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Lecture 5

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7 views

Lecture 5

Uploaded by

Azimboy Sadaddinov
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LECTURE 5

Teaching English to Generation Z and Alpha students


How to teach Generation Alpha students?
How to Engage Gen Alpha in Class? Incorporate higher-order thinking in
classroom teaching – Develop gen alpha's problem-solving, design thinking,
collaboration, and critical thinking help equip them with the skills they need to
become future innovators and leaders in their chosen fields.
How to teach Generation Z students?
1. Clear Directions: Provide straightforward, clear instructions for assignments and
activities.
2. Digital Integration: Incorporate educational technology into assignments,
classroom activities, and assessments.
3. Fast Content Delivery: Use quick, engaging delivery methods for content and
graphics.

What are the differences between Gen Z and Gen Alpha?


Gen Z is defined as those born between 1995 and 2012, meaning the oldest are
starting in their careers, and the youngest are in middle school. Meanwhile, Alphas'
birthdays range from 2013 to 2025, meaning the newest generation members
haven't even been born yet, and the oldest are beginning to pick up summer jobs.
What is the learning style of Generation Alpha?
Generation Alpha has been shown to develop characteristics such as hyper-
connectivity, independence, and visual learning. Alpha children are connected
more than ever due to their technologically based way of living. They also prefer to
learn visually, especially due to their technological involvement.
How to teach English to Generation Z?
You don't need to teach Generation Z the importance of being a team player. They
like working on teams using collaborative tools. In general, they like learning in a
supportive environment with teamwork. Generation Z likes to learn by working
with peers where the slower learners are supported by faster learners.

What is the difference between Generation Z and Alpha?


We are in the midst of a generational landmark, as Generation Z (born 1995-2009)
enter the workforce and Generation Alpha (born 2010-2024) move through their
schooling years.
Teaching English to generation Z students may require a change in teaching style.
In this article we take a look at the challenges facing teachers when teaching
Generation Z.

Generations come and go. They all have their unique characteristics, some shared
and some not. Generation Z or the Millennials, are no different when it comes to
the skills they need to understand English. They are different when it comes to
teaching style.

Generation Z is a social classification of people born since 2000. They are also
referred to as Millennials. The usual characteristics of Generation Z are social,
good at multitasking, speedy and are more inclined to instant gratification. Their
learning styles and preferences are different from people in previous social
classifications: Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y (see end for
definitions).

Generation Z students generally fall within the following:

1. They like to experiment and learn. They prefer learning by doing rather than
being told what to do or reading static books. Students can intuitively use a
wide range of technology. They like to tinker with the latest electronic
gadgets. They use the Internet to learn new material, to research what they
don’t know, to meet new people and make friends. They are creative on
social media. They take the initiative to learn new tools and apps. If they
don’t know something, they ask the digital world such as Google,
Wikipedia, etc.
2. The prefer visual learning. Technology has been present all their lives. They
are very comfortable with all sorts of digital devices. The list of available
technology changes quickly and Generation Z adapts to it as fast as the
changes arrive. They are used to interactive experiences at home or in school
where teachers should use rich visual effects to motivate, engage and teach
these students.
3. They are good team players. The other generations were told that working in
teams and being a good team player was an essential quality at work from an
entry to management levels. You don’t need to teach Generation Z the
importance of being a team player. They like working on teams using
collaborative tools. In general, they like learning in a supportive
environment with teamwork. Generation Z likes to learn by working with
peers where the slower learners are supported by faster learners. They learn
by building knowledge from each other. To them, there is nothing wrong if
you do not understand straight away when you are learning something new.
Generation Z likes to share their experiences in groups.
4. They tend to have short attention spans and multi-task well. The media-rich
environment that Generation Z has grown up in appears to have shortened
their attention span. If you ask them to work on the same thing for hours, it
would probably overwhelm or frustrate them. They will probably enjoy the
activities more if they can get several things done simultaneously, because
they can usually shift attention rapidly from one task to another. They are
generally able to multi-task better than their parents and can split their
attention between different activities. Thus, an teacher should not be
surprised by seeing a student listening to music, surfing the Internet, and
talking to friends on the phone while doing homework. These diverse
activities are all part of Generation Z’s daily life.
5. Edutainment. Derived from education and entertainment. Entertaining
education or educational entertainment. According to Wikipedia,
Edutainment typically seeks to instruct or socialize its audience by
embedding lessons in some familiar form of entertainment: television
programs, computer and video games, films, music, websites, multimedia
software, etc. Compared to the traditional teaching perspective of the older
generations, with Generation Z there is little importance given to the
teacher’s authority. Generation Z students value learning if they consider it
interactive with games and fun activities incorporated into the EFL/ESL and
curriculum.

The Good Teacher for the Generation Z

1. EFL/ESL teachers need to use more technology in their teaching strategies.


Teachers need to update their teaching strategies. They need to adopt more
technology-based tasks, include visual content and give students
opportunities to give and receive feedback. Start a class blog and think of
reasons how your class can use the class blog. How they contribute their
ideas on the blog and how you can teach them on the blog.
2. Bring movies into the class and get your students review the movies by
taking notes and discussing their findings in class.
3. Generation Z are multi-taskers so you can incorporate pictures, sounds,
video into all your teaching activities. You can have listening, drawing and
speaking activities at the same time.
4. Let them record and upload their presentations, reports on a social media
video channel and establish an online communication by bringing different
cultures and countries together.
5. Get them to access technology based sophisticated EFL and ESL sites to
create their own pictures

Conclusion

After all is said and done, after all the talk about tech savvy generations, teachers
are advised not to throw away all the traditional methods in favour of the new
technology based teaching strategies. The most practical way to look at this is for
teachers to innovate, technify, change within reason. As one saying goes, “If it
ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The traditional method of teaching EFL/ESL isn’t broken,
it just needs updating and upgrading.

TEFL and TESOL are for non-English speakers to learn English and we hope that
the young learners learn it as early as possible.

The players have changed but the EFL/ESL game is still the same.

Definition of terms used

 Baby Boomers – 1946 – 1964 – This large generation was due to the many
soldiers who returned home after World War II and started families. More
people were born in this twenty-year period than at any other time in United
States history.
 Generation X – born between 1965 – 80- This generation was much smaller
than the Boomer generation. Generation Xers have been generally
characterized as hard working, independent and skeptical.
 Generation Y – born between 1981 – 99 – This generation came into being
during the last two decades of the 20th century. Its members are identified as
confident, technologically advanced and often have a sense of entitlement.
 Generation Z – born between 2000 – present – This name refers to those
born since 2000. So far, this group has received little attention from a
cultural perspective.

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