Teach English in Hongqinghe Zhen - E'erduosi Shi — Ordos

Generally speaking, motivation is paramount to succeeding at anything in life. In this summative task I will be looking at the importance and role of motivation in the classroom, not only for students learning English, but also for the teacher. However the core focus will be on the motivation of students. Firstly, the teacher also needs to be motivated in order to deliver quality lessons. This may involve self motivation and if fortunate enough, the students could also motivate their teacher through good class performance, active participation in the lesson, consistent progress and growth in their language level and skills. In order to be self motivated the teacher can consider reasons as to why they are teaching which should, for the most part, be to impart their knowledge of the language to his or her students and potentially alter the course of the student’s lives (in a positive direction). This in itself would be a great motivator for the teacher, therefore giving the teacher a reason to prepare adequately and push the envelope as to what they can offer their students. As a result, this would work like magic in giving the learners a higher chance of succeeding in mastering the language. I would like to believe that the students are likely to be as motivated as much as the teacher is, meaning that the student’s level of motivation to learn the language, is highly likely to be affected by the teacher’s level of motivation to teach. We will now look into motivation from the student’s perspective. Generally students may have various reasons for motivation to learn the language. A key factor would be the age of students since younger learners (mainly kindergarten and primary school), may not have much motivation or drive to learn the language. Ninety-nine point nine percent of young learners study the language because of their parents or guardians and is never because of their personal decision to learn. On the other hand we have the older learners that is mainly high school, college or university, and adult learners. Most of the time, older learners are self motivated since it is highly likely that they would have made a personal decision to learn the language. Now let us look into ways or techniques for motivating students. On a generic level, most teachers use encouraging words or gestures such as “good job”, “wow, great job” or even facial gestures like smiling more often or clapping hands for a student who answers a question correctly. These are just a few ways to go about it however there are many more techniques for motivating students in the classroom. From personal experience I have observed that using “the point system” is also an effective way for motivating students in the classroom. However it does not simply end here. After awarding points to good students or hardworking students who make an effort to participate, I normally will make a record of these points and at the end of the month the students can come and trade in their points for a small gift such as candy or snacks, little toys and so forth. This has proven to be effective as a motivation tool for the students. In essence I have seen that students tend to be motivated to learn the language, when they have something to look forward to. In addition motivating older learners could involve giving them an end result idea or picture of what they could be if they learn well. Take for instance, teaching business English to mature students who work or own companies, the teacher can explain how mastering the language and working hard in studying English can improve the company’s sales, expand client base, and can develop new relationships with English speaking companies and customers. All of these can be means to have the older students be motivated to work hard and make progress in learning the language. In conclusion, we can all agree that motivating students is the center of teaching, and the most effective way of having students master and succeed in learning English.