I am very interested in positive psychology, the science which focuses on well-being, happiness, flow, personal strength, wisdom, creativity and imagination (Hefferon & Boniwell, 2011). I integrate the knowledge into my teaching which has proven to be beneficial to the students as well as me.
I developed several teaching modules on positive psychology for students who are learning English (EFL/EAL). I used these modules successfully to strengthen their self-confidence and improve their positive outlook on (school) life by teaching them the scientific knowledge behind happiness & flow and success & failure. The main focus in those lessons is the content, but at the same time I connect it to several tasks that develop a learner’s skills in the foreign language. One of the resources I use in the teaching modules about positive psychology is the TED talk ‘The Surprising Science of Happiness’ by Dan Gilbert, an American social psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. It is a very interesting talk but rather challenging and that’s why I generally do this with advanced learners of English (EFL/EAL). I use this video in a sequence of lessons to help learners develop their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills while learning about the advantages that the knowledge of positive psychology holds for them. In this lesson sequence, the students are provided with a handout with questions that they need to answer about the video. The students are then given 45-60 min to watch the TED talk individually at their own speed (with English subtitles if necessary). This gives the learners the freedom to decide when to stop the talk to listen to something repeatedly or when to check online for words or concepts they are not familiar with. Thus they are in control of the tempo of their own learning. After this initial lesson, the students come together in pairs or groups and share their answers with their partner or group members. Then a classroom discussion opens up where I discuss the answers with everyone or guide them to the answer if they did not manage to find one. I also explain some of the concepts in more detail to make it easier for the learners to understand. After that, I give them a writing task on how they could apply this knowledge in their own life so they can personalise what they have learned. This sample lesson is an example of my content driven approach to language learning with the added element of personalising the content. As part of the initial consultation session I will find out which topics you are interested in and then I will teach lessons that develop your language skills by making use of the content you have selected. Feel free to watch the talk and post your answers to the questions, maybe even comment on how you could use this knowledge in your own life. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK: DNK TUITION Comments are closed.
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AuthorDavid Koch- Language Teaching Expert Follow Me
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