Time in Development 1 months

My Role Instructor, Instructional designer

Tools used in Development InDesign, PowerPoint

I designed this project for ESL teachers that are experiencing silence and low energy in their classroom. As an ESL teacher myself, I know this is a very common problem in ESL classrooms, but there are not enough solutions to this problem. So I created this facilitator guide to help ESL teachers to add fun and engaging activities to their teaching, and enhance the overall teaching/learning experience.

Challenges

• Low classroom energy is a common problem in English language teaching. ESL students' unwillingness to speak majorly caused by lack of confidence in language learning and cultural variations in learning. 

• Many ESL teachers also lack of enthusiasm because the teacher-centered teaching method consumes their energy and they experience insipidity teaching the same objectives. 

Solution

• I added three trending themes in education: design thinking, improvisation, and field trips to ESL teaching. Under each theme, I created 2 fun and meaningful activities to increase student engagement, curiosity and creativity. 

• To make the guide more useful to the instructors, in each unit, I created four sections to explain how to conduct the activities, namely Lead in, Objectives and Outcomes, Activity, and Tips and Resources. 

• The highlight features in my design are innovative and engaging classroom activities, relevant and authentic scenarios, communicative language practices, student-centered methodology, eye-catching photos and helpful resources. They are the most important components in creating an energetic classroom.

Result

• The ESL instructors feel empowered and are able to look at ESL teaching from a new perspective.

• The students get intensive practice in English listen and speaking. More importantly, students are challanging themself in problem solving, teaming working and critical thinking, because the activities require them to solve a problem with a partner and group members. Through these activities, learners get used to using the target language, and gradually build up their language conficence. 

• The activities give learners the opportunity to communicate with native speakers in authentic context. By practicing their language skills, students feel less nervous in communication.