The Recipe for Success: 7 of 10

How to create an optimal environment for language learning

(1) Emotions and thoughts

(2) Patterns

(3) Practice Makes Permanent

(4) The Brain Seeks Novelty

(5) First and Last in a Sequence

(6) Auditory Input

(7) Retention of Material

Attention language teachers!

Retention of material is related to the time in minutes and its placement during the class period.

An optimal 40-minute class is structured:

20 min: Prime Time 1

10 min: Downtown

10 min: Prime Time 2

Prime Time 1

Plan the most important part of each lesson for the first 20 minutes: presentation of new material (or explanation of previously introduced topic) and activities specifically on that new topic.

Downtime (processing activities)

Plan written, video, listening, games, music, and other processing activities for the mid-class downtime. This is a great time to relate the new material to previously known material.

Prime Time 2

Use the last 10 minutes to expand upon the day’s topic and provide closure. Prime Time 2 is also a time of high retention (although not as high as Prime Time 1). This is the time to reinforce the most important new material of the day.

*Note: Keep teaching until the end of the period so as to not lose that valuable instruction time.

Kids: Markers of Time

Next:

(8) Processing Time

(9) Learning Differences

(10) Language is Social

Source:

101 Best Strategies for Teaching World Languages (Bureau of Education & Research)