Teach English in Beitian Zhen - Jinzhong Shi

I have been working as a teacher and tutor for fifteen years now. Through all of my teaching experience the problem of motivation and engagement evolved every time when I would step into the classroom. This aspect of learning was familiar to me because I experienced it when I was a student. I spent many years teaching and tutoring in California, United States of America. During that time I was also a full-time student studying at the local Community College. I worked tutoring children during the day and attended evening classes at night. I really loved the education system there and I was a very curious student always eager to learn something new. It was not easy and the likelihood of succeeding in the class depended mostly of the teaching style of the professor. Because I was tutoring and studying at the same time I was able to examine and understand what would influence the successful class and the engagement of the students. The motivation of the students in the class depended on several different factors; the learning experience of the student, their interest in the topic presented, age, culture and the reason they took the class. Above all of this the motivation and engagement depended mostly on the connection between the students and the teacher. It was very hard to engage and relate to the topic presented if the students do not feel connected to the teacher. Establishing this level of connection was not an easy thing especially when the students would reach a certain age and the level of individualism would increase significantly. Every student has a very unique set of circumstances in which he or she grew up and they all have different interests and the reasons why they enrolled in the class. I worked with students of different age groups from newborns to teenagers and finding the point of contact and connection with each and every student is a whole new challenge every time. It is helpful to do the assessment of the student or the class when it comes to discovering their interests, hobbies and the things they like in their lives. The good time to do that is at the very beginning of the class at the time of the introduction. This conversation could be used also as a way of assessing the level of their speaking proficiency or in case we assign the written questionnaire the level of their writing skills. There are many ways to discover students’ interests and hobbies and it is important to use alternate between them so the whole process would not become too predictable. As teachers we have the ability to get to know our students on a regular basis and every class can be used as an opportunity to develop a whole new level of connection. We need to introduce ourselves, be comfortable to talk about our own interests and hobbies in order to make our students be comfortable to do the same. Curiosity is one of the most important aspect of every learning and every student has a different trigger point when it comes to evoking it. Personally I like teachers who are actors and entertainers at the same time, who tell stories and make the learning more exciting and interesting. Nevertheless I know the students who prefer the learning to be more straightforward and automatic. It all depends on our own experience and the way we learned to receive the information that would eventually become useful for us. This is why it is important to keep an open conversation with our students and ask for the feedback regularly. Some students are more open than the others and they are pretty comfortable in providing a feedback. The others need a new means to express their opinions and feel safe while doing it. It is up to the teacher to decide which method to use and to alternate them in order to cover all the population in the classroom. Motivation is a very important aspect of the learning process and it serves us to open the door of receiving information in an engaged and receptive way. The more motivated our students are, the more they are able to understand the material, ask questions, and use their knowledge in order to improve their lives. Motivation extends even further and teaches young learners to become independent and productive adults. I have learned how important it is to become a self-motivated individual who can find positive aspects in every job I had in my life. It all starts in the classroom where students learn helpful skills to engage with life in an active and more meaningful way. As teachers we are able to help them in this process and be their mentors that would guide them to navigate the learning process more easily.