When people learn English as a second language (ESL), they do so in a variety of ways. There are three main learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic/tactile. By incorporating all learning styles in each lesson within your ESL classroom, you can be sure to reach all learners.
Assess Your Learners
Give the students a learning style questionnaire, asking what types of activities they prefer doing, such as board work, reading, writing, puzzles, listening to recordings or hands-on activities. Put different types of activities around the room as examples of the different learning styles. Arrange worksheets, text books and flash cards in one area for visual learners.
Place a tape recorder with headphones in another area for auditory learners. Organize a matching exercise with real objects and word cards for kinesthetic and tactile learners. Ask the students to go around the room with a sheet and ask them to tick a box with 'like' or 'don't like' when they look at the activities.
Auditory ESL Learning Style
This is for people who prefer to receive and retain information from listening. Games or activities that involve repetition, dictation, and music. Karaoke is a great way to get students to pick up new phrases. Poems that rhyme can also be very effective. Give the students tasks involving audio recordings and group activities in which they have to listen to other students. Read out loud and give verbal instructions. Try a jigsaw listening activity. Split the students into two groups. One half hears one part of the story and the other half listens to the other part. Join the two groups back together and see if they can reconstruct the full story.
Visual ESL Learning Style
This is for students that have the ability to absorb information best through looking at the board, worksheets and other traditional teaching materials. Use a white board, Flash cards, pictures, videos and various colorful visual aids during lessons to convey subject areas. Give visual learners information they can see.
Well known board games are fantastic for ESL students such as, Monopoly, Life, Guess Who, and memory matching cards. You could make your own versions to tailor it to your particular class level. Treasure hunts are excellent for younger students.
Tactile and Kinesthetic ESL Learning Styles
This group learns faster when physically doing activities by touching or moving around. Give the students activities that involve whole class movement. Facilitate role playing and have students come up to the board to write answers for practice.
Most hands-on activities are ideal for these students. Games for these types are great for the whole class, especially as ice breakers. There have been studies that prove that a majority of ESL students show a marked preference for this style of teaching. Use as many real life objects, puzzles, games, crafts and other touchable items in the lessons to aid tactile learning. . Using colored rods to show grammar structures is also effective.
In the classroom play the touch game. Use a non-transparent bag and put different objects inside. Get students to feel the objects and describe what they feel or guess what the object is.
Play 'Charades' or ‘Give us a clue’ these are good examples of games that use the whole body. Have cards prepared with easy titles such as popular films or TV shows, and get everyone involved! Students could also think of titles themselves.
Vary your lessons to include all the different styles but use your initial assessment to dictate the teaching methods that will work best with most of your students. When doing your initial assessment, also find out whether students prefer individual, pair or group activities.
References
2. One Stop English: ESOL: Learning Styles Diagnostic Assessment
3 everythingESL.net: Teach to Students' Learning Styles
Elsie Ofori - Elsie Ofori graduated from London Metropolitan University in 1999. Prior to freelance writing, she taught English in an adult college.
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