Edutainment in EFL

1. Play the video below to start this lesson.
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2. We have created a podcast to complement this lesson.

Edutainment in EFL Podcast - six minutes

Click on the link to play the podcast: Edutainment in the EFL Classroom

3. Basic Concepts

As you might guess, edutainment in EFL is the marriage of education and entertainment. Depending on how seriously you might want to take yourself as an educator, check into the situation in the country and school where you will seek work.

Some countries are very serious about education and are more concerned that lessons have good content and relevant language. They expect you to deliver skills in exchange for their money. Others, want more entertainment (in English) and hope students absorb some language skills that way.

If edutainment is the agenda for a school, go there prepared with many games and fun activities that use English as their medium. Students can pick up a fair amount of language this way so all is not lost. However, if you respect yourself and the profession, be wary of schools that are looking for a "clown" and not a teacher. Such schools do exist and your level of job satisfaction will be quite low if you take that type of position.

The Internet is full of great places to pick up games and activities. See the "EFL Games and Activities" page on the navigation menu for the best way to use them in the classroom and build them into your lesson plan.

The Games Pages at Dave's ESL has more games and activities than you can ever imagine using. Find some that you enjoy and adapt them to the level and interests of your students.

You will soon find that a selection of good games can often be adapted to cover just about any teaching situation from ten minutes left in class and needing something to do until the bell rings, to teaching serious businesspeople to loosen up and introduce themselves to their fellow students.