Resumen de Micro-successes: the key to a positive emotional connection andbetter learning outcomes
“I love English!” How many times have we heard these words from our students? Maybe not enough. Learning English as a foreign language, and for that matter learning any subject whatsoever, is a long and winding road for both students and teachers with its sets of achievements and downsides. As students, assiduously learning another language is an endeavor that requires effort and focus; as teachers, making sure that academic objectives are met alongside the comprehensive improvement of our learners’ four skills (speaking, writing, reading, and listening) entails a purposely sequenced set of instructions and learning strategies. Both students and teachers are part of a teaching and learning process that makes them two sides of the same coin, working together towards achieving a common goal. But to keep students engaged through the whole major in Elementary Education (be it either Study Plan 2018 or 2022) is a challenge every teacher faces on a daily basis, as students may associate English learning with something mandatory, a painful experience, or a subject that has always failed to interest them. To engage students on the path of English learning by igniting their desire to learn is definitely a daunting task. However, by empowering them with micro successes (a succession of mini successes that leads to a feeling of achievement), we can pave the way to a more meaningful and enjoyable learning, which in turn will create a positive emotional connection, a bond that links a feeling to a situation. By skillfully putting in motion a set of purposely sequenced and scaffolded activities through our planning, we want our learners to experience success in a small scale, allowing them to carry out tasks of ascending difficulty so as to build up their self-esteem, self-worth, and self-motivation
