Innovative Ideas in Language Teaching

September 2024

This month we’re looking at fresh ideas we can bring into our classroom. From connecting neuroscience to pedagogy, using low stakes testing to enhance learning, tips for encourage creativity in our students, to a whole bunch of innovative suggestions from our readers, there’s lots of inspiration to be found in this issue!

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” (Maya Angelou)

APA REFERENCE FOR THIS ISSUE:

(author). (2024). (article title, sentence case). MindBrainEd Think Tanks: Innovative Ideas in Language Teaching, 10(9), (pages).

Watch before you read...

This Think Tank looks at different ways language teachers can innovate their practice inside and outside the classroom. In the Main podcast episode, Martin East and Kasia Brzoska define innovation in education and give educators some useful advice. In the More podcast episode, Gwyn Ortner discusses how she scaffolds her students’ learning experience both onsite in the classroom and online via alearning management system. Then, Heather Kretschmer introduces the issue.

In the Think Tank, Peggy Thoma explains how she has taken what she’s learned about neuroscience and distilled it into a teaching methodology. Next, Stephen M. Ryan explains how he uses low-stakes testing to help his students learn and review vocabulary. Jamie Emerson examines creativity and gives teachers practical tips for getting students’ creative juices flowing. Finally, our readers share a wide range of thought-provoking innovative ideas.

In the Plus section, we spotlight Think Tank editor, Curtis Kelly.

Innovating Language Education: A Blended Approach to Language Learning

Gwyn Ortner | The Learning Podcast

Our Thoughts on Innovation

Innovating in the Language Classroom Heather Kretschmer

Chances are you’re an innovator at heart. After all, you’re reading the MindBrainEd Think Tank. Maybe in one of your classes, you tried out an idea informed by neuroscience that you learned about in an earlier Think Tank issue. Perhaps you’re thinking back to a previous class that was a disaster and wondering what would have happened if you’d taken a risk and gone down a different route. Maybe you’re dissatisfied with something happening in a current class, so you’d like to try out something new. All these musings are a clear indicator that you’re an innovative teacher.

Eh – What’s that you say? You don’t have time to innovate? You’re worried your creative juices have dried up? Your job has siphoned out all your innovative ideas? Well, join me as we dip into the varied ways teachers can be innovative.

Think Tank Articles

Because Teaching is A.R.T. Peggy Thoma

Leonardo Da Vinci said “learning never exhausts the mind.” But how many of our learners find this to be true? Unfortunately, not many. Coming back to the present, according to the World Economic Forum the demand for creative thinking will grow by 73% by 2027, followed by analytical thinking, technological literacy, curiosity, and resilience, along with flexibility and agility of thought. These predictions pose a very important question for teachers. How can we instill a passion for learning and at the same time help learners to acquire the set of life skills necessary for their future?

This is where brain science comes in. I first came across neuroscience by reading John Medina’s well-known book Brain Rules, where he describes the effects of stress and sleep, why we forget, and nine more brain rules. Then, in 2020, I was lucky enough to attend a webinar where Curtis Kelly explained how brain science findings apply to learning. That was it. I was hooked. Since then I have been reading and researching neuroscience and its applications in the classroom. I have been trying and testing brain friendly methods and have devised many different activities to help my students. Through lots of trial and error I came up with a methodology called A.R.T. This is an acronym which stands for Arouse curiosity, Recall, and Take off, and it is based on brain-friendly ways of learning which ignite the learners’ natural predisposition to learn and prepare them for their adult life.

Low-Stakes Testing Stephen Ryan

There’s a lot published about high-stakes testing—tests where, in one way or another, test-takers’ futures are in the balance. Lots about ensuring fairness, validity, reliability, and so on. Even more about test anxiety, dealing with it, overcoming it, minimising its consequences. But, when I started to look, I found there wasn’t much out there on low-stakes testing, something I realised I’d been doing throughout my teaching career.

Admittedly, they are less exciting than the high-stakes variety, because, well, there’s less at stake. Less to be anxious about. Less for the test-maker to worry about getting just right. In fact, they can be so low key that I could make a case that most practice activities in the language-learning classroom could be called “low-stakes tests” and most teachers and students barely notice that they are tests at all.

Unexciting or not, low-stakes tests and the principles on which they are based are essential elements in language learning, as I hope to show by telling you about my regular vocabulary quizzes.

Do Schools Kill Creativity? Jamie Emerson

I watched a lot of TED talks when I became a teacher. I loved them for their celebration of intellectualism, their sense that anything was possible, and their wonder at the world. As a teacher, I valued the diverse topics and helpful transcripts. One of my favorites was Do Schools Kill Creativity? by Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken, who sadly died in 2020, was one of the greatest speakers to grace a TED stage. The aforementioned talk has been viewed an incredible 77 million times on the TED website and 23 million more on YouTube.

It’s interesting to watch the presentation now, 17 years since it was given. Robinson’s talk seems looser, more relaxed, and less earnest than today’s talks. It’s funny—truly, laugh out loud funny. Robinson’s delivery seems to me to be very British; deadpan, self-deprecating, intentionally finding jokes, and then making them look unintentional and incidental. He was a truly great public speaker.

Reader Contributions Think Tank Readers

Still need more? Not to worry; we have called for aid and our readers have answered!

Get ready for a series of creative contributions from teachers who are transforming their language classes with innovative approaches! From sensory walks and digital worksheets to clever ways of managing phone use and boosting student engagement, these educators share their ingenious ideas for making language learning more dynamic and effective. Discover new strategies to bring fresh energy and excitement to your classroom!

Don’t forget, we love reading your contributions! We’re always on the lookout for fresh, engaging articles on topics like motivation, study habits, learning differences, neurodiversity, and much more. If you have an idea that’s been bouncing around in your head like the DVD logo, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re interested in writing an article, suggesting a new topic, sharing a compelling video, reviewing a book, or telling a story from your own experiences, there’s a place for your voice in The MindBrainEd Think Tank.

Ready to share your ideas? Visit our website to learn how you can contribute!

Think Tank Plus

Editor's Spotlight: Curtis Think Tank Team

Editors’ note: We thought this would be a good time to tell you who we are. Not counting our inner stable of contributors, this magazine has a staff of seven, living all over the world, who gather at Think Tank Towers in Waikiki every month to produce this magazine. The MindBrainEd Think Tanks are not funded, nor are the contributors or editors paid, so they produce this magazine out of love for language teachers and students.

Call for Contributions: Ideas and Articles Think Tank Staff

Become a Think Tank star! Here are some of the future issue topics we are thinking about. Would you, or anyone you know, like to write about any of these? Or is there another topic you’d like to recommend? Do you have any suggestions for lead-in, or just plain interesting, videos? How about writing a book review? Or sending us a story about your experiences? Contact us.

Teaching as Brain Changing: Exploring Connections between Neuroscience and Innovative Teaching

Imagine your brain as a bustling city, where neurons are the commuters and synapses are the roadways connecting them. Just as the brain is more than a lump of muscle, learning is more than just an abstract idea; it’s a dynamic process involving real changes in your brain’s neural networks—a biological metropolis to explore. Melinda T. Owens and Kimberly D. Tanner’s research paper delves into this fascinating world, showing how techniques like “think–pair–share,” frequent homework, concept maps, and problem-based learning harness these neurobiological processes to boost memory and comprehension.

In their article, Owens and Tanner examine how neurotransmitters such as dopamine and acetylcholine enhance learning by promoting synaptic plasticity—basically, how neurons that “fire together, wire together.” Conversely, high stress levels, marked by the stress hormone cortisol, can disrupt these neural connections and hinder learning. The authors explain how teaching techniques and methods that promote engagement, such as incorporating culturally diverse examples and problem-based learning, not only connect classroom material to real-world scenarios but also reduce stress and improve memory retention.

As neuroscience continues to advance, future research promises even deeper insights into complex cognitive processes like metacognition. By understanding these neural mechanisms, educators can refine their strategies to better align with how our brains naturally learn and remember. Read the full article here to find out more about enhancing education from the inside out!

Thoughtful Use of Online Generators

Random Team Generators:

When it’s time for group work, do your students tend to gravitate towards the same classmates each time? Do some of your students seem stressed out when they have to find partners? One solution to both of these problems is assigning students to groups using a random team generator like this one. Simply edit the names on the list and the number of groups you want. Use the share button to copy the URL for the next time you want random teams. If you’d like a tool with more features, try the Team Picker Wheel.

Don’t want to use technology at all? This article lists 25 easy ways of getting students into random groups without resorting to technology.

Rebus Generator:

In this issue, Stephen M. Ryan writes about retrieving vocabulary through low-stakes quizzes. Some of his examples show pictures, which help students recall target vocabulary. A rebus, which combines pictures and letters, can be used in the same way.

To solve a rebus, you first need to figure out what the picture represents and then add, subtract, and/or swap out letters in that word using the letters and math symbols given with the word. Here’s an example:

The image shows an apron. Based on the letters and math symbols under the word, we have to add an “n” and replace the letters “a” and “p” with “e” and “u” respectively. So, “apron” becomes “neuron.”

This rebus puzzle generator allows you to generate rebus puzzles easily and quickly. You can shift through the pictures until you find something you think students will recognize and then export the generated rebus. Put around five rebuses on a worksheet and then give them to students. Working in small groups, your students can see how many puzzles they can solve together. If you want to get students out of their seats and moving, you can print one rebus per sheet of paper and hang them up around the classroom. In small groups, students walk around the classroom to solve as many puzzles as they can.

For your enjoyment, here are two more rebuses for you to solve! The first one is part of the brain, and the second one is an important two-word term from Stephen’s article. You can find the answers at the bottom of this section.

Star Wars Intro Generators:

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . .” is the famous beginning of the movie Star Wars. After this first phrase disappears, John William’s opening theme starts playing as the story text moves up the screen. Who wouldn’t feel proud to see their own story scroll up the screen against the backdrop of stars and such rousing music?

Well, your students can enjoy this powerful experience. Ask them to write stories or story beginnings and then enter their texts into a Star Wars intro generator like this one or this one and then share the link to their stories so everyone can enjoy them. Don’t forget popcorn.

Picture Editing Tool:

PhotoFunia is an online picture editing tool that allows users to produce customized images easily. The website has a wide variety of effects and filters. Depending on the effect, you can fill in a very short text and/or upload a photo. Teachers can use the effects in different ways, for example, as a visually impactful way of transitioning into the next part of a lesson using the street sign effect.

Or teachers can direct students to particular effects and ask them to input their own text. For instance, after reading texts, students can choose one key word from the text, type it into the graffiti text effect and then explain their choice to a partner. Alternatively, if your students write 6-word stories, as Jamie Emerson encourages teachers to do in this issue, they can type in their story on the two lines of the movie marquee effect and then share it with a partner.

Answers to Rebuses:

cerebrum

spaced repetition

The MindBrained Think Tanks+

is produced by the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) Mind, Brain, and Education Special Interest Group (BRAIN SIG). Kyoto, Japan. (ISSN 2434-1002)

Editorial Staff

Stephen M. Ryan Curtis H. Kelly Julia Daley Afon (Mohammad) Khari

Heather Kretschmer Matt Ehlers Marc Helgesen Nicky De Proost

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