Dynamic English as a Foreign Language Activities Your Learners Won`t Refuse

For Bored, Uninterested, Reluctant EFL Learners

As you begin yet another scholastic year or higher education semester, you’re once again faced with the necessity of circumventing the problems of having bored, uninterested and reluctant English as a foreign language learners among the sea of faces in your EFL class room. Motivating foreign language learners – especially those who may not voluntarily want to be in class can become a major obstacle to your success if you allow conditions to degenerate. Don’t let that happen. Fight back and win over those learners using these eight dynamic EFL activity types your learners simply won’t refuse.

• English Language Learning Games

All of your English language learners ju8st love to play games. How do I know? Because that’s true virtually everywhere worldwide, that’s how. Any game you know can be converted and played in English or whatever the target language you’re teaching is. From Tic-Tac-Toe (noughts and crosses) or “Tricky”, to checkers, Monopoly, Sorry and a seemingly unending slew of other TPR and board games, playing them in English can be an almost effortless way to motivate and reach even the most reluctant learners.

• Using Music in the EFL Classroom

English and foreign language learners love music in a wide variety of types and formats. So use music throughout class room activities and as an activity in itself. Time activities with popular songs, lip-sunc, demeonstrate vocabulry and lexical elements in context. Dramatize songs as a TPR activity or discuss cultural elements, even ask your language learners for their ideas and input for related activites. Don’t flounder like a fish out of water, do something. Get recordings and musical selections from your learners too.

• Performing Dramas and Comedy

There’s a little ham in all of us, so use that quality to stimulate your EFL learners while in English or other foreign language classes. Your “dramas” can be as simple as two-party enacted dialogues or as complex as fully-staged productions lasting two or more acts. The key is to elicit the interests of your learners then build on those interests using the media of drama.

• Watching Movies and Videos
If you’re not too keen on using full-length features in your foreign language class room, no problem. Just use selected, dramatic clips from the movies to engage your learners in the scenes and settings. Survey their favorite actors, actresses and entertainers – then use that info to make insider-informed decisions on what to prepare. Movies and scene clips can be great for dialogue practice, illustration vocabulary, grammar and other lexical elements in context.

We’ll continue this theme with even more dynamic EFL or other foreign language learning activities your learners won’t refuse in part two of this article post. So see you then.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, "If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.