Teach English in Siguzha Guanlichu - Huangshi Shi

Motivating Students "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing -- that's why we recommend it daily." -Zig Ziglar Reading this from a very well known and successful american author, who wrote over 30 books, should help us consider that motivation is needed in everyday tasks we wish to complete, such as cooking. It is always easier to say than to do but everyone needs motivation for everything they do. Now, what is motivation? How does a teacher motivate a student? Is the teacher the only motivator a student should have? Motivation according to the “Business Dictionary” is the internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people, to be continually interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal. What does this mean for a student and teacher? Motivating students can be one of biggest difficulties for a teacher to face during his or her career. Students who can seem to be unmotivated are often sending their teachers a message, thought It is not always that they are not interested. Generally they may find the teacher’s methods un-engaging or it can be extenuating circumstances by external forces, such as relationships, their job or family. Another reason can be that sometimes teachers face groups which have a variety of skill levels. For example, there are advanced students and beginners attending the same program, this is a challenge for the teacher. One of the best ways to maintain the students’ motivation in this situation is to run a placement exam. This will allow the teacher to gauge which level every student is in order to separate them into smaller groups, to give them more appropriate activities according to their skills. The teacher will be required to be well prepared with multiple “plans of action” to prevent the students becoming unmotivated or demoralised. Activities are prepared well in advance generally according to their level, but how do we teacher prepare an enjoyable class? There are three main factors that a teacher needs to keep in mind to achieve an enjoyable class for teacher and students alike. 1. Get students involved: Participating might be fun for some students and difficult for others. A teacher needs to have the capacity to guide the quiet students to be more involved in class and to have the outgoing students acknowledge there are other students in the class, to prevent any students from feeling left out. For example, the teacher gives the permission to answer the question or points out who will answer it. Participating in class is not the only way to involve students. Asking them to clean the board, hand out some exercises or read a sentence out loud, will help them feel part of the group/team. 2. Encouragement: Teachers should encourage an open and respectful communication with the students, to try and produce inquisitive and creative minds. Enthusiasm and recognition should be present in the classroom as much as needed. It should not be about what they were not able to achieve during the class, but more about the effort put into tasks and learning . If your classroom is a friendly place where students feel appreciated and respected, they will be much more eager to learn. Simply saying “you can do this” can remain in their minds possibly their entire lives. 3. Creativity: To avoid monotony is crucial, not only in the program but with the class activities too. Stories and music can help the students to develop their own creativity, since an image is not given. Teaching with diagrams, chart, videos and colourful pictures, may help the students maintain the concentration for longer and help understanding. Classroom should have a warm and stimulating environment, associating objects or subjects with something they are familiar with and this will help their concentration too. Now that we have defined motivation, we can begin to discuss the teacher’s roll in the student’s motivation. It is a fact that the teachers can motivate the students, but there are two types of motivation, which will help the students to achieve their goals. One is the intrinsic motivation, which is simply when there is neither pressure nor any sort of reward for the actions the person performs. As it’s name implies, it is something personal and internal, not something the teacher can achieve. It is the student’s decision. The second one is the extrinsic motivation, which is whenever a person performs an action because he or she is affected by the eternal factors such as rewards or punishments. The second one, is part of the teacher’s job, but parents or mentors share this responsibility with the teacher. . Having read this essay you should be able to understand what is meant by the term ‘motivation’ and the situational and trait-centred views of motivation. It is important to remember that keeping an open mind while teaching and the creativity in the classroom, are factors that can change everybody’s day. We have examined the two types of motivation and the teacher’s roll in the students life and how we can help our students to become the best version of themselves. Be the teacher you wanted to have, when you were a student. Links http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/motivation.html https://www.psychestudy.com/general/motivation-emotion/types-motivation