Elements of ‘Flow’ and EAL Lesson Plans

This post is a discussion of how Csikszentmihalyi’s elements of ‘flow’ apply to EAL lesson plans.

Clearly stated goals/objectives provide a focus to lessons and inform the teacher’s decisions when planning learning activities, when to give students feedback, the best assessment tools to use and when to assess students’ performance. Clear objectives lets students know the skills they will learn and be assessed on. Students can also monitor and assess their own progress when they know the skills that need to be learned. When students are in the process of monitoring their learning against the lesson objectives, they will be focused and in the ‘flow’.

Immediate feedback from the teacher about the use of the new skills lets students know if are using them correctly. If a student is incorrect, he has an opportunity to restructure the response with the teacher’s assistance. A feeling of accomplishment and success is encouraging to students and keeps them engaged in the learning and in the ‘flow’.
Students’ interest will be elevated when the learning is meaningful and relevant and serves a purpose outside the classroom. They will be able to connect the learning to some aspect of their lives. It may be a grammar skill and/or vocabulary they can use for a hobby, at work, in their daily activities or to improve social relationships. For example, if lesson objectives are to learn how to ask questions about someone’s activities, and answer in complete sentences, students will be able to apply these skills to most daily activities. Planning lessons objectives around skills students can use outside the classroom will keep them interested and focused on the task at hand.

Good planning can minimize the fear of failure by designing lessons that are within the students’ zone of proximal development and by scaffolding the difficulty level from one learning activity to the next. Students will be engaged in the lessons when there is a balance between challenges and skills.

A safe and comfortable learning environment and atmosphere reduces stress and self-conscientiousness and promotes engagement in the learning activities. Students feel comfortable speaking to others in class and taking risks with new skills and vocabulary.

Fun and enjoyable learning experiences will keep students interested and the activities are more likely to be enjoyed for their own sake. Using a variety of learning strategies and resources such as role playing, songs, games, pictures, realia and graphics adds variety and interest to lessons. For example, if students are trying to figure out who has lost a bag of items by identifying the items; they will complete the activity for the sake of trying to identify the owner of the bag and won’t realize the grammar skills and vocabulary they are practicing.

I think good lesson planning and ‘flow’ go hand-in-hand.