Teach English in Shengli Zhen - Linyi Shi

Motivation is an extremely vital factor to learning and, more importantly, retaining a new language. A student who is motivated will learn a new language, no matter their age, ability or circumstances. I know many people who were obligated to learn a new language and despite doing well in their course or taking multiple years, many years down the road they cannot speak or communicate in that language. I know others that had a burning desire or an urgent need to learn a language and were able to speak and communicate very rapidly. I personally belong to both groups. So being that motivation is the key to unlocking one’s ability to learn and retain new information, how does a teacher properly motivate their students? Well the first step is to have a good rapport with the students from day 1. When there is mutual respect between all parties involved everyone will feel safe and comfortable. This will allow a better connection between the teachers and the students. Getting to know the students and letting them get to know their teacher will help the teacher to learn the interests and personalities of their students. Students recognize when a teacher is making a true effort to be part of the class. Knowing the interests and personalities of the students will allow the teacher to adapt the lessons to their class. For example, if the majority of a class are very quiet and introverted it probably wouldn’t be to their liking having to do major group paring and presentations everyday or very often even. Or if the class is mostly high energy very talkative and extroverted, those students would be hard to motivate if all the teacher did was drills and worksheets. Group presentations and worksheets are good tools for all classes, but the amount of class time dedicated to those tools should be equal to the learning personalities of the class. As with anything good, teaching tools and techniques should be varied and each used with moderation. Having structure in a classroom is good but when a teacher uses a variety of techniques and tools, it can make the learning experience feel exciting and it will be inclusive of all the students in a class. Making sure that each student has an activity that they can look forward to or that they can excel in. While also expanding their horizons by getting the students to step out of their comfort zone in a safe environment to try things they normally wouldn’t. Creating a fun yet firm classroom environment, making sure that everyone knows and follows the rules set at the beginning of the course can allow for some silly and fun learning which is always a good motivator. Making the lessons fun and memorable to build the students confidence. When the students are confident that they can and are learning something it can be like a snowball effect in their learning. Providing rewards for participation that are geared towards the students interest (within reasonable school limits, of course) can also help grow their motivation. No matter how we look at it, the key to learning a new language is motivation, and the teacher needs to be adept in learning how to properly motivate their students. Humans have a great ability to absorb new and important information but motivation is key to how our brains process the information. If our motivation is only to pass the course with good grades then as soon as that goal is met we will start to “clean out” that information from our brains to make way for new information. However if our goal and motivation is to do something more, to be able to communicate in another country and the teacher can relate that motivation to the lesson and the students those students will retain the new information. Anything and everything is possible as long as there is a want and a need.