Teach English in Lanxi Zhen - Huanggang Shi

It can be very difficult for language learners to stay motivated. Having taught in China at university level for many years, I can attest to this personally, as many of my students over the years have honestly told me that they would rather not be there. The only reason they come to class, in the beginning at least, is because English is a compulsory module in their degree course. Although all of them have been learning English since the age of five, most of them can only say a few sentences, having only done book work in their classes and multiple choice grammar tests to evaluate their progress and ability; speaking was always an afterthought. One of my roles at the university is to get the students speaking and actually to enjoy learning English and being there. I’d like to say that I am always a motivated teacher and like to organise activities which I think will be relevant to the students’ lives and futures, engaging and diverse. However, each teacher is different, and teaching in their own unique context, so we constantly need to adjust and self-evaluate our own teaching in order to get the very best out of our classes and our students. Motivation is what moves us to act and, in the ELT context, to learn English or to teach it. This involves the reasons why we want to learn, the strength of our desire to learn, the kind of person we are and our estimation of what is required to complete a task. He goes on to say that motivation is the property of the learner, however I don’t agree with this assessment. For me, the teacher is at the heart of motivation in the classroom, both for themselves and the learner. A highly motivated teacher should always have the ability to motivate the learner, whatever the learner’s level of motivation is at the start of the process. My advice to the teacher in this instance would be to seek class observation opportunities from managers and peers with in the school and to self-reflect on how she might develop herself professionally, both in terms of self-motivation, but also engaging students. However, there is a growing understanding that transforming classrooms into engaging environments for language learning demands more than a repertoire of innovative principles and techniques; it requires teachers who will be motivated to put knowledge into practice. Teachers first need to reflect on who they are, what they want and what they envisage for learners. Learner motivation is influenced by both internal and external factors that can start, sustain, intensify or discourage behaviour. But how can this be done in class every day? How can teachers inspire learner vision? Inspiring vision in our learners starts with the language teacher’s practices. If teachers want to make meaningful changes in their cognition of teaching and transform their classroom into better learning environments for their students, where learner motivation will be higher and learning more effective, then conceptual change is needed from within the teacher. Teachers need to see who they strive to become in the future and transform themselves from their current self to their possible or imagined self. Students respond to motivated and caring teachers. If teachers are to teach who they are in ways that are convincing to their students, in ways that engage people in learning, then they must do so with a firm grasp of their own gifts. Students respond almost naturally to people who are willing to share their talents and passions with others. Regarding the caring element, my final piece of advice to this teacher would be to take a very humanistic approach to teaching by really showing an interest in her students and getting to know them much better. Every student has different interests, personalities and feelings and these should be taken into account when teaching. Learners will learn much better if teachers are interested in their students, not only in their subject, and if the lesson is not about an artificial world, but the ‘here and now’.