INJECTING FUN INTO

LEARNING ENGLISH
3 August 2016
8.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.
Dewan Persidangan, IPGKPP

Facilitators :
KAM LAY KHUAN & CHOONG SEE YOONG
 Course Schedule
8.30 – 9.30 Ice-breaking & Course Overview
9.30 – 11.00 ‘Igniting your brain with a song’
11.00 – 11.30 Break
11.30 – 1.00 ‘Freeze, Think & Act’
1.00 – 2.30 Lunch break
2.30 – 4.00 ‘Let’s Play’
4.00 – 4.30 Q & A & Debriefing
Let’s get started
Getting to know you
 Course objectives
• To justify the importance of fun
in learning
• To experience various fun and
meaningful learning activities
• To reflect, discuss and formulate
action plans to adapt the
strategies used in these
activities for one’s own
classroom teaching
 Agree or Disagree?
• Learning occurs only if students are quiet and
serious.
• Students are attentive when they are
experiencing fun.
• Teachers who let their students have fun in the
classroom are unprofessional.
• Putting fun into classroom teaching is a waste of
time.
• Fun is required for authentic learning and long-
term memory.
• Fun motivates students to learn.
 Meaning of FUN
Defined in the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary as:

Enjoyment; pleasure; Behaviour or activities

a thing that gives that are not serious
enjoyment or pleasure but comes from a
and makes you happy sense of enjoyment
 Is fun important in learning?
YES
because it promotes learning
&
Brain research suggests
2 important reasons

Fun has a positive Fun increases production

effect on learners’ of a brain chemical called
motivation dopamine essential for
memory retention
 The first reason
Fun and motivation
• Fun has a positive effect on learners’
motivation, determining what they learn
and how much they retain

• Learning requires repetition and dedication,

so making the learning experience fun helps
to keep learners curious and encourages
them to stay on-task

- www.growthengineering.co.uk
Volkswagen’s Fun Theory video

FUN CAN MOTIVATE PEOPLE TO CHANGE

THEIR BEHAVIOUR FOR THE BETTER
 The second reason
Fun and the production of dopamine

1 When learning
Dopamine – a becomes a
chemical in the
4 rewarding
adventure,
brain needed dopamine levels
for memory 3 Dopamine is increase in our brain
retention released by to help retain the
naturally new knowledge
rewarding
experiences eg.
when we engage
Low dopamine in new, exciting
2 levels mean adventures
new
information
cannot be
retained
 in learning is justified…
because
it motivates us to learn and what we
learn with pleasure we never forget.

True fun learning is engaging, hands-on,

meaningful, purposeful and challengeful.
Looking at some elements of fun learning

Exploratory
Challenging
Novel
Interactive
We now explore 3 strategies to help
inject fun into our English lessons…
through
Song
Drama
Games
 How we will explore each activity
1. Experience the activity
2. Reflect on the activity
3. Groupwork – formulate a plan to
adapt the activity for own classroom
teaching
4. Sharing
TIME FOR FUN!
 Activity 1
‘Igniting your brain with a song’
Let’s listen to a song. Before that, we will do a
group activity using words taken from it.
1. Each group gets a set of cut-up words.
2. Work to put the words into pairs based on associations.
(You should have 10 pairs) No right answers – use your
imagination!!!
3. Match each pair with another pair so they rhyme.
4. Try to stick to your original associated pairs. (You should
end up with 5 combinations of four cards)
5. Combine the words into verses and write them down.
(Experiment with the language but use correct
grammar and meaning/collocation).
6. Each group read aloud your poem to the other
workshop members. (The best poem gets an extra round
of applause!!!)
7. Now listen carefully to the song and arrange the
cards in the order they appear in the song.
 8. Get the song lyrics now and check!
Spark
Don't wanna see the stars; don't wanna see
the moon
Don't wanna see the sun that rises too
soon
Don't wanna see the day; don't wanna see
the night
Oh the afternoon, it feels about right
I am the spaceman flying high
I am the astronaut in the sky
Don't worry, I'm okay now
I am the light in the dark
I am the match; I am the spark
Don't worry, I'm okay now
After the sun always comes the rain
Followed by hurt and pain
After the light comes the dark
After the love comes the breaking of my
heart
I am the spaceman flying high
I am the astronaut in the sky
Don't worry, I'm okay now
I am the light in the dark
I am the match; I am the spark
Don't worry, I'm okay now
I am the spaceman flying high
I am the astronaut in the sky
Don't worry, I'm okay now
I am the light in the dark
I am the match; I am the spark
Don't worry, I'm okay now
Just dry your eyes, and I'll be there
Don't live for anger or despair
Don't worry, I'm okay now
I'm okay, I'm okay now
 Reflection
• Did the mood/theme of the song match with what you
thought from the words given?
• Do you think your own verse was better / worse?
Why?
• Did this activity manage to…
Create an opportunity for creative collaborative
writing?
Instill phonetic awareness and phonetic
development?
Sharpen the listening skills?
• If yes, how was it done?
• Did this activity have the elements of fun learning –
exploratory, challenging, novel, meaningful?
• In so doing, did it make learning English fun and
engaging, meaningful and purposeful?
 Group Activity

How will you adapt this activity for

your own classroom teaching?
• What did you like / not like about this
activity?
• Which part of the activity will you adapt for
your classroom teaching?
• What is the plan?
• Share the plan with the whole group
Are you ready for the next
activity?
Resource
• Writing poems with Spark
(http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/writin
g-poems-%E2%80%98spark%E2%80%99)
References
• http://www.growthengineering.co.uk/why-fun-
in-learning-is-important/
• https://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/20
11/01/31/9-essential-elements-for-fun-in-games/ (9
essential elements in fun games)
• http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04
/11/why-does-music-feel-so-good/ (music and the
brain)
• http://www.scilearn.com/blog/dopamine-learning-
brains-reward-center-teach-educators (dopamine)