Learner Variables Activity

Overview:
Learner Audience & Level:

Learner: English class of 5th grade in elementary school in South Korea (ESL Class)

Level: Mix

Time & Period

Three days, one class a day.

Activity type: A project that help students to explore English learning motivations, Foreign
Language Anxiety(FLA) and find ways to solve it.

Activity goals:

1. Motivates students learning English by exploring their actual motivation.

2. By talking and presenting Foreign Language Anxiety(FLA) with group members, students can

ease their burden on use of English. Also while discussing solutions to deal with anxieties

throughout the class, they feel that Foreign Language Anxiety(FLA) is not a personal difficulty

but a problem to be dealt with throughout the class.

1st Class: Motivate through Finding Motivation

Activity 1: Talk about Motivation with Group Members

- Students think about their motivation to learn English, or their experiences of wishing they

could speak English well, having trouble understand English, or being confused.

- While discussing their experiences with the group members, students think about what

motivates them to learn English.

- Students write down the motivations for learning English, which they talked with their group

members on the group board.

Activity 2: Present in front of classmates and chunk idea together

- Each group presents their idea in turn.

- While listening students’ presentation, the teacher chunks the opinions by writing them on

the board.

Ex) To travel abroad, to pay games with foreign friends, to talk freely with foreign friends etc.

Activity 3: Find and Express My Motivation

- Students choose the one closest to their English learning motivation.

- Students write down their English learning motivation on the Motivation Card and express

their future in simple writing and drawing.

2nd-3rd Class: Finding Solutions of Anxieties together

Activity 1: Think and Find Anxiety

- Students think about the factors that interfere with their learning English such as Foreign

Language Anxiety(FLA).

- Students discuss about anxiety or the factors that interfere with their learning English with

their group members.

- Students write down their discussion on the group board.

Activity 2: Present in front of classmates and chunk idea together

- Each group presents their idea in turn.

- While listening students’ presentation, the teacher chunks the opinions by writing them on

the board.

Activity 3: Explore solutions with classmates about anxieties/problems

- Students explore ways that all class members can corporate together to solve their anxieties

and problems.

- Students find each solution for each problem.

Ex)
 1. I am worried that my friends will tease me if I speak in wrong English. (Anxiety) -> Errors

can also appear when we use Korean, and now we are learning English. So don’t laugh

or tease about the English spoken by our friends. (Solution)

2. I don’t know the words well. (Anxiety) -> Place a dictionary beside you and look for

words you don’t know. Ask a friends or teacher, don’t make fun of or be afraid to ask.

(Solution)

Activity 4: Make a Poster about Solutions

- Students divide the solutions they have created together into groups and make them into

posters.

- Put the posters made by students in the classroom and refer to them for a year.

Reflective Statement
This class will be held as the first English class after the new school year begins. In

elementary school in Korea, students start learning English when they are in third grade. In the fifth

grade of elementary school, the gap in English learning begins to widen, and it is easy for students to

lose their motivation to learn English. The process of talking about why students should learn and

why they want to learn English, and discuss with other students about the topic in their first English

class in fifth grade helps students think about the need and purpose of learning English again and

motivate them. When students write down their motivation in their motivation card after listening to

other students’ experiences, they can specify their motivations and explore the process of changing

their motivations.

In the second and third classes, students can recognize problems in their English learning

processes by considering factors such as anxiety that interfere with their motivation to learn English.

After recognizing their problems or anxieties and sharing them with their group members, students

can explore ways to solve them with their classmates. Since students throughout the classroom, not

individuals, find solutions together and agree to put them into practice, students reduce the burden

of having to solve problems on their own. In addition, by making posters with solutions, explored
together, and posting them, students can see them in every class and make them a habit.