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Motivating studentsI?d like to talk about how to motivate students here. As we already know, it is essential that students are eager to learn if we want to have successful lessons or courses. Successful lessons don?t mean that we are satisfied with our lessons; the lesson plan or the teaching techniques. It is important that students feel that they are acquiring the language and getting closer to their goals. The more highly students are motivated, the more they can obtain from a lesson. However, students tend to be less passionate as they used to be as they study longer. I?d like to suggest some symptoms that students show, reasons why students become less motivated and solutions that we can try as a teacher next. 1. Symptoms i) a student who doesn?t smile ii) a student who doesn?t do his/her homework iii) a student who is often absent iv) a student who is very quiet in the lesson v) a student who is reluctant to do activities in the lesson 2. Reasons Here is a list of possible reasons. a) class level b) lesson content c) classmate d) topic e) hard / almost impossible to get their goals f) no longer need to study g) family / work problem h) financial problem 3. Solutions a) level We might have misjudged the student?s level at first. Then we have to reconsider the class level. However, some students are too confident in their english level, then think the class is too easy. We can talk to them how and what we want them to do in the class. If they judge themselves too low, we need to praise them. We might need to consider another level or another course for the student if they are still not satisfied with what we have told them. b) lesson content We have to look over and reconsider the lesson plan. c) classmate If we find some particular people don?t get along well, we should avoid making a pair of them. We need to make a seating arrangement, and pay attention when making a pair or group. d) topic We always have to sensor what students are interested in. It is a good idea to bring hot topics of the time into the class. e) hard / almost impossible to get their goals If students unnecessarily gave up their goals, we can motivate them to pursue their goals. If the goal is really impossible to achieve, but still english is necessary in their life, we can set another goal. f) no longer need to study Same as above. g) family / work problem If they want to talk about the problem, we can listen to them. If they don?t, we don?t have to pressure them to talk about it. h) financial problem There?s nothing we can do about this. But there are some cases that the student has enough money to keep studying with us but has some other things they are interested in. If studying english is necessary for them, we can tell how important for them to keep studying. In conclusion, the most important thing that we have to be always aware of is that we keep an eye on every student in the class. And if we find anything different from usual, we should analyze the reason and decide whether we talk to them individually or wait for a while. It is not always good to ask students the reason or how they feel about the class as soon as we find a problem. If we succeed to establish rapport, students come and talk to us from themselves. It is difficult to watch every student in the class as we have more than one class to teach. But a teacher does not only teach the language, but also take care of students.
