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TEFL Kermanshah

Check out Tesolcourse.com about TEFL Kermanshah and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad.

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This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:

M.Y. - France said:
I am a firm believer that the most important thing a teacher can teach students is how to love learning. This directly correlates to motivation in the classroom, as when you love what you are doing you are motivated, and you are motivated when you love what you do. In the book, Tools for Teaching, Barbara Gross Davids, bases her first chapter around motivation, which rightly demonstrates its role as the foundation for which language learning is based. As educators, we have all seen students who are unengaged, uninterested and tired or unconcerned with what is going on in the classroom. As educators, we know it is often easy to blame this lack of disinterest on the students themselves. However, a good teacher knows that they are as equally responsible for capturing a student’s interest, as they are for teaching them vocabulary. The importance of motivation in the esl classroom is clear, as the basis of the tesol methodology is based around the ESA learning structure. A pillar of this approach is the engage phase, which focusing on capturing a student’s interest, and sparking their motivation. Barbara Gross David’s first chapter reflects the tesol approach and education based literature, by stressing five main components essential for motivating student. Firstly, it is essential to offer frequent, positive feedback that supports students' beliefs that they can do well and complete the task at hand. To do so, the second component underlines the important of ensuring student success by assigning tasks in which the students are challenged, but also have the tools to succeed. As often outlined in the tesol course content, the third component which factors into motivation is helping students find personal meaning and value in the material. Students are motivated when they see the purpose of a task. It is the teacher’s role not only to find purposeful material, but to elicit the importance and function of the task at hand. This is doubly effective when the material pertains to students interests. Another important factor in establishing motivation is by creating a positive and open atmosphere in the classroom. Bright, open, engaging and exciting classrooms translate into bright, open, engaged and excited students. It is however, more than just what is on display on the four walls of the classroom. The teacher is the beacon of the classroom and students often mirror the teacher’s attitude and level of enthusiasm. It is therefore vital for the teacher to not only be motivated, but to continually nurture interest and enthusiasm for their students. Finally, the fifth element which factors into a student’s motivation is making sure that students feel as though they are a valued member of a learning community. Students have a fundamental need to connect and relate to their classmates. As the esl classroom can be intimidating, and a student’s capabilities (or more importantly lack thereof) are not easily hidden. Students of the esl classroom constantly have to demonstrate their knowledge to ask a question, make a remark or even ask to go to the washroom. Therefore, it is essential that students feel accepted and comfortable before they can participate. More often than not, students’ lack of motivation masks their underlying fear of embarrassment or fear of failure. Students can feel ostracized for not having a certain level of fluency. It is therefore primordial for students to have a friendly, caring and supportive classroom atmosphere where students know it is o.k. to make mistakes, and where they will not be judged or criticized. teachers being aware of social, cultural and socio-economic factures that may influence a student’s motivation is also an invaluable teaching strategy. When receiving feedback at the end of my 8 month teaching program in france, my students identified the classroom atmosphere as one of the most influential motivational factors. Students were excited to come to class because they actually enjoyed being in class. Students were enjoying the language learning process and it motivated them to continue to pursue english studies. As a teacher, I know that there is a limit to what you can teach in the classroom, but when students are motivated enough to take a personal interest in the language learning process themselves, their possibilities are limitless. Reference source: Barbara Gross. Tools for teaching. san francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993. Print.


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