Many high school students see English as a boring subject because of the repetitive tasks and requirements of the subject. These include grammar drills, thick novels, and essay writing, but it does not need to be that way. In fact, you can make English enjoyable by injecting a dose of creativity that can inspire and encourage your students to read books and write essays.

There are various art forms like music and drama that you can use to show high-schoolers that learning English can be fun.

Digital personal narratives

With our current technology, a personal narrative is no longer bound to just written essays. Students can now use different media such as video, photography, and computer slide presentations to convey their stories. They can also make autobiographical short films based on their own narratives.

Digital personal narratives are likely to encourage high school students to share their experiences, which will develop their interest in learning English more as that is the medium for these activities.

Teaching through acting

Using drama in your English class does not only allow students to study literature, but it can also build a positive classroom environment. Through these activities, you will also develop your students’ self-confidence since they will be required to work in groups and dramatize a scene from a book they are studying.

They will need to creatively use props, so all members of their group are involved. You can even let the whole class work together to create its own interpretation of a scene. This will surely make your English class more exciting.

Music in your classroom

Music is a powerful language especially for teenagers and you can use it in your English class to stimulate your students’ interest. In fact, high-schoolers love music, and this can be used as a learning tool. For example, you can let your students create a soundtrack for the book they are studying. They can choose songs based on the characters, motifs, and themes in the story.

Using class blogs

Social networking can give students a unique experience toward showcasing their opinions, feelings, and lives in an online community. They can write something about their lives, or if they want to share their opinion on something important to them – they can all do that in their own individual blogs. In addition, regular blog postings can give students a way to practice their writing, eventually improving their proficiency in the English language. You can even enhance your students’ sense of community by requiring them to read and comment on each other’s posts, which will help them improve their vocabulary.