Teach English in Yanji Xincun Jiedao - Shanghai Shi

Motivating studentsThe success of learning a new language lies both with the teacher and the student. The teacher plays a critical role in ensuring that the goal to teach the student a new language is achieved by the end of the course. She should take steps to achieve this goal for herself and her students. The attitude that the teacher brings to the class is very crucial in determining the success of learning. As for the student, he /she will have succeeded in the learning if they are able to use the language effectively to meet their need. However, along the course of learning the language, they will face many obstacles and this can dampen their initial enthusiasm to learn the language. This is especially so for adults learners than young children. The teacher should determine the main motivating factor each adult student wish to learn the language. The teacher with this in mind should ensure that the students? interest, attention and energy does not at any time slacken. To do this the teacher can adopt strategies to encourage students to be self-motivated and remain inspired. - The teacher should make students active participants in the learning. They should be given activities that need their active participation which why the activate stage is critical in the lesson planning. Passive students will get bored and boredom kills motivation. Students should be designing, creating, writing and using the language actively to gain fluency. - The teacher should create and provide materials that are of interest to the students and in direct relevance to their needs. When the materials are relevant and students are able to connect with the content, learning the language becomes easier as their motivation level increases. The teacher should ensure also that the language level used in the materials is not too difficult or too easy. Both ways will also lose the students? attention. Organising the material in a logical manner helps too. - In the first lesson, the teacher will have gotten to know the students. The students are to write out their needs and objectives in learning the language. From there, the teacher should encourage the students to write down their goals. In this way, students are aware clearly where they should aim for and will make them push forward to achieve those goals. These goals should be high but not unrealistic. The teacher plays a role in helping students set these goals. - The teacher can sustain motivation if less emphasis is placed on grade and more in learning. In learning, when too much emphasis is placed on getting the right and wrong answer, students will get stressed. For beginner students, it will be very de-moralising to see that they get so many wrongs each time they are tested. Instead the teacher should point out errors as a way for the students to learn and improve their language. - The teacher should give students feedback as soon as possible. Rewards and praises can be given without hesitation. Giving students an indication of how well they have done and how they can improve, will give them something to be proud of. This helps in motivation. - Finally, the teacher?s attitude and enthusiasm plays a critical role in ensuring students are interested in the topic taught. When a teacher is positive and is excited to teach, students will get the same vibes and they will join in the excitement. Teachers who are de-moralised should reflect back to their original reasons for teaching and motivate themselves first, before expecting students to sustain interest in the learning. These are some of the ways that motivation in students can be sustained in learning. Even though there are many other factors that determine the success of teaching and learning, motivation plays a crucial role in ensuring students achieve their learning goals.