Primary Success Stories: Getting primary students interested in learning English

A primary school teacher shares her story of how she has generated interest in English with a large group of primary pupils.

In this video, Indumati from Bihar, India, talks about how she has managed to generate interest in learning English in a context where English is not a compulsory subject.

With only a blackboard and a class of 200 primary learners, Indumati explains how she takes a short simple text and exploits it in a fun, engaging and interactive way. Using only gestures and ‘slap the board’, Indumati has managed to engage and motivate a large group of learners who had no reason to learn English.

Reflection and discussion

One of the purposes of these resources is to help you with your own teacher development in related contexts. The questions in task 1 and task 2 are designed for you to think about and discuss with colleagues, either informally or as part of your formal professional development.

If this video is not available for viewing in your location, please click here

Bookmark this

Comments

Challenges to evoke interest towards the English language

I teach English language in a school (PMS) in a town near Lahore. It's a fact that there are inadequate facilities in most of the elementary and high schools in my country. But I think still we have ways to make the pupils interested in English language. Of course, the size of the classes is too big in my school. There are average 45 students in each class. I often conduct different game activities in pairs and small groups from grade six to ten. Students in these classes take part energetically in activities. I wonder that they wait for the 'English language period' anxiously. It was really difficult in start for me, but once you are able to bring them on track, it becomes easy to teach. Although result are not satisfactory at this stage but I believe most of the students will be able to acquire sufficient knowledge and proficiency in English language in near future.