hope it helps~ Haha, it is because I have Motivation module this semester, and I think it is very helpful for teachers to think about learners' motivation in practicing teaching.
DeleteWonderful use of Kahoot that I did not think of earlier
ReplyDeleteIt's a great tool and also suitable for learners of all stages!
Delete