Teaching a language is both challenging and fun. You are responsible for not only imparting knowledge but also for creating an engaging and enjoyable learning experience for your students. In my case, I had the opportunity to teach English to a group of children in a private language school three or four years ago.
One of the things I wanted to teach my students was the names of the months. As any language teacher knows, teaching vocabulary can be tricky, as it requires memorization and repetition. However, I wanted to find a way to make it more interesting and memorable for my students.
That's when I remembered a fun fact about the month of April. In Poland, April Fool's Day is known as "Prima Aprilis," which means "the first of April" in Latin. I thought this would be a great way to help my students remember the name of the month. So, I asked my students, "What do we say on the first of April when you want to play a joke on someone??" I expected them to respond with "Prima Aprilis," but to my surprise, one of the girls (Malwina P.) responded with "It's a prank, bro?"
We all laughed at her response, and it turned out to be a great teaching moment. Not only did my students learn the name of the month, but they also had a good laugh in the process.
This experience taught me that teaching a language doesn't always have to be serious and dull. By incorporating fun and engaging activities into the lesson plan, you can create an enjoyable learning experience for your students that will help them retain information more effectively.
Looking back on my time teaching those children English, I realize that moments like this one, where we laughed and learned together, were the most memorable and rewarding. It's the small moments like these that make teaching a language so fulfilling and enjoyable.