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Viewing Motivation is an Essential Part of Teaching EnglishMotivation is an Essential Part of Teaching English
By Gavin Ramsey At the beginning of the class, the students were very attentive, because it was the first class of the day and the teacher had a nice, familiar song that the students were enjoying. After the song was finished, the teacher began talking again, the motivation dropped until the teacher announced that they would be working in groups, which got every student in the class excited. I think the motivation was very high because it was a well-known song and it got the students very excited. When the teacher gave direct, short instructions, the students were more interested than when the teacher gave longer instructions. This is because it is usually harder to follow longer directions, because there is so much being said and if it is in a foreign language, it is even harder. Group work gets everyone talking and working on the specific tasks. Throughout the class, the students lost interest at certain times. When the teacher gave praise to the students, they regained their interest. The students were more attentive when clear goals were used. When the students worked alone, some of them got frustrated with themselves and gave up working with the activity. The students were a lot more interested when they were talking or in groups talking. When the teacher was talking, even though she was giving information, some of the students lost focus. I think the cause of this is because when you are talking to other people and are involved, there is satisfaction. However, if you are listening to someone talk, sometimes the person is long-winded and you can easily lose focus. The time when the students were least attentive was while grammar was being taught. The TTT (teacher talking time) made the students lose focus and they already knew what was being taught in this particular class. A good way to solve this problem would be to challenge the students more in what is being taught. When the teacher introduced pictures to class, they regained their motivation to maximum, because they were trying to figure out what the pictures meant. The teacher kept asking questions throughout this activity to get the students on top of things. The students who attended this class were intrinsically motivated. They were excited to be in the class for no other reason than because of their love of the language. There was one part in the lesson where the teacher went around posing questions to individual students and it seemed that some of the students' interest dropped until it was their turn. At that time, that student's motivation got high and the other students lost a little. When the students had a clear task (like a worksheet, or a group activity), they enjoyed it much more. They knew what they had to do. If one person finished, then they had to wait until the teacher was ready to move on. The student lost a little motivation, until this particular student offered help to another and in doing so, regained interest. The teacher then thanked the student for helping and he got even more confidence. In one activity in this lesson, the teacher added some personalization. The students started telling their own stories relating to the topic and the other students became extremely interested. I was quite fascinated that the students were so interested and would highly recommend this for recovering students' interest. The progress activity also involved studying pictures to reach a solution. The teacher was constantly going to the students and checking their progress and encouraging them throughout. When the teacher saw that something was giving a student trouble, she would sit down and work through it with the student and this gave the student the confidence to keep going. Now you will have a better understanding of exactly why it is important to keep student motivation up. When the motivation is high in the class, the students are excited and are willing to invest effort in learning activities and to progress, but you cannot expect the motivation and attention to be high throughout the entire class. The teacher must try to have enough varied activities throughout, and the motivation should remain fairly high. The teacher must also give positive energy to the class. If the teacher can give the students the positive energy they need then, the students will give the teacher positive energy while they are learning and make the process more enjoyable. I hope this article will help with classes that are learning English. About the Author: Gavin Ramsey is a specialist at English courses in England, and Ireland. Study English - (Cursos de Ingles). Go to movingcourses.com for more information on learning English in England. Article Source: A Language Guide - http://www.a-language-guide.com More free articles: 1st Rate Articles - 1stRateArticles.com |
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