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66: ESA Of all the many teaching techniques and methods, ESA (Engage, Study, Activate) is perhaps the best balanced method that not only engages students in learning but makes them a participant in their learning. It is a flexible method that can be arranged and rearranged to fit the lesson and students needs. The three phases (Engage, Study, and Activate) help students to think through the topic or lesson in a personal and engaging way and as the teacher these different phases can be used to to help accomplish more than just English learning. Through the Engage phase the teacher can find activities that get students applying the lesson to their own life as well as learning about the other students in the class. Though this phase is used to elicit from students what they already know, it can also be used to build classroom rapport. A good teacher will find ways to create a positive, relaxed, and inviting atmosphere as this aids in learning as much as any other good teaching method. For example, the teacher could set up example sentences on the board for the students to use and then complete using vocabulary to describe their hometown, or daily routine, or something that lets them talk about themselves. The other students then have the opportunity to learn about their classmate and perhaps find things in common with each other. In the Study phase, the teacher has the opportunity to build deeper report and even move the student into a pier teaching position. Using pair and group work during the Study phase to complete worksheets, or different exercises helps students learn from their pier’s knowledge and experience and helps strengthen bonds between students as well. Teachers can use such activities strategically as well by pairing stronger and weaker students together or assigning group leaders who help lead and teach their piers while also learning. Using such techniques boosts rapport and can thus increase an eagerness for learning and participation from students. Finally, in the Activate phase (that is of course depending on if the teacher is using a straight arrow lesson plane) the teacher has the ultimate chance to bring students in participation with games, material production or the like. At this stage students can work together as a class to play a game, or in teams to produce materials such as a travel brochure, or advertisement depending on the focus of the lesson. So it is here that the teacher needs to provide encouragement and incentive for full participation. If the teacher has produced good rapport through the engage and activate stages then it will be easy to accomplish this. However, using the stronger students in this stage to bring along or encourage the others is a productive strategy. Choosing topics or themes that the teacher finds the students to enjoy or are passionate about is particularly helpful in this stage. The more interest or the more relevant the topic at hand is the more likely students are to engage. You could choose for example soccer, and find two local soccer teams and create a class debate over which team has the best players or which team is mire likely to win the local cup or whatever fits best to the lesson at hand. However, keeping the interest keeps up involvement and when involvement is high, the students take in the information better and have fun while doing it. The debate or discussion activity also helps students to work together with their team or side of the discussion and allows opportunity for personality to show and rapport to build. Yes, there are many ways to build classroom rapport and help engage students. There are many other techniques out there that can accomplish some or part of that goal while teaching the English language. However, what this paper demonstrates is that the ESA method is the best and easiest method to use in order to build strong rapport and relationships between students in a way that boosts not only participation but learning and a desire to learn. Each stage of ESA has its own advantages to accomplishing this task and if the teacher is educated and aware of these advantages, they can create a classroom atmosphere to reflect that.
