Top 6 Strategies to Teach Languages Most Effectively

If you're a language teacher looking for innovative and impactful teaching methods, or if you're simply fascinated by the art of language learning, then you're in the right place! In this post, we dive into 6 proven strategies that transform language teaching from a routine classroom activity into an engaging, dynamic, and highly effective learning experience.

1. Make Your Lesson Real and Relevant

Mastering a language doesn't just end with learning it; the true goal is to actively use it in our daily lives. So one of the best ways to teach a language is to embed it in daily life scenarios. You can craft exercises that mimic everyday situations and integrate grammar and vocabulary teaching in these daily life scenarios. This approach not only keeps students interested but also helps them use it in real life.

Tip: Start with simple, everyday tasks: ordering at a restaurant, buying a bus or train ticket, mailing a package, asking for directions, or introducing themselves to someone new. You could pair up students to have role-plays of these daily life scenarios using the newly taught language knowledge.

2. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

The CLIL approach principally involves studying one subject (for example, literature, science, or history) and learning a language, such as English, at the same time — effectively integrating the two subjects. Language teaching is organized around the subject rather than that of the target language. This method might apply to the intermediate or advanced level of language learning when students already have some foundation in the target language.

Tip: It’s critically important to make sure that the integration is clear and that the content is of your students’ interest. Having said that, the CLIL approach does create significant opportunities for cross-curricular working; it opens up language learning to a wider context and can be used to re-engage previously demotivated students.

3. Gamify Your Language Lessons

Gamification makes language learning more engaging and fun. Young students are especially attracted to little rewards like badges and they could work as an effective motivational factor in encouraging student participation and task completion. At the same time, some friendly competition is always welcome.

Tip: You can establish a point leaderboard system based on solid classroom rules such as “participating in class discussion actively” and “helping each other”. For example, a gamified virtual classroom Funclass provides you with all the handy interactive tools like embedded gamified quizzes, mini-games, leaderboards, XP rewards, badges, and quests to maximize your student engagement. In addition, it is based on a magic theme with students being wizards and fighting off virtual monsters by participating in class activities. With the XP rewards earned in class, students can level up their wizard avatars and show off their learning progress.

Relevant reading: 10 Fun Activities for Online Language Teaching

4. Leverage the Forgetting Curve

Ever wondering why students can’t remember the newly taught vocabulary and grammar? The forgetting curve, proposed by Hermann Ebbinghaus, illustrates how information is lost over time when there's no attempt to retain it. In language learning, this means that students are likely to forget new vocabulary or grammar rules if they don't review them regularly.

Tip: To counteract the forgetting curve, spaced repetition is a learning and teaching technique that involves increasing intervals of time between subsequent reviews of previously learned material to exploit the psychological spacing effect. You can also teach the same words in different contexts for students to truly master the usage of the vocabulary. This could include flashcards, quizzes, or conversational practice that reinforces earlier lessons.

5. Connect New Knowledge to Existing Knowledge

Learning is more effective when new knowledge is built on existing knowledge, especially for language learning since it includes a lot of memorization. When you are teaching new grammar rules or vocabulary, you can try to draw the connection between the target language and the languages that your students already know such as their native language.

Tip: For example, if you're teaching Spanish to English speakers, highlight similarities and differences between the two languages. Point out cognates - words that are similar in both languages like 'profresor' (professor) and 'clase' (class), and how both languages use subject-verb-object structure but differ in adjective placement. By linking new lessons to familiar concepts, students can more easily assimilate and recall the new information. This approach not only aids memory but also deepens their understanding of how different languages interrelate.

6. Teach the Culture Behind the Language

Learning a language is about more than just words and grammar rules; it's a gateway to understanding a whole new culture and way of life. Try using a wide variety of cultural materials in the language you're teaching.

Tip: Things like social media, podcasts, field trips, and native music, films, and TV shows can really make the language come alive. Pick a movie or TV series clip in the target language, then students can listen to authentic conversations, work on their pronunciation, and pick up new words, all while enjoying the latest hit series!

Hopefully, these 6 strategies will help you improve your teaching so that your students can develop their second language skills even further!