Modern education trends assert the importance of fun as a major function in the learning experience. Many teachers offering courses to adults emphasize their aptness at making learning a fun activity. But, should learners concern themselves so much with wanting to be entertained by their comedian teacher? Is the focus on making learning fun a subliminal declaration that the action of learning is an unbearable task most students are unwilling to tackle? Should we placate potential learners with delusions that any difficult learning task can be transformed into a happy hand-holding frolic in the park with the teacher? From the offset, should students be made to realize the necessary determination required to fully integrate new information into their neural pathways? What is the specific impact of fun in learning on students of English as another language?
All people in every walk of life are more successful if they are charismatic, a wise and charismatic teacher can make learning more exciting and I might refer to such a teacher as being fun (he is fun to listen to) though the subject matter of their teaching might be anything but fun - except to those with a keen interest in the matter who might be just as fascinated with the material was it presented by an automaton.
Being interested in a subject stimulates a learner’s innate qualities of determination and motivation, there is no greater joy for a teacher than to work with a determined and motivated learner. Many ESL learners have as their “motivation” to learn English, their need to either pass an exam or for their career advancement. Regrettably, these types of motivations do not inspire a genuine interest in learning the language and the language learning, becomes a hassle.
We live in an age where we are barraged with media notions that everything in life needs to be fun and exciting – the commercials for selling baby diapers are designed to imply using their brand will make the chore of cleaning the baby’s messy diaper a fun and enjoyable experience. But do parents change diapers for the fun of it or for the love and necessity of it?
Learner’s need to embrace the process of learning as excitement in of itself. As a writer, graphic designer, educational media producer, actor, educator, husband, and parent I am challenged daily with needing to update my knowledge to meet the demands of the things I am passionate about. Many of my learning challenges frustrate me to the edge of my last nerve, and it is there that I experience the joy of overcoming the barriers between me and what I endeavor to accomplish.
There is a psychological concept of locus of control (an interesting subject for those that enjoy learning for the sake of learning), in simplistic terms :Rotter, Julian B (1966). “A person's "locus" is conceptualized as internal (a belief that one can control one's own life) or external (a belief that life is controlled by outside factors which the person cannot influence, or that chance or fate controls their lives).”
People with a strong external locus of control tend to praise or blame external factors such as the teacher or the exam. If they are learning well, the teacher is good; if they are not learning well, the teacher is bad. These people will move from teacher to teacher placing on the teacher, the responsibility for their learning or lack thereof.
Those with an “Internal” locus believe more strongly that they are mostly responsible for their destiny. Having an Internal locus of control can also be referred to as "self-agency", "personal control", "self-determination", etc. These people will consider the teacher as being less responsible for their learning and might not (as in myself) ever resort to a teacher for the knowledge we seek.
I digress, let me make my point for those who have read this far.
Children must be taught to embrace learning for learning sake and to get them started song and dance is a useful tool. If the child is not weaned from the "theatrics" it just might grow dependent upon them and mature in the expectation of learning needing to be fun.
Any professional that had to hunker down for years of study to pass Bar, medical licensing, or any of the myriad of careers that required hard work, might be insulted if you ask them was learning their trade a 'fun' romp in the park with a teacher.
As a former performer on the Broadway Stage, I love to act, give me an audience and a stage and I am ready to go. But when mentoring my learners, I don’t sing and I don’t dance, my work is to focus the learner on what they need to do, help them to acquire the necessary tools, wind them up, and let them go (I like to think I am charismatic in the process). If they are the determined learner, they will accomplish their tasks. If they refuse to read, and write, and study their given assignments, if they are content to be the D and C student, I must advise them to find a teacher – which is a role I choose not play.
Learning ‘aint’ necessarily fun and if you think someone needs to make the task of learning a fun activity for you; perhaps you need to get you some Internal locus of control, then, read some novels written in English (who among you has “EVER” read a novel written in English?), write as much as you can write, study the vocabulary of every word you are even slightly unfamiliar with, and find a good English language professional to guide you on your path of self-determination to learn English.
