I found this article about keep students engaged and this one about why emotion is more important than understanding, to be very interesting. Motivating students is our job as teachers and if students don't care, they don't learn. These articles discuss how it is scientifically proven that feeling some emotion generates learning and remembering because it causes the brain to engage in the relevance of the moment. So to keep students engaged and interested in class, we need to connect it to their daily lives. We can play games, work in groups, use pop culture references, as for feedback. The articles also remind us that students are unique, like a garden. What works for one person may not work for another. Still we are the horticulturists and it is our job to figure out the best approach to each student.
Hopefully asking questions in a foreign language will be interesting, because here is an image from Pinterest that I think will be perfect for my students to practice a weak area of understanding. I hear many mistakes using question words, so maybe having them all in one place will help summarize the topic. Besides printing this worksheet, I can project the image on the whiteboard and have them take turns writing in the answer. For whatever reason, they seem to love writing on the whiteboard far more than on paper!
Also, I thought this sound map was really cool and could be used to learn countries, ask students what they hear, identify animals, and ask general questions about what they like and what they are curious about.
I love the sound map idea, and in fact I intend on using it myself. The interesting facts about the different animals and areas (i.e. cicadas) can be useful in their own, such as giving the fact as a prompt and then by preparing a few questions to assess comprehension. Keep up the good work.
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