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Language Learning & the Senses
Every bit of information we take in we do so through the five senses: sight (visual), hearing (auditory), touch & movement (haptic or tactile/kinesthetic), smell (olfactory) and taste (gustatory).
The first three senses are the most practical and necessary for use in the classroom.
As teachers, it is important that we teach "across the senses". We need to include visual (V), auditory (A) and haptic (H) activities in our classes.
NEW Haptic Teaching in the classroom - 20 ways to use touch and movement in your EFL/ESL classes.
NEW Language Teaching with gesture and more. My colleague Harumi Kimura expands our understand of teaching pronunciation. (And when you think about it, asking students to just "listen and repeat" a sound they can't hear is a recipe for failure. We need to expand our options.
NEW Here's a link to the whole JALT Mind/Brain/Education Think Tank issue on Body/Brain learning. Scroll down to Oct. 2022.
For ways to add V-A-H to your ELT tasks, click here:
Multi-modality teaching: Modify your textbook to include all the senses.
I've adapted the activity below for use during Covid19. Click HERE for the plan.
For multi-sensory ways to practice language models/ key sentences / grammar & pronunciation targets,
click here: Language Models and the Senses
In talks on the topic, I often mention using an online "digital drum machine" to practice speaking with rhythm. There is one here. I find Demo rhythm 3 works will with practicing English.
At the bottom of this page there is a video of a plenary session I did on this topic at Korea TESOL.
The first three senses are the most practical and necessary for use in the classroom.
As teachers, it is important that we teach "across the senses". We need to include visual (V), auditory (A) and haptic (H) activities in our classes.
NEW Haptic Teaching in the classroom - 20 ways to use touch and movement in your EFL/ESL classes.
NEW Language Teaching with gesture and more. My colleague Harumi Kimura expands our understand of teaching pronunciation. (And when you think about it, asking students to just "listen and repeat" a sound they can't hear is a recipe for failure. We need to expand our options.
NEW Here's a link to the whole JALT Mind/Brain/Education Think Tank issue on Body/Brain learning. Scroll down to Oct. 2022.
For ways to add V-A-H to your ELT tasks, click here:
Multi-modality teaching: Modify your textbook to include all the senses.
I've adapted the activity below for use during Covid19. Click HERE for the plan.
For multi-sensory ways to practice language models/ key sentences / grammar & pronunciation targets,
click here: Language Models and the Senses
In talks on the topic, I often mention using an online "digital drum machine" to practice speaking with rhythm. There is one here. I find Demo rhythm 3 works will with practicing English.
At the bottom of this page there is a video of a plenary session I did on this topic at Korea TESOL.
There is a tendency in school to "slice and dice" the senses, treating students as if they only learn one way.. In reality, what we want is all the students doing "multi-modality" learning -- using all their senses. The more senses they are learning, the more brain connections they are making. Even though the senses are separate -- each using a different part of the brain, we really want our classes looking more like the picture below than the one on the left. But the way to get there is to make sure we are using all the senses, especially V-A-H.
By the way, I don't know the source of "paint photos". If anyone knows, I'd like to hear so I can attribute them.
Inviting learners to "Talk to themselves in English." is an easy, multi-modality way for them to practice. I live in Asia where many/most students spend a lot of time on mass transit. When my students are on trains or busses, I suggest them look out the window and "talk to themselves". The handout suggests way.
Here's a recent version of my PowerPoint Presentation "Language Learning and the Senses."
In it, there is a advertisement for Domino's pizza that has people experiencing a pizza with different senses. You can see that ad here.
The McGurk Effect is a phenomenon where visual input overrides audio input. Here are a view examples from youtube.
/b/ vs /v/ with a longer explanation Click here
/b/ vs /g/ vs. /d/ with a short explanation Click here
/b/ vs. /d/ little explanation but stronger illustration than above Click here
Brain Rules by John Medina has a website that includes video and slides with key ideas related to multi-sensory teaching (as well as other topic related to brain-friendly teaching). Here are two sets of information related to the senses.
Sensory integration
Visual input
Reference are accessed with the "footnotes" button.
Inviting learners to "Talk to themselves in English." is an easy, multi-modality way for them to practice. I live in Asia where many/most students spend a lot of time on mass transit. When my students are on trains or busses, I suggest them look out the window and "talk to themselves". The handout suggests way.
Here's a recent version of my PowerPoint Presentation "Language Learning and the Senses."
In it, there is a advertisement for Domino's pizza that has people experiencing a pizza with different senses. You can see that ad here.
The McGurk Effect is a phenomenon where visual input overrides audio input. Here are a view examples from youtube.
/b/ vs /v/ with a longer explanation Click here
/b/ vs /g/ vs. /d/ with a short explanation Click here
/b/ vs. /d/ little explanation but stronger illustration than above Click here
Brain Rules by John Medina has a website that includes video and slides with key ideas related to multi-sensory teaching (as well as other topic related to brain-friendly teaching). Here are two sets of information related to the senses.
Sensory integration
Visual input
Reference are accessed with the "footnotes" button.