Recently I had a trial Zoom class with a group of students, and I thought that I had nailed it. Every child was engaged, smiling, running around, and confidently rattling off their new French vocabulary in silly voices with me. We all had so much fun, I didn’t even realize how quickly the class had come to an end, which was a surprise to me, because I am usually very structured when it comes to my lesson overview and goals. After the class ended, my fiancé high fived me and told me he had felt the class’ energy from our outside patio. I felt proud to have done right by them, despite the group’s large age ranges and varying backgrounds with French.

Yet to my surprise, none of the families signed up. So what went wrong? A parent emailed feedback from the parents as a whole, and some found me to be too jovial and boisterous. In my 12 years of teaching, I had never heard that before. That stopped me in my tracks. Engaging my students is like air to me. I need to see them concentrated and happy to help me breathe properly. It’s like a comedian needing to hear laughter or a performer aching for applause. What’s the point of teaching, if my students aren’t enthusiastic about what they are learning?

After all, this is one of the reasons I created my own program. I have no red tape from school districts and I myself have imagined and crafted each language’s lesson and curriculum over a number of years. I don’t teach French. I teach “French through FUN!” Exclamation point included! This is because I know that if my students are excited to come to class, then they will naturally learn French, even if French isn’t their life’s passion. And I know that my students learn the most when they are smiling. This methodology of fun isn’t just a theory of mine. It’s proven that humans learn and retain information when they are happy and stress-free.

Take this 2015 study from Harvard Graduate School of Education lecturer Christina Hinton. She found that happiness is “positively associated with intrinsic motivation (a personal drive to learn) for all students.” In essence, happiness drives learning. And this goes for all students. She also found that students are more motivated to learn when they are rewarded and praised. Thus, implementing dry learning tactics or having more astringent practices seems very well opposite of what they need. Especially as kids. And finally, Hinton noted that “happiness is predicted by students’ satisfaction with [their] teachers and peers.” Therefore, my personal connection with my students is crucial for their learning process. My engaging them and making them feel happy and silly and confident is what will then motivate them to learn a language.

I know this may not sound groundbreaking, and that’s because it isn’t. When it comes down to it, if an educator can create a safe, positive and engaging class for their students, the students will learn, no matter the subject matter. Because when students are smiling, they are more determined to learn. And that makes us all happy!

Read Christina Hinton’s study for yourself!

Looking to add more fun and engagement into your lessons? See our quick videos and blog posts!

1. Using Silly Voices and Repetition in the classroom [1 minute video]
2. Using Art in the Classroom [1 minute video]
3. How to teach a foreign language using crafts (blog post)
4. Adding music to foreign language education (blog post)
5. A guide to teaching F.L through games (blog post)