Hi everyone,
I've been an english teacher for more than twenty years and I still find it hard to motivate my pupils especially when the class is overcrowded(by the way , it is always overcrowded). The same case happens to my colleagues. So I think this issue is really worth discussing. Nasri001 from Morocco.
Comments
Wanisa Ali
Hi Nasri ,
Absolutely, yes the same problem face us to motiviate all the students in the class, but , I think you have to mix the activities in the class when you ask your students to practise the tasks and the exercises even these are pair work or group work especially when you use communicative approach to engage them in the interaction to communicate with each other and with you.
Best Regards
Wanisa Ali
Libya- Benghazi
ASHOK RAJ
Hello everyone,
First of all, a motivated teacher can only motivate his/her students. For overcrowded classroom, a teacher can use group work, but proper physical setteing is necessary. Involving students in a number of different types of activity is the key for motivation, i.e. bringing variety in the classroom. Students, especially children, won't be able to concentrate on one activity for a long stretch of time.They ".....may become demotivated if they are always faced with the same type of class."(Harmer-1991)
Thus, to motivate students: bring variety (mix defferent techniqies, activities, materisls in a lesson), be flexible (you may change your plan as the situation demands in your class), make them familiar with teaching purpose(students need to know why they are doing something), let them relax, bring fun and life in the classroom, create positive attitude toward English teacher, English language and its speakers as far as possible. However, In under resourced sitations, how much can we achieve in bringing variety in the classroom? I am not sure. More opinions, comments, experiences and thoughts on this concern are expected.
Ashok Raj Khati from Nepal
Carl_Pullein
Great discussion.
This is always a difficult one. Teaching English in Korea, I find that Korean students are naturally modest and find it difficult to accept that they are improving or that they can actually speak English.
One thing I would always recommend is do not compliment too quickly. If a particular student has a problem with a grammatical point, or a pronunciation issue, don't compliment them all the time when they get it nearly right. Only compliment when they get it perfectly.
As for larger groups, a good tip is to get them out of the classroom from time to time and put them in a natural environment. This is easy if you are teaching adults, as I am, more difficult if you are teaching kids. I take my students out for a beer or two sometimes. It's amazing how a couple of beers brings out the confidence in a student.
giganick
Reading the comments, I think most of the contributors to this discussion are involved in teaching in some sort of mandatory primary, but more likely secondary, education.
For me the factors that most effect motivation of my students are:
5 - weather: too sultry and it's impossible; a fair wind blowing and they're giddy.
4 - time and day: particulary whether it's before or after lunch. Full stomachs dull some students; while high sugar counts send others wild; by thursday, energy is low; friday and there is the weekend to look forward to; first period and there are sleepy-heads.
3 - school events: if the students have something to look forward to, such as the school festival, or sports day, students in Japan, in particular, become very entusiastic.
2 - variety and stability: on the one hand, the studetns love to be caught of guard and on the other, they love surprise because they have a stability to fall back on.
1 - my energy and motivation. However I feel, however blank the faces are before me, or however sarcastic they may be, I have to be as enthusiastic and positive as possible. I never know what is going to motivate the students. What they loved on Monday, may bore them Wednesday. I may have no ideas. I may have no time and a cold textbook to get through. Whatever the content of my lesson, the most important thing is my enthusuiasm: not for the course, not necessarily for English, nor for the task I am giving them, but just my enthusiasm to be in a room with them, whatever the weather, whatever period, whatever they or I had for lunch, and whatever else is going on in the school. If I can smile at a room of scowls, their motivation is increased.
But it doesn't always work. To be honest, I am far from always doing it. Sometimes, the class is murderous. In these cases, I advise a different tact. Save yourself for another day. Find the one or two irrepressible students in a class and after the lesson have a chat with them. You may not have got through to many students that lesson, you may not have increased anyone's interest in learning English, but at least by talking to those wonderful students, you'll feel better, and stay ready to fight another day.
high school teacher, Japan
Oops, I missed one very important motivation factor: the myriad of events going on in their lives, boyfriends, girlfriends, parents, divorces, tickets for Arashi, what the previous teacher said to them, stomachaches and haemerrhoids. As teachers, we are an incredibly important part of their lives, but also only one of many.
mslamkl