Creating Learning Styles lesson plans

     Getting started with curriculum design is easy if you start with a topic from a reading or grammar point, etc. In ESL/EFL classes we have a head start because we are already trying to create lessons that hit the four skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Just by doing that, you already have 4 learning styles! However, many times a curriculum focuses primarily on the target skill, i.e., it's a writing class so writing is mostly what is done. That is fine, but think how much richer the writing can become if it is surrounded by readings, students discussing the topic and listening to native speakers talking about it in an authentic listening task on the topic.
     Language doesn't happen in a vacuum. Writing is intricately tied to reading and grammar and vocabulary have to be in place in order to read or write well. Does it follow then, that speaking and listening are separate from reading and writing (obviously grammar and vocabulary have to be present to speak and to understand the spoken word)? The spoken word is often very different from the written word, so shouldn't they be separated?
     My answer is, "No." The more speaking and listening a learner can do, the more vocabulary and grammar can be accessed and, if spoken correctly, more grammar and vocabulary can be learned and improved.  You also have opportunity when discussing a topic for more viewpoints to be expressed and for critical thinking to happen. In a writing class, I still have the focus on writing but it isn't done in isolation and I also add as many of the Multiple Intelligences as time and opportunity allow.
   For example, I will describe a recent lesson plan that I wrote for an advanced writing class for foreign students matriculated into an American University. The focus there was on academic writing.
     The lesson started with the topic of: money and happiness. There are four articles on the topic that each focus on a different aspect of the issue and students do a writing assignment from each of the articles. Our second article was Bhutan-Where happiness Outweighs Wealth. Students were assigned the reading as homework, plus watched a video online called Gross national Happiness-Bhutan. They read the article, watched the video and answered a worksheet with comprehension questions that included two opinion questions about both the article and the video.
     The next day, in class, students were put in small groups of 3-4 and shared their answers to the comprehension questions and the two opinion questions. After each small group had finished (about 20-25 minutes) we discussed the opinion questions as a whole group (approx. 10-15 minutes). I then asked students what the Four-Pillars of the Bhutanese constitution were (part of the reading) and then did a rap song about them. Students clapped time while I rapped and then I had them do the rap with me. This rap took another 10 minutes and the entire class time for the lesson was 40-50 minutes. Students then wrote an assigned paragraph about the reading as homework.
     The learning styles this lesson covered were: aural, music, kinesthetic/tactile, verbal/linguistic, visual, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  There were some statistics in the article so the learning style of math was loosely touched on. Also, there was a big environmental issue in both the video and the article so it was also loosely touched on and could have been exploited more by asking a comprehension question or two about it and talking about it more. That means that 6 of the 8 Multiple Intelligences were covered with the other two grazed on. All during a 50 minute class with homework! 
     For me as the teacher designing the lesson, I would have had students read the article and answered comprehension questions, anyway, as the prelude to the writing. All I added was the video and the rap song which didn't take much longer to find and to do. I want to emphasize that this was using authentic text as well as being very interesting for the students.
     I often choose to have students answer comprehension questions and opinion questions as homework so that the intrapersonal learner  has the opportunity to think about their answers carefully. This is important for them in their learning style,  easy to give them more time by assigning it as homework, and I have found that they then participate more fully in the discussions. Thus, some of my design for a unit of activities on a topic involves an understanding of the learning styles and the needs of the learner so they can have the best learning experience possible.
     Creating lessons that fit with learning styles (Multiple Intelligence) does take a little more time and effort, but the benefits for both the learner and for me are immense and, therefore, worth the time. In my short example lesson above, the addition of the video and the song added depth to the unit. Students were able to SEE the Bhutanese culture in the video and only 2 out of my 18 students said they had ever even heard of Bhutan, let alone seen the people and the culture. By seeing it, it made it more real for them. The song, my students reported, is something they will never forget (I believe they meant it was a positive  memory). The four pillars of the Bhutanese culture became easy for them to recall, due to the rap on it. When students are engaged actively in the learning, they learn faster and have better retention. That, ultimately, makes my job easier as I don't have to do so much review.
     Personally, I can't imagine ever going back to a narrower way of teaching and it is more fun for me and for my students.