VAK

What kind of learner are you?  How do your children prefer to learn?  When I was teaching, I was fascinated by the concept of learning styles- the idea that different people naturally prefer to learn in different ways.  It really revolutionised how I taught and it's something we certainly need to take into account with the children in our church groups!  The basic VAK model is split into 3 learning styles:

Visual- preferring to learn by seeing and reading
Auditory- preferring to learn by speaking and listening
Kinaesthetic- preferring to learn by touching and doing

I realised that the reason I switch off in long sermons is because I am very visual, quite kinaesthetic and not very auditory at all.  If I'm listening I need to be doodling!  It made me see the behaviour of our children differently as well.  The child who's always fiddling might be very kinaesthetic and sitting listening for extended periods is not helpful to him!  In our teaching it's important to include something, somewhere, in each lesson that will appeal to each of the 3 styles so everyone gets a chance at engagement.

Here's a table of things that will appeal to each learning style:

Visual	Auditory	Kinaesthetic
Pictures, Maps, TV Powerpoints Watching Drawing/ colouring Imagining Reading Mind maps	Discussing Listening Music/ songs Film Instructions Repetition Questions/ answers Storytelling	Props Crafts/ making Drama Drawing Games Model making ‘hands on’ Experiments Movement

If you want to know more, you can take a VAK test at http://www.businessballs.com/vaklearningstylestest.htm