building students' confidence in english

By Prof. Edo Forsythe

Hirosaki Gakuin University

Navy Russian Translator

English and American Studies

Professor

Building students’ confidence in English

Classroom techniques

Technology for English study

What is confidence in a foreign language?

Confidence is built through:

- use of authentic materials

- an alert learning situation

- development of communication skills

- students exposed to culture.

(Garcia & DeFeo, 2014)

Today’s students need to know

WHY English???

“Engage them or enrage them”(Prensky, 2009)

English: not just another school subject

English is a muscle!

English is like cotton candy.

English is a toy—

PLAY WITH IT!!!

Language learning = sociocultural activity

Development must be scaffolded for maximum effect

(Vygotsky; Lantolf & Thorne, 2007)

Authentic materials provide sociocultural relevance to lessons

(Brown & Yule, 1983)

Confidence

Motivation

Practice

Providing practice opportunities leads to confidence

Teachers need to model confidence

3 Types of Activities

• Total Physical Response (TPR)

• Shadowing

• Storytelling

Total Physical Response (TPR)

-Get the students moving

-Reinforces language

-Allows practical use of the language

Knowledge = Confidence

Shadowing Immediately repeating after someone else

-Improves listening skills

-Reinforces pronunciation

-Speeds up fluency(Murphey, 2001)

Fluency = Confidence

Shadowing From a high school English textbook:

Storytelling Students put new words & grammar into

practice about a topic they know about

- Realistic use of the language

- Reinforces vocab & grammar

- Activates learning

Language use= Confidence

After teaching the dialog and practicing the grammar, have the students create dialogs of their own.

Storytelling

-Create a story about a picture

“The woman is walking her dog. She is going to the store to buy ice cream…”

Total Physical Response (TPR)

Shadowing

Storytelling

Active learning OUTSIDE the textbook.

Engage your students & build theirCONFIDENCE!!

Now let’s practice thinking of activities to engage our students to build their confidence.

Who has a cell phone?

Technology brings the world to you!

Connect with the English-speaking world to improve your English

Tools for practicing English:

YouTube

Smartphone Apps

When discussing culturally relevant topics, find an appropriate YouTube video to show or recommend.

Halloween

Thanksgiving Day parade

Holiday decorating & parties

Independence Day

celebrations

Smartphone Apps to practice English:

Duolingo Hello-Hello

(Free) English

(Lesson 1 Free)

Can use in class with the students or suggest they download them.

As schools get technology, ask them to install these (or other) apps

THOROUGHLY check out apps before you try to add them to classes.

YouTube

- English Videos; Cultural information

Smartphone Apps

Building students’ confidence in English

Practice Confidence Motivation

Classroom techniques

TPR; Shadowing; Storytelling

Smartphone Apps

Duolingo; Hello-Hello

Slides available at:www.slideshare.net/EdoForsythe/

Contact me via email at

forsythe@hirogaku-u.ac.jp

Questions?