The building blocks of learning: Alternative uses of Lego in the ELT classroom

LEGO Bricks are toys. They are items that students willingly seek out to play with and get excited to receive. That is one of the things that make them so useful to teachers. Lessons taught using LEGO Bricks don’t feel like dull schoolwork. On the contrary, students might feel like they’re getting away with something.

The idea that students can learn something valuable from play is not new, or even controversial. A sizeable body of research has been conducted to back up what many teachers already knew to be true.  Fun and learning do not have to be mutually exclusive as it works better for everyone involved when they are not.

As such, making LEGO Bricks part of a lesson plan can help teach concepts that students might otherwise find tedious, in a way that does not feel like work to them.

This session will focus on a number of different ways to use LEGO bricks for the practice of various skills and systems including:

• Speaking
• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Grammar
• Pronunciation
• Functions

The workshop will take on a participant centred approach drawing upon the experiences, successes and failures of those attending the session. Ideas will be shared amongst those present as well as be made aware of other tried and tested techniques using the LEGO bricks already available from home. Should the participants not have any LEGO pieces at home there is no need to worry. All participants at the session will go home with the materials that are provided to them during the session. Various areas of classroom management will be targeted during this session.

Session 2

Digital Storytelling with LEGO StoryVisualizer

EFL Teachers at all levels can use Digital Storytelling in many ways, from introducing new material, to helping students learn to conduct independent research, synthesize large amounts of content and gain expertise in the use of digital communication and authoring tools within an English Language speaking environment. It also can help students organize these ideas as they learn to create stories for an audience, and present their ideas and knowledge in an individual and meaningful way. Throughout the session participants experience and learn how digital storytelling can be used to:

• Appeal to the diverse learning styles of students by using Digital Storytelling as a presentation media;
• Generate interest, attention and motivation for the “digital generation” in our classrooms;
• Capitalise on the creative talents of students as they begin to research and tell stories of their own;
• Publish student work for viewing and critiquing by others;
• Promote the accomplishment of cross-curricular academic standards and learning objectives

Session 3

The Silent Method – Using LEGO as a catalyst for learning

The main aim of the session is to provide teachers with practical ideas on how to reduce their TTT (Teacher talking time) and in turn increase learner engagement. Through means of a demonstration lesson, the trainer uses various methods of communication other than talking to prove that talking is not the only method of communication available to the teacher in order to get a message across. The trainer is completely silent throughout this section of the session to emphasise the above mentioned point.

LEGO pieces, Powerpoint or Prezi presentations, basic images and meticulous planning all play a part in the success of the demo lesson that will be “facilitated”. The demo will be followed up with reflection and a discussion on what worked and what didn’t, how else this method could be applied in class and to which language point or skills and how. The session will conclude with the participants putting into practice what they have gained through the session and will also be given

Session 4

An introduction to Virtual Reality for Language Learning

The session will introduce participants to the possibilities related to using Virtual Reality(VR) for education purposes. Studies have proven evidence that learning language within an immersed context is more effective than in a classroom. VR tears down the walls of the classroom and immerses its user within a world that looks, sounds and feels as real it gets without actually being within a particular context. Through theory and live demonstrations participants will be able to witness first-hand the benefits and limitless possibilities that VR has to offer to learning whilst keeping the application of the technology as simple as possible so as to build a bridge between current media and the future. The session will also offer participants to come up with their own ideas on how to implement VR within the classroom.