2.

1 Whole brain learning

So, how does whole brain learning affect what happens in the classroom?
The point we're trying to make here is that we can make learning more effective by making our activities 'whole-brain'.
If in our activities we have something for the predominantly left-brained, the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learner,
we are helping all our learners learn according to their preferred learning style.

Think about the following quote by George Isaac Brown on the subject of whole-brain learning:
"We have a mind. We have feelings. To separate the two is to deny all that we are. To integrate the two is to help us
realise what we might be."

This means that in a lesson, with the older category of young learners - pre-teens or teenagers - there might be
opportunities to analyse language structures.
This would appeal to our mainly left-brained learners. But in the same lesson we also need to create opportunities for
the other learning styles.
So for visual learners you might include pictures, posters or graphs, the auditory learners would need some kind of
sound or vocal input, while kinaesthetic learners need to do something. It's all a matter of balancing what you do in the
class.

The following activity tries to show what a lesson looks like from the point of view of learners with different learning
styles.
Read the following learner comments about a teacher and decide if the learner in each case is predominantly visual,
auditory or kinaesthetic. Once you have decided, click Did you guess my learning style? to see if your guess
is correct.

Learner 1

"I like it when my teacher uses pictures or games with bits of information on card or
something. I especially like well-presented information on cards - they’re easy to learn
from.
"There's one teacher, Ms. B, who loves talking but not writing on the blackboard. I hate
that class and luckily I love reading so I go home and read on the topic. And even when
she gives us instructions, she thinks that once she's said them then that's OK and
everyone knows what to do. I have to ask my friends to go through them again with me."

That's right - I'm mainly a visual learner.

  

Learner 2

"Oh, I love Ms. B's class! She explains everything so clearly. Some of my friends say that
she's a terrible teacher but I don't know what they are talking about!
"I love discussions and although I love speaking I think I'm really a good listener too. My
friends think I'm good at impersonating the teachers and reading aloud. I'm not very good
 at maths and writing, though. That's because they're so quiet!"

That's right - I'm mainly an auditory learner.

  

Learner 3

"Ms. B's class is so boring! Talk! Talk! Talk! I mean she really knows how to put everyone
in a class to sleep. And she’s always telling me to sit still, not to swing my legs when I am
trying to understand something. Sometimes she asks us to read aloud but she doesn't like
me to use my finger to follow the lines.
"I wish we could do things in class and not just sit still all the time!"

That's right - I'm mainly a kinaesthetic learner!

  

Research has shown that it is not really the quantity of input that is important in learning but what the learner does with
it. This is a point worth keeping in mind while preparing a lesson.
Another point to remember when planning is your own learning style. If you, the teacher, have the same learning style
as a few of your learners, then you will be more predisposed to help them with their learning.
But what about the rest of the students who have different learning styles? You have to include activities that will
stimulate their learning style too. This will make you a more effective teacher.

3.1 Learning styles and the implications for teaching

Look at these two quotes on the primary learner and VAK (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles):
"Attending, concentrating and memorising are activities. Simply asking a child aged five or six to pay attention,
concentrate, study, learn or remember is unlikely to bear fruit. Unless we embody the material to be learned and
remembered in a task that makes sense to the child, one that involves objectives [s/he] can realise and that draws
[his/her] attention 'naturally' to the elements we wish [him/her] to take in, our imperatives to concentrate, memorise or
learn are bound to fail ... An example is given by Wood of children being asked to memorise the names of toy animals.
If they are asked to point to and verbally label each animal, they are more likely to remember the names than when
simply asked to remember the names without accompanying actions."
"They (primary learners) need physical movement and activity as much as stimulation for their thinking, and the closer
together these can be, the better."
Brumfit, C., Moon, J. and Tongue, R. (1996)
Teaching English to Children - from practice to principle.
England: Longman

What do you think of these quotes? How realistic do you think they are for the average young learner and your
classroom situation? Can you think of any problems?