TeachingEnglish
how can pupils be highly motivated
Submitted by Nasri001 on 18 September, 2008 - 17:53
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.
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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
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
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.
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.
Well, I think it's a worldwide problem faced by most eng teachers. When I look back my teaching life, I've found that having a good, friendly, supportive relationship w/ my Ss does facilitate the teaching and learning in the classroom. Ss become attentive because they like you...But I have to admit that it's hard to have good relationship w/ all classes!
I always maintain that a teacher has to be firebrand and aggressive. The key to handling huge groups is to divide them into groups of 5-6 per group and have a competition running for one full month. Assign different activities to each group. Also ensure that you fix up a time limit for each activity which should be applicable to the whole class. Go by your experience and ensure that the time given for the class is a little less than what is normally required to complete all activities. This will ensure that the whole group gets down to business right away and no student gets to sit idle.
You need to ensure that all activities should be completed within the stipulated time by each group. This is precisely why I said you need to use your experience and judgement and see that all teams are evenly matched. At the end of the month select two teams as the winner and runners up and hand over prizes to team members. This will ultimately create a strong bonding within all the students and make your job a little easy.
Come out with a new grouping for the second month. This ongoing process will make the whole class focussed and more importantly will also ensure that whatever inputs you give is understood properly.