Teach English in Lǚhe Zhen - Ankang Shi

The Cambridge Dictionary defines motivation as: “enthusiasm for doing something, the need or reason for doing something”. Motivating your students can be a very challenging and daunting task. Not all students are equally motivated to learn, the fact of the matter is, there are many students that have little motivation or no motivation at all to learn. If there is not sufficient motivation for the students, they will not learn effectively. The students will find it difficult to retain information, may participate poorly in class, and may even misbehave. Fortunately and unfortunately, teachers influence the degree of motivation of the students. Teachers can be instrumental in raising or lowering the motivational level of the students. A highly motivated teacher can impact the motivation of students immensely. If a teacher has a passion for teaching, the students are more likely to be interested in learning. Even though a student may arrive to class with a certain degree of motivation, ultimately, the teacher's behavior and teaching style, the content of the subject, the class activities, homework, and informal interactions with students all have a large effect on student motivation. Obviously, teachers want to increase the intrinsic motivational level of students. When students have a desire to learn by themselves, when they are interested and excited about the subject matter, when they learn because they enjoy learning, or when there is a sense of self-fulfillment and accomplishment, they will learn more effectively. Let’s have a look at four ways to get students excited about learning. Firstly, it is of utmost importance to get students involved. Students need to participate and play an active role in the classroom. Teacher Talk Time needs to be reduced and Student Talk Time needs to be increased. The teacher is a facilitator and coach, guiding, helping, and directing the learning process. This means the classes are more student-centered. Engaging students can increase the interest level and therefore the level of motivation. The enthusiasm of the motivated students is bound to rub off on the less motivated students, especially if everyone is involved. Secondly, bring an element of fun into the classroom. Make use of games, competitions, songs, chants, dramas, role-plays, art, handiwork and whatever you can think of to break away from the monotony of the pages of a textbook. Get the creative juices flowing, use visual aids, colorful charts, diagrams, videos, anything to illustrate the teaching material and to make the lesson memorable. Thirdly, success breeds success. Give students the opportunity to complete activities well and successfully. When students see the results of their work, when they have achieved something it boosts their motivation. Helping students to set realistic and reasonable goals for themselves, will enable students to see that they are capable of success and that success is within reach of each student. Lastly, students need to know why they are doing certain things. Students need to know how the lesson is connected to real life. If they perceive and believe that the study material is important and will help them in life, there will be a greater reason to want to learn. Thus, it is important to demonstrate this reality to the students, it must be applicable in their lives. Explaining why they are doing things in a certain way help students to understand the reasoning behind the activity or task. Students often feel indifferent and uninterested when teachers tell them to open their textbooks and complete two or three exercises, they do it mechanically, but their hearts are not into it. In conclusion, there is an adage ‘do to others as you would have them to do to you’ which pertains to teachers, with a slight variation of course, 'teach as you would like to be taught'. A great teacher can make learning enjoyable and inspire students to reach their full potential.