Humanistic Teaching

An approach to learning English

Recently I've been posting about motivation and the importance of having balanced challenges. This week I thought I'd include a simple challenge that has been successful with teenagers: Number Challenge. It's very simple. Students are challenged to count upwards within a time limit dictated by a piece of background music:

• Round 1: Count up to ten
• Round 2: Count up to twenty in twos
• Round 3: Count up to thirty in threes
• Round 4: Count up to forty in fours
• Round 5: Count up to fifty in fives
• Round 6: Count up to one hundred in tens 

I've provided three mp3 files so that you can try this out for yourself. numberchallenge.mp3 is a demonstration. numberchallenge_novoice.mp3 is the complete file with no voice for the complete challenge. numberchallenge_loop.mp3 is a cut down loop for practise.

When I do the challenge I play the demonstration track first so students can see what they are aiming at. Then I usually get them to practise in pairs with students taking turns listening and prompting each other. Usually I get students to master each round individually before doing the whole thing with no break.

I can't remember a time when mastering this simple sequence hasn't proved popular. I think this is because it is a very clear, and clearly doable challenge, though the pace is fast. It starts off very easily but then gets difficult before the two final rounds which are straightforward. I think this helps. I think there is a lot to be said for challenges that are tough but get easier at the end. Psychologically they give students a bigger boost.

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