Teach English in Futu Zhen - Huangshi Shi

As a new teacher in the field of ESL, it is important to confidently walk into your new classroom and know that, regardless of what happens in the next sixty minutes, your students will walk away being more motivated than they were before you arrived on the scene. In order to motivate students who are learning English for the first time, you must incorporate a few soft skills and classroom management skills. These skills include building rapport, body language, teacher-student interaction, positive reinforcement and proper evaluation. For students who are new to a classroom setting or new to English language instruction, many of them may be shy, disinterested or even hostile to the teacher. It is important for the teacher to fortify her ability properly build rapport with the students. The most important objective at this phase of establishing yourself as a respectable instructor, is to make sure that you know every students’ name. To establish further rapport, it is best if you continue to learn more about your students. Play a game or do a fun exercise where you get to learn more about them. Ask them about their favorite foods, their favorite hobbies, their favorite subjects and their favorite moves. The more you learn about your students, the more they will be motivated to learn from you. Next, teachers should ensure that they are sensitive with their body language. First time teachers often mistakenly believe that new students only pick up on verbal communication. This is absolutely false. Because students often times cannot understand fully the teacher’s instructions, the students often times have to rely on the teacher’s posture, tonality, hand gestures and facial expressions to pick up on what it is the teacher desires inside the classroom. The teacher must be sure to smile, make strong eye contact when appropriate and speak loudly, clearly and slowly for the new students. Another important part of body language when it comes to motivation is physical touch. Depending on your country and your particular school, physical touch may be strictly disallowed inside the classroom. But if not, a good way to motivate students is to give them a high five when they do well in class. Reward them with your energy, your smile, your encouragement and your respectful touch. Students will then go the extra mile to make sure that they receive the teacher’s appreciation. Another aspect of motivating students includes proper teacher-student interaction. Make sure that you give specific attention to students when they need it. Make sure you watch them as they role play or work on the worksheet. Make sure you are available in the classroom if the student has any questions. Make sure the student knows that you are always aware of his presence and that you are always concerned for his well-being and his progress. This will make the student very happy and motivated to pay attention to you and your lesson. In addition to establishing rapport and positive interactions with the students, it is also beneficial to do positive reinforcement inside the classroom. When a student answers a question correctly, when they participate in class, when they demonstrate good classroom behavior and when they complete their homework, make sure you reward them by writing their name on the board, putting a star next to their name or publicly praising them in front of all the class. When a student knows that he will be rewarded for his positive behavior and his classroom participation, he will be extra motivated to display his abilities. And lastly, the new teacher should emphasize proper evaluation throughout the course in order to maintain the motivation of their students. Proper evaluation allows the students to understand how well they are doing in class, what subjects they are improving in and where they are growing. If the teacher is able to show the student his own progress, the student will be more than excited to keep going in his quest for English acquisition. Overall, the teacher has a great and noble role inside the classroom. They are responsible for classroom management, proper instruction, knowledge of the subject and ensuring the academic growth of the students. A teacher must not get so bogged down in grammar rules, strictly enforcing classroom rules or sticking to the course book. The teacher must utilize their personality, the body language, their communication skills and their evaluation skills to keep students motivated, both inside the class and throughout the length of the course. If students stay motivate, teachers, students and parents will have a wonderful and blissful experience.