This number keeps growing as schools become more mixed, especially with more families moving between countries, more international schools opening, and more businesses taking over global opportunities.
But here’s the tricky part — even the most excited learners can feel totally lost if they cannot connect what they already know to what they are trying to learn now. If you are an English teacher who graduated from the Online TEFL courses in Bangalore, you might have already faced this situation.
An easy solution is to awaken your English learners’ background knowledge. You might think that it is about asking a few questions or showing a quick video. Not really! Rather, it is about helping students build bridges between what they have already seen in their lives and the new stuff you are teaching. You will likely notice how much it helps your students improve.
Why Waking Up Background Knowledge Really Matters
Let’s first understand why activating prior or background knowledge matters in your language learning classes.
Learning is a bit like stacking building blocks — you need a strong base before adding more. You cannot start at the top. You need a solid bottom layer first. For students learning English, that bottom layer is what they already know from their lives, cultures, and past experiences.
When you wake up background knowledge, you are telling students, ‘Hey, you already have some pieces to understand this!’ Guess what? Just saying this can increase their confidence.
Moreover, it makes learning stick better. Instead of just memorizing facts, students see how lessons connect to real life. They might remember a holiday from their home country during a class about celebrations around the world, or connect a science topic with something they have seen at home. Plus, it gets their brains ready to soak up new information. They listen more carefully, think more deeply, and ask more questions.
Source:knowingknowledge.com
4 Strategies on How to Activate Prior Knowledge in English Language Learners
Now that you know why tapping into existing knowledge is important, let’s look at four easy ways you can make this happen:
1. Know-Want-Learn (K-W-L) Charts
Did you know? More than 7 out of 10 teachers say that charts like Know-Want-Learn help their English students understand reading topics better.
But what is this Know-Want-Learn Chart? This chart has three basic parts — what students already know, what they want to know, and what they learn after the lesson.
Before starting a new topic, ask students what they already know about it. This helps them see they are not starting from zero. Then ask what they want to know. This builds curiosity. Finally, after the lesson, they write what they learned.
You can use this strategy for any topic. Having a lesson about animals? Ask what animals they know. Studying space? Ask what they have seen or heard about stars or planets. Make it fun- let them draw pictures, talk with friends, or use colorful markers. You could even add another column like ‘How I Found Out’ to make them think more. This works great for both single students and groups.
2. True-False or Anticipation Guides
Studies show that students who predict or give opinions before a lesson can improve their understanding by nearly 30%.
A True-False Guide (also called an Anticipation Guide) is just a list of statements about a topic. You give this to students before teaching the lesson. They decide if each sentence is correct or not based on what they already believe.
For example, before teaching about weather, you could include statements like: ‘The weather is exactly the same as climate’ or ‘Humans can’t change the environment.’ Your students decide what they believe. They can write their thoughts or share in groups. You can even make it more fun by playing a game where students stand on one side of the room for ‘true’ and the other side for ‘false.’ After the lesson, look at the guide again. Ask if their ideas changed. It shows them what new ideas they have picked up.
Most importantly, these True-False guides are great for helping shy students speak and listen more. They also make learning personal- students get to share what they believe, not just repeat facts from a book.
3. Pictures and Videos Integration
Studies indicate that more than 8 out of 10 language teachers say pictures and sounds help students remember new words better.
Let’s be honest- pictures, videos, and sounds are exciting! They make learning feel real. When you use multimedia, you speak in a way that every student can understand.
Try starting a lesson with a short video, some photos, or even a song. For a lesson on food, show a quick video of meals from around the world. For history, use a few pictures from long ago. After that, try asking simple questions such as, What can you notice in the picture? What do you think is happening? Have you seen something like this before? No need to write long answers- just talking or writing a sentence or two is enough to get them thinking.
Make sure to use words at the bottom of videos or slow them down for better understanding. You can even stop the video and talk as a class. When used right, pictures and videos bring the outside world into your classroom and connect it to the day’s lesson.
4. Simple Starter Readings
Recent findings highlight that using simple readings before harder ones can help students understand up to 40% better!
A starter reading is like a warm-up exercise. It is a shorter, simpler text that introduces key ideas or words before jumping into the full lesson.
Say you are teaching a story or a science chapter. Give students a short, easy article that covers similar ideas but with simpler words. This way, they won’t feel lost with the harder text later. You can also use pictures, words in two languages side by side, or simple bullet points. If your learners speak different languages, even showing a video in their home language first can help.
Remember, this is not about making things too easy. It is about building stepping stones. When students have a basic understanding, they can focus more on learning new words or ideas later.
Bottom Line
Educators who pursued the Online English Teacher Training Courses in Bangalore understand the importance of making English learners feel like they belong in the classroom. Waking up background knowledge is a simple way to tell them, ‘You already have something valuable to bring to this lesson.’ So next time you plan a lesson, ask yourself: How can you make this feel familiar to your students? That can be a small change that helps them move one step closer to real learning success!
