How to Make an English Lesson Interesting and Fun by Jessica Chung Teaching English to young learners is a challenging task.

Young students might find learning English can be mentally demanding and confusing as English is a foreign language. Plus, childrens characteristics like short attention spans and easily get bored add on further hindrances for English learning (Hashemi & Azizinezhad, 2011). Therefore, English primary school teachers should be able to design and conduct appropriate, fun and effective activities to motivate students to learn English. According to Brown (1994), teaching strategies which are innately motivating and appeal to students goals and interests can have a positive impact on their language learning. In addition, Ara (2009) believed that the more fun the learning activities, the better the children will remember the language materials presented. In reference to the emphasis of teaching activities and strategies, this essay will present few suggestions on how to make English lesson interesting and fun. The suggestions are learning through music, conducting language games, using stories, rhymes and chants, incorporating arts in learning and lastly using technology application. Each suggestion will be illustrated by classroom examples then followed by discussion on its benefits to students learning. The first suggestion on how to make English lesson fun, enjoyable and meaningful is through music. Music has been used as an effective teaching tool for many years. Using songs or musical instruments in the classroom has a whole range of advantages. First, music acts as a great motivational source that aids teachers to make the class enjoyable. Klein (2005) lists few benefits of using music in classroom. Firstly, music can create a positive and comfortable learning atmosphere. Music is also able to awake students interests during the lesson hence bringing variety and fun to language learning. Moreover, many worldwide studies demonstrated that music can stimulate greater improvement on linguistic abilities like oral participation, listening comprehension, vocabulary and grammar. For instance, songs can provide excellent source to introduce a variety of language items like sentence patterns, vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, adjectives and adverbs. The reason is that through singing activity, young learners are more likely to remember the new words and structures because songs are repetitive, meaningful, and presented in predictable patterns and larger chunks (Sevik, 2011). Apart from that, Orlova (2003) states that through singing, students can read the lyrics, clarify pronunciation issues and practice speaking and pronunciation skills. There are many possible ways to use music in teaching English. For an example, teacher can introduce action verbs with the song I brush my teeth and for introduction of part of human body and directions, the teacher can use Hokey Pokey. The teacher can ask the students to

do the actions and pointing while singing. This combination of singing and doing actions can stimulate the memory of the child. Dancing may also aid the fun while using music in English classroom. According to Schoepp (2001), movement and creative dance develop creativity in young children and aid them explore how their bodies move in space and to different beats. Besides music, games also provide enjoyable and wonderful atmosphere in the childrens language class. In general, young learners enjoy games as games are a natural part of young learners lives. Since games can stimulate students interest, they are willing to participate without anxiety. They will pay more attention as they enjoy themselves, and consequently they do better and feel better about their own language learning (Ara, 2009). According to McCallum (1980), he explains that games can be used to present, reinforce, review and assess language items. They can also help to develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills (Yolageldili & Arikan; 2011). There are thousands of language games that can be conducted in English classroom. Any of these games can create meaningful learning activities if the teacher uses them systematically with clear learning objectives. Few examples of language learning games are like charade and Simon Says. Charade, a simple guessing game, can be played in order to teach students question tags for example Is it a ? The students will happily repeat the structure without getting bored as it is a part of a game and has a real communicative function. For Simon Says, teacher can conduct this game to teach action or doing verbs. Games like Hangman, word searches, Wheel of Fortune or jumble words can be used when learners are starting to read and write. For more advanced students, board games like Scrabble can be conducted in order to enrich their vocabulary. The recognition of games as effective tools in teaching English has been explored in various studies. For an example, Deesris study (2002) suggested that games can be one of highest motivating teaching activity because students can get very absorb in the competitive aspects of the games; as a result they will try harder at games than in other traditional boring classroom activity. In fact, healthy competition plus cooperation among the students to win can lead to meaningful social interaction and hence promoting the students to use the language in creative and natural manner (Vernon, 2006). Another reason for games popularity in English learning is due to its kinesthetic values. Normally, games involve students to move around and these physical movements can help students stimulated and alert (Ara, 2009). Naturally, young children are active and they dislike attending formal lessons for long periods, and so if they take part in a game involving physical actions from time to time, they will never get restless and bored.

The use of stories in second language classroom can also contribute to a fun and meaningful lesson. In today era, where information is just a finger click, teachers have unlimited access to stories worldwide. Therefore, an excuse of insufficient resources will seem to be illogical if the teachers fail to integrate stories in their English lesson. Plus, Ellis and Brewster (2002) believe that stories can serve as effective educational tools because they are authentic, memorable and entertaining. As stories centre on human-like experiences, so children tend to perceive as an authentic and reliable source of knowledge. Apart from that, Gonzales (2010) states that stories can be a source for cultural context. By reading or listening to a story, young learners can learn about other peoples culture. For language wise, many scholars have acknowledged the potential that stories can bring to students language learning. First, teachers can introduce new vocabulary by exposing children to the language used in different contexts. Also, as noted by Ellis and Brewster (2002), most of the stories for young leaners contain natural repetition of key words, and language structures. This repetitive manner can help students to remember the details easily. In addition, Castros research (2002) reports that listening to stories can aid childrens listening and concentration skills as well as their ability to receive and comprehend information expressed orally. He adds stories can help children develop learning strategies like general meaning making, hypothesizing, guessing meaning and predicting. There are many types of story-based activities that can be done during English lesson. Read Aloud is one of the activities and this activity is suitable for lower primary school children. While reading aloud, teacher must point to the word or line and this can help students to make connections between oral language and the print that represent that oral language (Gonzales, 2010). Big books can become a handy tool for reading aloud; they are made up of large printed text and great illustrations which help students make sense of the story. Another activity is storytelling. Storytelling is more studentcentred as students themselves share their personal story to others. Harriott and Martin (2004) claim that speaking practice through storytelling enhances speech and communication skills related to enunciation and articulation. In connection to this, Nor Hasni Mokhtar et.al (2001) suggest that through storytelling students can relate meanings and emotions with words and at the same time able to use certain words and phrases in the accurate meanings. To make storytelling and story reading more fun and interesting, teacher can use puppets to facilitate the story. Using puppets can encourage students to experiment more with the language (Ozdeniz, 2000). Other activities that can accompany story-based lessons are role-play, reading or listening comprehension, sketch and writing. Indeed, there are many enrichment activities that can be done when stories are used in English lesson.

Chants and rhymes can also be fantastic mediums for natural language learning. Like songs, chants and rhyme have innumerable virtues. First, chants and rhymes are highly motivating because of their catchy rhythms and sense of humour. This will add on enjoyment in learning hence increase students interest in learning required language aspect. In addition, chants and rhymes can break monotony of the day. As stated earlier, young learners will become restless and impatient if they remain long in their seats. Activities based on chants and rhymes are normally involved fun physical movements. Young learners can move, clap their hands, snap their fingers or tap their feet while chanting and reciting the rhymes. This kind of activity will keep the students mentally and physically active and enthusiastic. Besides that, as rhymes and chants are about sound and English rhythm, therefore rhymes and chants are effective mediums of teaching stress and intonation patterns of English (Kind, 1980). Plus, rhymes and chants short, easy and involve many repetitions which can help students language class. This is because young learners love to repeat and mimic words and sounds (Ara, 2009). Thus, they learn to pronounce words easily by saying them over and over again and by practicing them without pressure of criticism. Using rhymes and chants are not only confined for teaching phonological awareness and vocabulary enrichment. They can also be used to teach grammar and language functions. For example, the well-known Old King Cole can be used to recall simple past tense and for chants, teacher can create a chant to teach greetings. Another virtue rhymes and chant in language learning is that these two can be effective sources to introduce elements of literature to young literature. For instance, teacher can use The Queen of Tart to teach rhyming words, Baa Baa Blacksheep to teach onomatopoeia, Goosie Goosie Gander for alliteration and Mary Had a Little Lamb for simile. For advanced learners, teachers can teach them elements like plot, setting and characters by asking the students to dramatize, finger puppets or role play the nursery rhymes and chants. English lesson can also be enjoyable yet meaningful if teachers can incorporate arts into it. According to Scott and Ytreberg (1990), children are very likely to connect their learning with their surroundings and are more attracted to physical and the tangible. They also describe students own understanding comes through hands and eyes and ears. Therefore, having students in creating visual arts that are related to the lesson can be a good idea with the purpose to create fun and meaningful learning. Plus, Moon (2000) states that when students involve in creating visuals that are related to the lesson, they are more likely to feel interest and invested in the lesson and will probably be more responsible in taking care of the materials. Teacher can exploit the process of creating arts to teach new vocabulary items, sequencing and giving instructions. There are many examples of how teacher can incorporate

arts in English lesson. For instance, asking students to draw different characters for a story, making puppets, masks or play-do sculptures. During special occasions like Birthdays, Mothers Day or Hari Raya celebration, teachers can ask students to design cards and write messages. From this activity, students can enhance their creativity as well as their writing skills. Lastly, teacher can also ask students to bring their own toys to English class. Teacher can ask the students to show, tell or describe their favourite toy to their friends. This activity can help students to practice their speaking skills and self-confidence. On the other hand, teacher can also make use of visuals, and tangible realia to supplement activities. Resources like real-life objects, toys, puppets, pictures, maps, calendars and other paraphernalia can be a great teaching idea. When teacher uses these realia in presenting new information, the teacher can make the language input more enjoyable, concrete and comprehensible as well. The exponential growth of multimedia technologies has brought English lesson into a next level. New teaching aids are emerged replace chalk, blackboard and mah-jong papers. Now LCD, projectors, computers, instructional softwares and other technologies can be used in order to support English lesson and make it more interactive, fun and effective. Without any doubt, ICT applications in English classroom learning can promote better learning. In fact, todays children are so technology savvy and using technology in teaching them can increase their interest in learning. Plus, Wonacott (2001) adds that ICT can offer flexibility, motivation, adaptation, creativity and versatility for the students. In addition, Saloman and Globerson (1987) states that usage of ICT in classroom can facilitate students critical thinking and higher order learning. There are many ways how teacher can use multimedia technologies to conduct enjoyable English lesson. First, teacher can download interesting videos from the internet and preview it for set induction. A good set induction can increase students motivation to learn. Good English instructional software is growing like mushrooms in today market. Once in a while, teacher can bring the students to computer lab and let them try the instructional software. This type of learning can promote self-independent learning as it is interactive and provides immediate feedback. Instead of distributing the same old printed worksheet for comprehension practices, teacher can also turn these practices into more interactive. These web-based teaching exercises can be delivered to any Internet-connected computer. Lastly, the use of ICT in presenting information can be exciting for students. ICT for example Powerpoint presentation can help teacher to add colourful pictures, sounds, key visuals and graphic organizer. These features can attract students attention hence making information presentation more exciting and effective.

To sum up, it is fundamentally essential for teachers to provide fun, enjoyable and effective learning environment for students to acquire English knowledge. Language will be remembered easily and long term if students learn it when they are relaxed and stress free. To create such environment is not that really difficult. There are various teaching strategies and activities that teacher can employ to create such environment. Some of the ways as discussed in this essay are through music, language games, stories, rhymes and chants and lastly application of technologies and all of these strategies can be implemented in the context of primary schools English lessons. These strategies do not only contribute to fun learning environment, in fact they also provide teachers with many other instructional advantages. In short, creating fun and meaningful English learning require teachers creativity, preparation, and clear goal-settings. Hence, teacher needs to be aware of his or her roles to ensure providing the best and meaningful English lesson to the students. This is because in this rapidly globalizing world, English knowledge can open many opportunities for our students in the future and it will be invaluable in their future careers. Words: 2502 words

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