Immersive learning goes beyond traditional classroom methods and is something that I am sure we all employ to some extent. Rather than focusing solely on grammar drills and vocabulary lists, this approach encourages students to use English actively in real-world contexts. Students can gain confidence and fluency more quickly by creating an environment where English is not just the subject of study but the medium of communication.

Benefits of Immersive Learning

1. Increased Engagement: Immersive learning puts students at the centre of the learning experience. Students actively participate and think in English through simulations, role-playing, or real-life conversations. This heightened engagement fosters a deeper connection to the language.
2. Contextual Understanding: Learning English in context helps students grasp nuances that might be missed through rote memorisation. For instance, understanding idiomatic expressions or cultural references becomes easier when students experience them firsthand in conversation or media.
3. Faster Fluency: The more students are exposed to English in an immersive environment, the faster they develop fluency. They learn to think in English, respond spontaneously, and overcome the hesitation that comes with trying to translate from their native language.

Potential Ways to Create an Immersive Learning Environment

1. Encourage English-Only Spaces: One effective way to create an immersive experience is by establishing English-only zones in the classroom or even outside of it. Encouraging students to use only English during group activities or casual conversations helps build their confidence. This is something we encourage at the elementary school I work in.
2. Utilise Technology: The digital world offers numerous opportunities for immersion. Encourage students to watch English-language films, listen to podcasts, or engage in online communities where English is the primary language. Interactive platforms like language learning apps or virtual language exchanges can also simulate an immersive environment. The aim is not just to use technology for its own sake but to achieve specific pedagogic goals.
3. Incorporate Authentic Materials: Exposing students to real-world English, such as newspapers, menus, social media posts, and TV commercials, can help them learn how the language is used daily. These materials not only make learning more fun but also give students a chance to see how the language evolves.
4. Host English-Language Events: Organizing events like English-only debates, book clubs, or cultural immersion days where students explore English-speaking cultures can provide meaningful practice. These activities help students apply their language skills in informal, enjoyable settings. My school hosts an inter-school language exchange class once a year with our sister school in Australia. Thre students really enjoy the experience and gain real-world confidence in their English.

Overcoming Challenges

While immersive learning is a powerful method, it can be challenging for some students, especially those at the beginner level. Teachers can support students by scaffolding the learning process. This can start with basic language use and gradually increasing the complexity of activities. Encouragement and patience are key, as students may initially feel overwhelmed. Additionally, creating an inclusive environment where mistakes are viewed as part of the learning journey helps reduce anxiety and build student confidence. 

Not all of these ideas will be possible within our teaching environments, however,  continuing to work towards a more immersive environment is a worthwhile goal. Decisions on which methods our students respond well to can then be made throughout the process.

Immersive learning transforms the TEFL experience from passive to active, making the learning process more enjoyable and effective. By incorporating immersion strategies, we can help our students not only learn English but live it giving them the tools they need to thrive in an English-speaking world.

Image Source: Freepik

Practitioner inquiry begins with identifying a problem or issue in the classroom. This could be a challenging area for students, an activity with unsatisfactory results, or behavioural issues. In my case, I focused on helping students with pronunciation and listening, specifically the English /r/ and /l/ sounds. While my research project had a narrow focus, practitioner inquiry is highly adaptable. You could easily expand the topic to address a wide range of issues. 

Next, a plan of action needs to be devised to tackle the issue. The action itself involves an intervention into the current practices used in the classroom to improve the situation. In this case, I felt that the current pronunciation and listening practices I was employing were not really tackling the issue. So I wanted to assess whether incorporating songs that target problematic sounds could help. The current curriculum already uses songs as part of warm-ups and vocabulary practice for each new unit of the textbook. Hence, the students are already familiar with their use, and it will not be an intrusive intervention or require large amounts of time to be diverted. Over two months, I plan to incorporate songs that target the usage of English /r/ and /l/ to assess whether any effects can be detected at all. 

This leads into the observation phase, which involves observing the results through the data collected during the action phase above and analysing them. Lastly, and most importantly, is the reflection phase. This involves reflecting on the entire process, the results, final interpretations, and whether you will incorporate any new ideas into your teaching or whether you have thought of new ideas or areas that you can further research going forward. This process of reflection is something we are all familiar with as teachers, but I must admit that personally, I was fairly haphazard with this in the past. Going through the entire process systematically will allow me to be reflective in my practice far more easily in the future and is something I intend to keep doing for my professional development, regardless of whether it is tied to external study. 

By doing research in our classrooms, we can enact research that actually leads to tangible outcomes for not just ourselves but our students. Improvements can made in real time, not simply published in a journal or a university textbook. I understand that for all of us, time is an issue, but if you ever find yourself with some free time at work or you think you may have noticed a recurring problem area that isn't being addressed by current practices, then I would urge you to give practitioner inquiry a try. It doesn't need to be as formal as a university project or a publication. It can be something as simple as keeping detailed notes on what things worked well regarding problem areas and what didn't, something I’m sure many of you are already doing. But if, like me, that is something that you haven't done much of in the past, then I would encourage you to take the time to give it a go. The feeling when you can see ideas working for your student's benefit in real-time is one that we can all enjoy as teachers.

Image Source: Pexels from Pixabay

These concerns were less relevant when I was working with middle school students who had been exposed to a broader range of English. However, as I now teach at an elementary school, I have learned that it is even more important to provide students with a consistent model of English as the teacher. Elementary students need clarification when they encounter something new in their own language, let alone a foreign one. I must admit I struggled at first to use language that my elementary year 2 students could understand as I was unfamiliar with the textbook or their English level initially. I fell into bad habits of using half sentences or single words to convey meaning. Both my school and I are against doing this if possible, and so eventually, I realised something had to be done to resolve this issue.

I decided to record audio recordings of myself periodically during class when appropriate. The goal here wasn’t to record the students but myself and the language I was using. I could then listen back to myself and assess whether I was using the target language for each lesson sufficiently and whether I was falling into bad habits mentioned above. I was then able to work out at which points during the lesson I struggled to keep consistency and write notes for myself to take into class. This is still an ongoing work in progress to this day. However, it has allowed me to greatly enhance the understanding of my students, the flow of my lessons and ultimately ensure that a balance is struck between using target language as well as authentic and natural speech in the classroom. I would encourage anyone with similar concerns to attempt the same method or a variation to assess their language usage in class. It has been a very rewarding process, and I will continue the process moving forward.

Image Source: RDNE Stock project from Pexels

I spent 3.5 years in the Jet Programme in Akita, northern Japan. When I first arrived, I was escaping a corporate job in Australia that I had no desire to return to but no real plan after that. Within my first year as an English teacher, I realised I genuinely enjoyed my work for the first time in my life and since then I’ve continued down that path. That has included working on getting further teaching credentials and moving to Tokyo for better career opportunities, which brought me here.

I work 5 days a week at an elementary school in Tokyo that prioritises English education. This year, we have changed how the curriculum is taught, which has been a collective effort by the English department. Taking part in the process has been eye-opening and a great experience for all involved. The goal is to accelerate learning by having native and non-native teachers teach from the chosen textbooks. This was not the case last year and the change has been positive.

At the elementary school level, we mainly focus on student's communication abilities in grades 1 and 2. However, many students at this school can read English well by grade 2 or 3, with some being native or near-native in their general English ability. As the current 1-4 grade students move up into the higher grades, they shall be moving up a textbook each time, which is in contrast to the previous system, which used 1 textbook for two grades. Hopefully, these new changes will allow our students to pursue more English-focused junior high schools in the future.

I look forward to the year ahead on this adventure and with Project Genius as well. 

Header image by Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons