Your concern is valid because the mindset of students at this age will be difficult to gauge. This is also a critical time in terms of career planning, as the students will be targeting a good academic percentage to get into a good college or to enter a professional stream. Apart from parental pressure to focus on academics, the pressure from the society also adds on to our dilemma.
The best we can do as dedicated teachers is to share with them the importance of the English Language for their professional and personal well being. We also need to make them aware that the English Language is not confined to speaking alone. Listening Skills and Written Communication are also pre requisites to start off one's career on a firm ground. I keep on sharing with them many experiences of candidates who learnt things the hard way purely because the communication aspect was totally ignored.
As teachers we need to gain their trust and they should look up to us as their trusted guide.
As far as motivating the students is concerned, teachers need to make each and every session lively by having a combination of various activities like role plays, games. quiz, team contests and individual and group activities. All participants should also be given surprise gifts periodically to send out a strong message that the whole class is being treated equally.
I don't think teenagers are hard to motivate. As a matter of fact, unlike children, they know their purpose for studying and so you only have to tap their interest. They are craving for more knowledge as compared to children and so the best thing to do is perhaps, give them challenging games. Also, i think motivating questions which they can easily relate to will arouse their interest for the upcoming lesson. Also, a teacher must also be enthusiastic as if he/she is also excited for the activity. Students will feel if you are just teaching them for the sake of saying that you have taught for the day and not because you want your students to learn new things for that day...
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girishseshamani
Your concern is valid because the mindset of students at this age will be difficult to gauge. This is also a critical time in terms of career planning, as the students will be targeting a good academic percentage to get into a good college or to enter a professional stream. Apart from parental pressure to focus on academics, the pressure from the society also adds on to our dilemma.
The best we can do as dedicated teachers is to share with them the importance of the English Language for their professional and personal well being. We also need to make them aware that the English Language is not confined to speaking alone. Listening Skills and Written Communication are also pre requisites to start off one's career on a firm ground. I keep on sharing with them many experiences of candidates who learnt things the hard way purely because the communication aspect was totally ignored.
As teachers we need to gain their trust and they should look up to us as their trusted guide.
As far as motivating the students is concerned, teachers need to make each and every session lively by having a combination of various activities like role plays, games. quiz, team contests and individual and group activities. All participants should also be given surprise gifts periodically to send out a strong message that the whole class is being treated equally.
Jonnalyn Balleta
I don't think teenagers are hard to motivate. As a matter of fact, unlike children, they know their purpose for studying and so you only have to tap their interest. They are craving for more knowledge as compared to children and so the best thing to do is perhaps, give them challenging games. Also, i think motivating questions which they can easily relate to will arouse their interest for the upcoming lesson. Also, a teacher must also be enthusiastic as if he/she is also excited for the activity. Students will feel if you are just teaching them for the sake of saying that you have taught for the day and not because you want your students to learn new things for that day...