Activities with Second Language Learners and Working Memory

I was back at tennis this past weekend. I go every weekend, so it is not surprising.

Photo by Lucas Davies on Unsplash

Tennis lessons always start with a warm-up. If this were a part of my own lessons, I might call it retrieval practice. We usually practice backhands and forehands for a few minutes at a fast pace. 

After warming up, we usually take a drink of water and then gather as a whole group to see what we will be doing. This part of the lesson is a station rotation model where we break up into four groups and practice different skills on different parts of the court. 

Then we play a match or a match-like game.

But, I want to focus on direction-giving here and how it can affect students.

The coach usually gathers us as a group and often numbers us off. Then we get the directions for the activities. Remember, this is up to four different stations that are explained to us. It can take a lot of effort to try to remember what is happening and how many balls we play until we change players. Finally, we need to remember which direction to rotate when changing stations.

The other day I found myself daydreaming during the directions. I have been taking lessons long enough to know what each station was, but I missed the details. 

I think it is best to number off after directions are given. That way groups will be able to concentrate on remembering the important part - the skills they are supposed to be practicing.

When I used to use the station rotation in my grade 1 classroom, I made videos of me telling the students the directions of the station and what they should be learning there. It helped keep them independent.