Integrating Mindfulness into EFL Classrooms

Along with the trend of using English as the medium of instruction (EMI) for learning academic subjects, and CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning methodology), it seems that many students are under more pressure and stress in learning English itself. This is not only because they are no longer learning English just as a foreign language anymore but also because it has gradually become the key to understanding their academic subjects, which are sometimes not easy to understand even in their own native languages. Meanwhile, EFL teachers are often in a quandary, trapped between the expectations of the school and the reality of their students’ true English levels. Teachers are particularly stressed when they have to manage classes with mixed or very low English levels. Therefore, in order to have a more positive energy circulating in the class and to help both teachers and students to sustain their motivation for teaching and learning, it is becoming more important to consider practising mindfulness in the EFL classrooms. Implementing mindfulness will reduce both teachers’ and students’ stress and also help students greatly to pay more attention to their learning process and discover how to be more creative and productive for better achievement