Teach English in DongyuZhen - Bazhong Shi

Motivation is a key element of a student’s academic experience and growth. Quite simply, when motivation is low, students and teachers alike, will struggle. When motivation amongst the class is high, the lives of everyone becomes easier and students learn much more effectively. In particular, when students don’t have their individual needs met, they will lose motivation. In order to maintain motivation in the classroom teachers must understand exactly who their student body is and account for the idiosyncrasies. A teacher must understand exactly who their student body is comprised of and cater to their needs to maintain the class’s motivation. A class might be comprised of mostly working adults, for example. Or it might be a class of young children. It might even be a combination! Teachers must take this into account when figuring out how and what to teach. Working adults coming home from a long day on the job, for example, might be lacking in focus. If information is aggressively layered on them it might oppress their motivation as they simply lack the energy to use their brains at such intensity. A group of youngsters, might lack an ability for focus due to their age. It might be a good idea, for a group like this, to consider breaking up memorization and ‘less fun’ activities with games to keep them happy, focused, and motivated. Another example of the importance of considering your specific audience when planning a lesson or managing a class would be a group of teenagers. Teenagers often deal with a lot of peer pressure. They may be uncomfortable, have stage fright, not want to interact, not want to get involved - this is problematic as involvement is important to learning and students must be motivated to do so. Maybe with a class like this an emphasis would be put on developing chemistry and rapport amongst the student body. Of course this is always of importance, but is especially valuable in a class that is, for whatever reason (age in this example) particularly prone to discomfort and a resulting drop in motivation. Another way to consider student groups isn’t just by age or occupation but by language skill level. Is your classroom experienced? Are they beginners? Beginners, like younger children, might deal with fears, anxieties, etc., especially when doing certain activities. This kind of crowd might also necessitate extra chemistry development along with, in general, different kinds of teaching methods like being more visual activities. An overwhelmed beginner is an unmotivated beginner. Understanding who the class is reaches beyond age and personality and into the concept of structure; this too must be accounted for to maintain motivation. If a teacher has a large class, the size must be recognized and treated appropriately. For example, it is important that all students receive individual attention at least now and then. But in a large class this can be hard. So strategies can be implemented to allow for teachers to get one on one time with their students. This can include strategically breaking up the class in a way that allows the teacher to work individually with kids in one half of the room, for example, while the other half does something self-sustaining. In conclusion, classes vary in many ways. They can be comprised of youngsters, working adults, teenagers, beginners; they can vary in size and structure. Who a class is comprised of determines what different, particular needs a teacher will be catering to. When a teacher fails to recognize particular needs and characteristics of the class, and plan accordingly, students are left uncomfortable, inefficiently taught, and ultimately unmotivated to learn.