Seeds of Confidence: Self-esteem Activities for the EFL Classroom
auto-review by the authors, Jane Arnold, Spain, and Veronica de Andrés, Argentina
Jane Arnold has taught in the English Language Department at the University of Seville, Spain, for over 20 years. Her publications include Affect in Language Learning (CUP) and Imagine That! Mental Imagery in ELT, with Herbert Puchta and Mario Rinvolucri (Helbling). E-mail: arnold@us.es
Verónica de Andrés teaches at the Universidad del Salvador, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is an author and coach specialised in personal growth. She is an executive member of the International Council for Self-Esteem and co-creator of Confidence Time Productions and the film Full Confidence. www.veronica-andres.com
Seeds of Confidence was published in 2009 in the Resourceful Teacher Series of Helbling Languages. Like other books in the series, it first gives some basic information for teachers on why the topic is important for the language learning and teaching process and then offers many practical activities for the classroom.
Early seeds for the book were planted in a research project called “I’m Glad I’m Me” carried out in Argentina by Veronica de Andrés. Activities for supporting self-esteem were used with young learners of English, and the teachers of these students reported at the end of the study that they observed very significant improvements, both in learners’ social and academic skills. At the beginning of the project children were asked to draw a picture of how they saw themselves. One child, who was the class bully and a problem for the teacher and other students, drew this picture:
Yet after only three months of working with self-esteem activities, according to his new drawing, his self-image had evolved significantly:
Under his new self-portrait he wrote “I discovered that I am normal.”
An important conclusion of the study was that both the language learning and the self-esteem of these children showed marked improvement.
Seeds of Confidence brings the spirit of this project to readers. It is organized around a model created by Robert Reasoner, founder of the International Council of Self-esteem. This model consists of five essential components of self-esteem which can be addressed in the classroom: security, identity, belonging, purpose and competence. Each of these is dealt with in a separate chapter of the book.
A brief discussion of the component is given at the beginning of the chapter. For example, for the Sense of Security we have:
The Sense of Security
leads to confidence based on physical and emotional security.
It provides the necessary support for developing self-knowledge.
Teachers who promote a sense of security:
- define procedures and routines (so learners know what is expected of them).
- involve learners in defining rules and norms.
- enforce rules ways that supports learners’ self-respect.
- promote individual responsibility.
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Next, several brief suggestions for working with the component are given. A few of the Suggestions for Building a Sense of Belonging are:
- Make a chart including things such as birthdates, birthplaces, siblings, pets, favourite games, hobbies and interests. This can help students find out what they have in common with others.
- Ask students to bring a ‘Me-Bag’ with three to five objects that have a special meaning to them. Display them on an ‘interest table’ and have students take turns to speak about them, so everyone gets to know things about the rest of the group.
- Assign students to cooperative learning groups, so that they can bond with a small group of supportive students. In a foreign language class, it is easier at first to speak in a small group rather than in front of the whole class.
Finally, each chapter has from eleven to sixteen activities, many with variations or extensions, to help teachers develop students’ language skills as well as to enhance their confidence and self-esteem. Among many others, you will find for Security, Welcoming exams and1,2,3 Stare; for Identity, A commercial about yourself and Magic combs; for Belonging, We perform and Today’s Menu; for Purpose Formula for success and Seeing your language self; and for Competence, Turning points: Connecting the dots and The magic minute.
Activities, from elementary to advanced, all have a specific language learning focus, though many could be used with other areas across the curriculum. Detailed indications are given as to how to work with them most effectively. After workshops based on material from Seeds of Confidence, secondary school teachers have commented that they are going to use several of the activities with students in their form room or other tutoring situations.
In line with the Resourceful Teacher philosophy, the book ends with an Appendix - “Going Beyond” - which highly recommends working with the book in a reflective manner and includes a Teacher’s Self-Evaluation Form for each of the five components. Again, these would be useful for teachers of any subject, and Mario Rinvolucri has plans to use them towards the beginning of teacher training courses. They are adapted from material developed by Robert Reasoner, who thanked us for including them in the book as he feels they can be a very valuable tool for teachers to measure their own growth.
A lot of extra material is included on the CD-Rom/Audio CD. There are more than 35 ready-to-use worksheets, as well as stories, poems, posters, short videos, and over 10 tracks of music and of recordings of parts of some activities.
One of the additional benefits we have found as teachers from using these activities is that as our students’ confidence and self-esteem grows, so does our own.
DOWNLOAD:
1.9 My mistake
5.13 Ping pong of talents
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
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