Humanising Language Teaching
Year 2; Issue 2; March 2000

"Tell Me More – Curiosity in the Language Classroom"

By Halima Brewer – teacher, teacher trainer, ELT consultant and NLP Practitioner

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How many times have you faced a classroom who have responded to the lesson on the present perfect, for example, with a "how boring!"?

The classroom is a place where students are as a "captive audience". As with any good story, if we capture curiosity in the beginning there is the desire to go on. Pre-teaching questions for upcoming context is a common technique, but this "warming up" can be is much more potent as a language learning tool in itself than is generally thought. Questions requiring open answers, (the kind that beg for big answers or have to do with solving mysteries - or have some connection to one's own life), tap into the "readiness" of the subconscious to learn. Such questions help open the mind. We awaken the desire to go where we have not gone before when we show only a tiny tempting glimpse of another world, making what they DON'T see more tempting.

Ask what your students are curious about, even more "trivial" things. Can you find a way to relate the "text", even metaphorically to their interests? Below is a short introduction to how to do this. However, you need to think of some connections yourself first. With curiosity stimulated, the ground is prepared for receptivity whereby the structure or grammar (target content) becomes almost by the way. When the mind is prepared, you and they will come out of a lesson with the feeling that there is more to the English class than just English.

Use of Voice

When talking to the students about some theme or when leading into a context, try sitting at their level (maybe sitting down), and talk to them as you would your equals in any other situation, paying attention to voice and response. Keep your voice soft and low in tone but loud enough to hear and say it in English, then in the native tongue (for monolingual classes) and gradually translate less and less. I have found that even in low-level classes, they often do not even notice I was speaking more and more in English. There is a subconscious acceptance and confidence in the new tongue when I speak slowly, but naturally and monitor closely my language, keeping it within and slightly stretching their level. The "jump" to a more "serious" topic also goes almost totally unnoticed. By using voice, pacing and leading, you can lead them to the topic with the unconscious mind ready for learning adventure. This is for brief introductions to a topic, not for long monologues. Use of voice and rapport with introductions has a powerful effect on the unconscious mind useful to suggest openness.

Share Ask students to bring copies of some of their favourite music. While heavy metal or grunge (especially with the more violent lyrics) might be inappropriate, try not to be too judgmental otherwise, and select some songs which you feel could be shared with the whole class. Both for music, (even if you don't like it) and/or lyrics. (For help with lyrics, try http://www.lyrics.ch or http://www.lyricshq.com/ ) Choose 2 or 3 songs to start with. Talk to them first, (see above) about what music does, how it makes you feel, elicit contributions as to why people listen to music and what meaning it has for an individual, what feeling it can provoke.

Play a bit of music from the collection of one of your students. (Whole song, or perhaps 2 or 3 minutes of something) Each student should have a piece of blank paper with three columns drawn vertically down the page. One column is titled "see", another "hear" and the third, "feel". For two or three minutes, or the length of the song the students write anything at all that comes into their heads below those three columns. Tell them beforehand that it is better to use English, but if some really interesting word occurs to them in their native tongue and they don't know the equivalent in English, you will translate afterwards.

At the end of the share activity, When the song is over, pass the paper to the next student. The paper should have at least 3 or 4 words in each column. (The quantity depends a lot on level of the students – 5-10 words are better), In one version of the exercise (working in 3's), this student then looks at the words of the first (music off now) and adds a few more for one minute, trying to pick up on the "mood" of the first student. Pass the paper to the third student, who then looks for connections and harmony or contrast with the first 2 students and writes some sentences using the above words, maybe as poetry, haiku's, or little stories, or a little letter addressed to the first two students. This part may be done with some other soothing meditative music on in the background. You must judge whether using different music would distract them or enhance their meditative mood.

Another version is to work in pairs, where the second student does the writing of the haiku or letter to "capture the mood of the first student. The higher the level, the more words and longer compositions can be expected.

The resulting compositions can be read aloud and questions of meaning and vocabulary (not grammar – unless it is something which really impedes understanding) can be cleared up. Non-grammatical compositions are allowed, as this is free-form art. What have you discovered about the way other students view the world and react to music? Can you find something for yourself? A new way of looking at something? An idea for a song, text, books to read, subject to think about? If any student is reminded of any connection to literature, art, history, current events please share it with the others. If no obvious connection occurs that is ok, too. But maybe a few days later, some student will come across an article or idea or something which will remind him/her of the exercise. This is a valuable curiosity awakener. Note: This idea is an adaptation of an idea from Alan Maley.

Comparing buildings: You need a collection of postcards or photos of buildings, so that each group or 4 or 5 students has about 4 or 5 photos to work with. The collection should have a variety of different types of buildings – houses, blocks of flats, office buildings, palaces, huts, etc,

In groups the students talk about their own homes for a few minutes only, preparing to present to the class as a whole a set of vocabulary items – adjectives, nouns about buildings, rooms, feelings about places, activities done in places and any other category you think appropriate for your level or target lesson, which has to do with place and buildings.

The group with the most vocabulary will be acknowledged as having the best logical intelligence for this exercise. (Later, ask them to write down and share their methods of vocabulary acquisition to share with the rest of the class.)

How can you describe the buildings in the photos? Where are they? What colours do you see? What colours would they be at different times of day? Would you like to live in any of them? Why or why not? Ask the students to review this vocabulary and any other new words that come up.

Here are some words to use to describe them: Dreary, old modern, tall, marble, glass, multi- functional, crowded, comfortable, dark, light, damp, rambling, spacious, rural, urban, stately, quaint, provincial, decorated, majestic, fortified, sleek, gracious, cramped, Tudor, regal, gothic, renaissance, isolated, amazing, strange, arty, unusual, pointy, curved, ornate, Add several more words by brainstorming ideas, or translating words from the native language.

Who might live or work in these buildings? What do they do there? How many rooms do you think it has? Are the people who live or work in these buildings rich or poor, happy or sad? What kind of people are they?

Make some sentences about the buildings. E.g. It is very old. There are a lot of windows. I think it is in the north. Here the group with the most original (final judgement by you, though this can be a vote) descriptions will win the best descriptive/imaginative intelligence award. (Also, later they will note their techniques to share with the rest of the class.)

Compare two or more of the buildings. E.g. This one is taller and more modern than that one. The group with the most comparisons or more complex correct sentences will win the "grammar intelligence" award.

Choose a picture, but don't tell anyone which one it is and then describe it. Can the other students identify the picture you have chosen?

What kind of music would you associate with these pictures? Best descriptions or most complete musical references will win the "musical intelligence" award.

Can you imagine a story to go with one or more of the pictures? Again, the group with the best story will win the verbal intelligence award.

I find that students can talk about buildings and their likes and dislikes about structure and space very easily and I have never found a reluctance to say something even with very low levels of English. Buildings represent many important facets of personality, yet are objects which can be commented as impersonal. I have found that by using photos of attractive and unusual buildings, conversation and desire to communicate likes, dislikes, questions about where the building is and what it would be like to be inside the building came naturally and evoked a lot of vocabulary. Students ask "How do you say X in English", wanting to use evocative vocabulary to describe the buildings. They also seem to find interest in each other's choice of buildings. Why does one student favour a modern sleek high rise while another likes the lonely cottage? There is ample opportunity here for exploiting questions and comments, even on a very simple level of "It is + adjective."

Note: this is an adaptation of an idea in Pilgrim's English Course 1, SM publications in Spain. This excellent book has, unfortunately gone out of print.

Follow ups:

Afterwards or in the next class discuss the various strategies and what they have learned from each other. How is a class with other students better (or not) from individual teaching? What is are the advantages or disadvantages of team work?

A possible extension is to have as well, postcards of painting or photographs of people and ask the students to imagine which people would work or live in which buildings and describe a typical day.

Then follow up by asking the students to describe their own home or place of work and say what goes on inside that place in a typical day. Ask each other about their homes, places of work.

Or, Twenty questions. Choose one of the places described during the class and the other students have to guess which one by means of a maximum of twenty yes-no questions.

Or, Talk about your ideal house/place of work. Where is it? What furniture, rooms, grounds, decorations does it have? What do you do there? How do you feel there? What do you see? What do you hear? What other people are there? What smells are there?

Or, Draw a picture of a favourite place. Describe it. This is more powerful as a language producer than the mere sentence would make it seem. Of course, many of these activities presuppose that rapport and a feeling of group unity has been established.