Creating Experiences, Not Just English Lessons

-Sandhiya Saravanan

“What did we learn today?”

It is a question I ask myself after every class. But over time, another question has become even more important:

“What way of seeing the world did we help children develop today?”

When I began teaching English to my Grade 3 students, I realized that many English classes follow a familiar pattern. We introduce new words, explain meanings, ask children to repeat after us, read the lesson, memorize a poem, answer textbook questions, and eventually prepare for examinations.

Children may complete the lesson.

But have they truly begun to live the language?

I wanted English to become more than a school subject. I wanted it to become a language they could use.

That meant shifting not only my activities, but also the system of learning inside the classroom.

The Shift

The textbook poem was “Together We Can.”

Instead of opening the book immediately, I decided to begin with an experience.

I divided the class into two groups. Each group stood in a circle, randomly holding one another’s hands until they became tangled together. Their challenge was simple:

Untangle yourselves without letting go of each other’s hands.

The game came with one important condition.

They had to communicate only in English.

For many of them, this felt difficult. English is still unfamiliar. They didn’t yet have the vocabulary to negotiate or guide one another. Before beginning, we learned useful phrases—not by translating them, but through actions, gestures, demonstrations, and practice.

Some of the phrases included:

• Can you help me?
• Step Forward
• Step Back
• Turn Around
• Can you move a little?
• Can you go over my arm?
• Can you go under my arm?
• Wait a minute.
• Let’s try another way.
• Good job!
• It’s okay.
• Please come this way.
• Turn around.
• Slowly…
• We can do it!
• Thank you.

Instead of teaching vocabulary in isolation, every phrase immediately had a purpose.

Language became action.

Creating Responsibility Before Activity

Before we started, we established our ground rules together.

• Speak only in English.
• Listen to one another.
• Help your teammates.
• Do not hurt or pull others.
• Encourage everyone.

Something interesting happened.

Because the children had helped create these agreements, I hardly needed to interrupt the game. Instead of constantly reminding them what to do, they began reminding themselves.

Responsibility shifted from the teacher to the learners.

Learning Hidden Inside Play

As the activity unfolded, the classroom filled with laughter.

Children searched for words.

They experimented.

Sometimes they forgot a phrase, and together they created new ones in the middle of the activity.

The mistakes themselves became learning opportunities.

No one was speaking English because the teacher demanded it.

They were speaking because they genuinely needed it.

The language had become meaningful.

Reflection Before the Textbook

When both groups finished, we didn’t open the textbook.

Instead, we reflected.

I asked them:

• What helped your team?
• What made the task difficult?
• How did your friends help you?
• What was missing within you? What could you do differently?

The children spoke about patience.

Helping one another.

Listening.

Trying different ideas.

Working as one team.

Only then did we open the poem “Together We Can.”

Suddenly, the poem was no longer just words on a page.

It described something they had already experienced.

The lesson landed naturally because they had lived its meaning before reading it.