Immersion is the Best Motivation

The past two years I've enjoyed teaching at Yi-Xian Elementary. It is known for being one of about a dozen schools in Taipei, Taiwan with an English Village, where classrooms have been remodeled to resemble places one would frequent in their life.

If immersion is the best way to learn a new language, this is the next best thing to flying 30 kids halfway around the world to an American diner or an Italian kitchen. It's difficult to have students pretend to be somewhere they haven't seen and to associate vocabulary to items they don't normally use.

You have to consider the power of role-playing. When we go to the theater, we are transported to other places and times not only by the amazing actors, but by the captivating sets and costumes that create the environment. Here, students are already hooked and the teacher reels them in by playing the part of the flamboyant chef or sheik hotel receptionist.

Kids are already blessed with an overactive imagination. With the right environment providing guidance and structure, their motivation to think and learn increases exponentially. These situation centers provide an incredible blend of aural, visual, and kinesthetic stimuli to transport them out of their normal routines into somewhere novel and exotic.

Language and memory are connected. The experiences these students make are creating new pathways in their brains for English to be rooted. Learning a new language is fun and rewarding when you can see your hard work bear fruit.