Job Discussion Forums

El Gallo · Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 318

Phil's posting about NLP got me wondering how long of attention spans your students have. As I posted in my reply to Phil, I believe adults have an attention span of about 17 minutes before their minds "go to the beach".

I think the six to eight minute segments on television have programmed the minds of teens and children to have attention spans of less duration. Hyperactive kids are another case entirely. I timed the average attention span of two of my 11- 13 year old hyperactive students and came up with about 4 - 5 minutes. The reason I ask is that I believe a teacher should change activities at the attention span limits of their students.

What do you guys think about attention spans? Any advice on how to handle hyperactive kids? Thanks in advance for your replies.

TheLongWayHome · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi

If I am teaching in a classroom that faces out onto the street, the students' heads will turn every time someone walks past, regardless of how interesting the class is... so anything from 2 seconds to 5 minutes I would say.

mapache · Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 202 Location: Villahermosa

- reminds me of a school owner who put a window in front of her classroom in an inside wall so she could watch the lobby while she taught there. In the afternoon, the little kids would arrive early, peer into and make faces through the window constantly distracting students and teachers alike. When asked if the teachers could temporarily cover the window with a poster, the owner refused saying she was not going to cater to the students or the teachers.

MELEE · Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:10 pm Post subject:

I work at a public educational institution, so it is a little different than the language school gig. I think it is my responsiblity as a teacher to help my students develop longer attention spans rather than make sure my activities are short. I do this by trying to offer material that is interesting to them and by making sure they know why we are doing what we are doing. If I just used the course book, I'd loose their attention because it's actually not a very good match for their life and interests. If I just did a lot of short activities, they'd probably think I was just filling the hour and not know the goal of each activity or how it contributes to their progress in English.