Teach English in Liangting Zhen - Anqing Shi

Motivating Students The issue of motivating students can be one of the most challenging experiences a teacher can face. Motivation is not something that can always be coaxed out of students. Teachers can use all of the right tips and tricks and students will still not pay attention or care about the work that they are doing. Many times a non-motivated student can then lead to behavioural problems within the class. Since they are not motivated to learn, they find ways to distract other students to alleviate their boredom. The issue of motivation can have many repercussions throughout the classroom. As someone who grew up in Canada, I remember these challenges very well. In Canada, we are taught french throughout elementary school and into high school. I remember how difficult it was for me to get excited about learning. Learning a new language is difficult and as a young student you do not see the long term advantages of having a second language. It is hard to engage students that just don?t care or understand the importance of the subject. I do remember the techniques that my french teachers used that did get me excited about the learning experience. One of the best ways to help students become engaged in the material is to tailor the class to their needs and interests. When students already have some background knowledge on a subject it makes the process easier to learn. I remember a french class where we were learning the tenses of verbs and the teacher framed the whole lesson in the context of sports. ?He ran around the bases.? ?She skates very fast.? I knew and liked the context that the lesson was being taught in so there was no initial hurdle of trying to figure out why this related to me. I also remember many lessons that didn?t relate to me and because I didn?t understand the context of the lesson, I didn?t have the desire to apply myself. Another way that I remember enjoying my time in french class was when the teacher kept the activities short. As a child, you only have so much of an attention span before you begin to look for something else to amuse you. With longer assignments, when stronger students finished quickly they began to talk and distract the other students who would then pretend to be finished so that they could talk or goof around as well. It was a vicious cycle. I think it?s important to keep assignments shorter if the students are working on them individually. If an assignment will take some amount of time, I would try to tailor it to a group work or pair activity so that the students could work together and hopefully not distract others. Finally, I remember the best way that our teacher motivated us was by keeping the lessons fun. Playing games and singing songs were two of the ways that kept us interested in the lesson. I remember that I didn?t mind struggling to learn new vocabulary or grammar rules because I knew there was a fun payoff. I think it?s important not to overuse these methods though. Not every class can be filled with games and songs. But when they are used appropriately and effectively, I can say from personal experience that they work. Motivating students can be difficult, but not impossible. It may take a while before a teacher understands what makes their class excited to learn. It?s important to try many different ideas and techniques because you never know what will work.