How can English Teacher Engage Students with Activities

Learning English can be fun but at the same time teaching the language to children can be a challenge. Repetitive method of learning can create boredom for them. The nature of the language is such that it keeps on evolving, so it is important to continue finding out alternative methods of teaching that are engaging and helping students learn better.

Use of phonics:

Reading and recognition of letters and words can be initially difficult for students. So teachers can use phonics in order to make learning easy and interesting. Phonics is a method for teaching, reading and writing in English language. The fundamental purpose of phonics is to enable readers to decode long or new words by sounding them out.

 Use of phonics to learn the spelling and pronunciation of the word can be an interesting exercise if the whole class is engaged in it. So it is easy to grasp different words and their meanings by teaching phonics as a group activity.

Use students' interests and fascinations while giving grammar lessons: 

We tend to learn things more easily if we already have interest in them. So by finding out students' interests, teachers can develop new methods of teaching. For example, teenage students love watching cartoons. So if teachers can create interesting animations using their favorite cartoons, it can make learning grammar interesting, which is otherwise an activity that can cause boredom. So using ingenious methods that are engaging can retain interest.

Essay writing and Elocution competition: 

Assigning tasks and arranging competitions can be an effective way of  testing students based on their writing and speaking abilities. Awarding the top-performing students can also be a boon as it can create a competitive spirit amongst the students thereby encouraging them to perform better. It can also shed light on the shortcomings of the students and help the teachers to take measures that can be beneficial for the students and help them in the long run.

Arranging debates and group discussions:

Debates and group discussions can be an effective way of improving speaking skills. It can also be helpful in learning correct ways to present a point of view. Moreover, it can enhance thinking abilities and nurture learning by improving approach towards a particular subject.

Publishing:

Teachers can further motivate children to keep performing well by appreciating and valuing their work. So teachers must find out ways in which they can provide incentives to the students. One of the ways of doing it is by finding out mediums where they can publish work done by the students. Teachers can tap into sources such as local newspapers or magazines to publish articles or stories written by their students. Or teachers can encourage managing bodies of the schools to publish their own magazines. Doing so will encourage students and will also nurture learning.

Arranging short skits and plays:

 Arranging skits and plays can have multiple benefits. First of all, It can certainly diminish 'stage fear' that is faced even by adults. The other thing is since it is a group activity, children can learn team-work and have a cluster of ideas based on different opinions that can be conducive to creative thinking. Other than that, a play or a drama altogether involves activities such as craft, writing, singing, dialogues, etc., which can further help in learning and retaining student interest.

Engaging students in various activities can be an onerous task for English teachers. But in order to be effective and impart quality teaching, teachers must experiment with different ideas based on their understanding of students' interest, strength, and weaknesses. Involving in activities can contribute in learning and overall development of the children.

How Is Science Used in Dance

Dance is an art and a form of self-expression that can be used to convey emotions to the audience and enthrall them. The dancers with their movements transform from one position to another as if trying to communicate a story to the spectators. As the number of dance forms increases rapidly in the world, so is the influence of science on them. Research has proven that science does have close connection with dance and both have always been intertwined. Even though this sounds astonishing, science has always managed to surprise mankind and time and again proved how it plays a big role in almost all walks of life.

The most fundamental form of a man's expression – dance, along with music and science has now started giving astounding results and is often used as a therapy for people dealing with complicated illness problems. Science has helped the dancers to improve and practice their movements with  perfection as well as contributed to their health. It has assisted choreographers in redefining their steps and thus reduced the number of injuries.

What is the connection? 

As a dancer moves his/her limbs as per the beat and music, the artist unknowingly uses many laws of science. These are two magnificent fields that continue to interact with each other in one or the other way. According to ancient scholars, there is no significant difference between these two fields. For example, when an artist performs the act by tapping feet on the floor or stamping a foot on it, it creates a definite sound. If you see this closely, Newton's third law of motion is applied here. The law states 'for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction'. Now in this case, the artist had put all efforts to bring down the foot on the ground. This action in other terms is force applied on the round which in turn produced a sound.

In the same way, science has impacted other techniques of dancing as well. For instance, ballet dancers make use of a method known as spotting to prevent fall and thus maintain their balance. As these dancers are on always on the tip of their toes while performing their art and have multiple turns in their act, they have devised a technique to prevent from being thrown off balance. They keep their eyes focused on a single spot and rotate their head in fixed quick pattern before they spin their full body. As a result, they are able to suppress signals from balancing organs located on the inner side of ears and thus do not feel dizzy.

When the performance of artists was observed in slow motion using screen capture feature, a lot of things came into picture. If the act involves balancing the partner on hands or a part of body, then dancers make use of proper angles and maintain their pose in a specific shape. When an individual has to manage a partner in a precarious position as a part of their act, the balancing is done with the help of strategic micro movements of the body rather than keeping the entire body stiff and still. These tiny movements act as shock absorbers and prevent the partner from losing balance during the act.  Also, when a member of the group leaps upwards in air or has to perform some act in the  midair, he/she adjusts the body in a particular angle to achieve the maximum height. Apart from this, the gravitation concept also gets applied here.


The collaboration of dance and science has given many breakthroughs to scientists and even encouraged research. It has given the scientists a chance to delve into the creative corners of human  mind and get an insight into the brain activity.