How do you engage children who are disinterested in English or the topic at hand?

Teaching disinterested children can be challenging. Keeping them engaged in English requires effective strategies. What are your approaches to address this issue?

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Talk about their interests in English! 😀 English is more than a language, it’s a way to connect and become friends. Let’s be friends! Book a class with me!

  • Neelo Ramorula
    Neelo RamorulaCountry flag: bw
    ESL TUTOR

    Turn my lesson into a gameplay, for instance a quizz, I will ask the questions and my student answers. Every correct answer gets a point and also I will acknowledge their efforts to build a sense of confidence and accomplishment.

  • Teaching children requires patience its best depending on their ages as well I normally use props/ teddy bears if they are at that certain age in order to get their attention and it works well for me.

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  • Saleem Akhtar
    Saleem AkhtarCountry flag: pk
    ESL Teacher

    A teacher must teach the lessons of English by keeping in view the interests of students that what they want. Usually the games and method of gamification is useful in this regard. A teacher must keep in view the multiple intelligence of students. Reference; Theory of multiple intelligence by Howard Gardner.

  • Teaching kids is challenging but capturing their attention by talking about the things that interest them too like hobbies or games would help get their attention

  • Make it fun! Kids love talking about what they like, and telling stories. Making it into a game will keep them engaged.

  • To engage disinterested children, I incorporate interactive and relatable approaches, such as gamification, storytelling, hands-on activities, and real-life connections, while offering choices and celebrating successes.

  • By making a lesson more fun, entertaining or make the lesson be relatable to them because once the lesson is something they can relate to they will be willing to engage.

  • I actually try to tell them that this is not a lesson, this is an acquisition of a new culture. And I mostly try to remember their interests and talk about them or give homeworks accordingly. For example I knew that one of my students was interested in F1 races, that's why whenever I find I sent him videos about that topic in English or I gave a movie watching homework about an F1 driver etc.

  • Paying attention to individuals' needs and learning styles-visual, auditory, tactile and linguistic-can be helpful to motivate and grab interest in a specific topic.

  • Try to make the lesson interesting for example create a game , song etc that will engage the children and make it fun

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