Creating happiness in a reading class: A case study

Tóm tắt

Reading, especially for the English majored bachelors, is usually tiring and boring as they have to study long reading texts and long sessions. This research is a case study in which the writer attempts to raise students’ learning spirits in reading sessions by carrying out some physical activities; collective spirit-raising activities; games which include physical movements, PowerPoint and Kahoot; emotion showing actions; funny stories and riddles. The paper first presents the research base on learners’ motivation, then analyzes  the findings from the questionnaire asking students’ opinions on the effectiveness of the activities  in promoting students’ spirits. Finally, the writer draws up some suggestions for promoting students’ learning spirits, including turning tasks into games, letting students show their team spirits and solidarity in class, paying attention to students’ feelings, integrating with drawings and visual arts, incorporating funny stories and riddles into lessons, breaking lectures into small parts, making students stand up and move, or do something different, or give them a short break with some quick relaxing activites. These ideas can also be applied broadly in any other classes, not being restricted in reading classes.