“Spanish class always goes so fast!”, exclaimed one of my students at the end of class one day. The feeling that time just flies comes from being engaged in what we’re doing. As teachers we are always looking for ways to engage students. It’s not that lessons need to be fun, fun, fun every second, but it helps to use some strategies that keep kids interested. Here I share 6 simple ways to engage students that you may find helpful too.
Do Activities in Short Time Chunks
Changing from one activity to another keeps things fresh and interesting. Use 5-10 minute time chunks for elementary students and 5-15 minutes for middle school. So, for example, in a Spanish class of third graders you may have a 5-10 minute introduction of new vocabulary, followed by students playing a game of Memory in pairs to practice it, then 5 minutes of spelling some of the words aloud together using Spanish letters, and finishing with a 10 minute whole class game of ¿Cuál falta?.
Let Students Go With the “Flow”
When students are engrossed in an activity experiencing “flow”, let them go with it. Sometimes, students really get into what they are doing, and this is when some great learning takes place. If time permits, let them keep going even if it takes more time than you planned. This may contradict my previous suggestion of doing things in small time chunks. But, when a magical moment occurs where everyone is engaged and you see some excellent learning taking place, you have to go with it.
Do a Variety of Activities
One of the best ways to engage students is to do a variety of activities that appeal to different learning styles. This makes things interesting and helps students connect with the content in ways that feel comfortable to their learning style. It also challenges them when it’s not their learning style which grows them as learners.
In my Spanish classes, we do a lot of listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities. Students may listen to things I say and have to respond verbally or with movement. We play fun games that get them moving around or playing in pairs or small groups seated at tables. And, sometimes we do individual activities like simple worksheets they actually enjoy or dictation. They don’t necessarily love every activity, but because there is variety, things keep moving along and they don’t get bored or frustrated.
Be Organized and Have Students Help You
Be organized so that you can move from one activity to another smoothly. Have all your materials ready before you begin so things just keep clipping along, and there’s no downtime. Also, have your students help you by collecting and passing things out, and cleaning up. Let them help make materials for activities too. For example, I have the students cut out the question cards for the Question/Answer Caterpillar Game before we play.
Stay Tuned-in to Your Students
Even when you have things well planned, you may see the overall class is in a certain “mood” as you execute a lesson. Use your best judgment to modify a planned activity based on their “mood”. Being able to modify on the fly to connect with their “mood” is one of the best ways to keep students engaged.
As an example, if your students seem tired modify your planned activity so they move around to keep them awake. If you had a reading and writing activity planned, you can easily tweak it by having them stand while they read, and then walk around the room once before they sit down to write. If they are a bit rambunctious, implement a short quiet activity they do individually, like a short worksheet, to calm them down.
Help Them See Purpose
One of the less thought of ways to engage students is to help them see purpose in what they are doing. Ask them from time to time why they think they are doing a particular activity. What does it teach them? Why would you have them do it? My students like to raise their hands and say what they think. Help them to see how the things they do help them learn the material AND help them develop skills that generalize to other areas of life.
It’s also helpful to talk once in a while about the benefits of taking the class. Ask them, why would taking Spanish be a good thing even if you’re not interested in it? Some of the most obvious answers will be “because it helps with job possibilities in the future.” Yes, that can be true, BUT, help them to go further than that. Challenge them to think creatively about how the class helps them learn and grow as individuals. When you do that, you may hear things like, “I’ll be able to communicate with Spanish speakers when I travel.” or “I’ll understand about different cultures.” or “It helps me be more understanding about people who are learning English and how hard that can be.”
They will come up with all kinds of interesting thoughts and ideas. And, you can contribute with your own thought too. These kinds of conversations help them to really see “purpose” and value in what they are doing and learning which has a direct impact on attitude and engagement.
I hope you’ve found these tips on ways to keep students engaged helpful. There will always be times when engagement wanes. That’s just normal. But, it’s always helpful to have our teacher tool bags full of things to help us as we practice our art every day.
Debbie
By the way, if you’re looking for a Spanish curriculum for your school, homeschool, or homeschool co-op, check out Spanish for You! It engages students, is very effective, and comes with my support always!