Rachael Harris made a nice presentation in which she focussed on the links between well-being and learning foreign languages. As language teachers we can find and develop special activities to make our learners become engaged while learning in class. Well-being is important for us and for our learners. We can rely on plenty of tips now and it is important go beyond the traditional lessons.
It is important to feel how your students are feeling when they are with you. Social networks can also help us to interact with the young students : FB or Instagram are mentioned but I would also add any activity online where we interact with them. This can be done when you are not at school but it implies that you really care.
We could see interesting activities where students could interact and express themselves. Students can work with you and " have some fun".
Among the activities she suggested are making presentations and working on talks like the ones found on line thanks to TED talks.
Teachers can encourage students to write their journals where they reflect and think about their well-being.
All the tasks and activities have a linguistic aim or value. It is up to the teachers to incorporate some activities that have to do with well-being while they are using the language in meaningful tasks.
Bibliography ( suggested by the speaker)
