Applying innovative teaching strategies to the classroom is a tacit, understanding that our teaching methods can be improved. It accepts the need to grow and develop, which is exactly what we ask of our students.

 We identify room for improvement. We invest our time in researching and thinking of better strategies to teach our students. We create something new or adapt existing methods. We take risks. We may fail. We try again. We iterate and by doing so, establish a culture of innovation and creativity in the classroom that inspires our students to do the same. 

After all, students that are actively engaged in their learning are less likely to be absent from the class and more likely to succeed academically. 

It is important to take a student-centric approach to our methods. Do students gain more from class by sitting passively in their seats for a 40-minute lecture? Or, are they more likely to learn by actively participating in the class by asking questions, collaborating on projects, and problem-solving? Let’s look at some of the innovative teaching strategies in English that teachers use in their classrooms to improve student engagement and academic outcomes. 

1.    Teach Through Play. ...

Play is fun and freeing. It allows students to get engaged with English in a low-stakes, entertaining setting. It creates positive associations with the language and provides the space for unique ideas or new questions to come to the surface.

2.    Incorporate Students' Interests into Your Lessons. ...

We wouldn’t have the expression “curiosity killed the cat” if curiosity wasn’t a strong motivator. Students must have some favourite cartoons which they watch, try teaching Grammar from those cartoons.

3.    Celebrate Student Accomplishments. ...

Celebration is a great way to support the successes of your students, and you should make room to celebrate often. Example You can create class books containing work from each of your students and put the book on display for all the members of your class to enjoy. You might laminate pages and bind them or make your book by placing student work into plastic sleeves and compiling them in a three-ring binder.

4.    Encourage Reflective Thinking. ...

One of the best ways to do this is to encourage reflective thinking or considering and analysing the surrounding world and past events. For English learners, it means being able to learn from mistakes and decide what goals, practice habits and language tools will help in the path to fluency.for example, if you recently assigned a book report, you might ask the students to list three things they enjoyed about putting together their own report and one thing about the process that could’ve gone better.

5.    Foster Connections Between Students.

At the end of the day, teaching English isn’t really about vocabulary lists and grammar drills. It’s about getting students to effectively communicate in English. It’s important that your creative teaching methods home in on this goal if you want them to have a real impact.

Example: Pair students up with different classmates, always giving them a common goal. As they pursue their goals and then achieve them, they’ll develop mutual understanding and encouragement and will support one another.

Teaching English creatively is much more challenging than including creative projects in traditional education methods, but it’s so very worth it. When our students can think for themselves and express their thoughts, support each other, and explore and evaluate their own ideas, they’ll be confident learners, speakers and thinkers in the English language.

As long as we’re innovating, we are growing. Give it a go, it’s always an exciting time to be in the classroom. It’s especially exciting now while many are looking to introduce innovative teaching strategies as solutions.