Teach English in Budunhua Muchang - Xing'an Meng — Hinggan

Motivated students make effective learners. When students have a reason to learn they will be inspired to learn and will catch on to a variety of topics presented in a wide variety of ways. They will be more engaged with the material presented and they will be more willing to interact and try out new ideas. There are many kinds of motivation and many different ways of implementing them. It goes without saying that for the purposes of teaching English in an encouraging manor, I will focus on positive motivational techniques. It is worth mentioning that there are, unfortunately negative ways to motivate students. However, besides the fact that yelling and inspiring fear in students is just plain wrong, it is also worth mentioning that the results of this kind of instruction are not lasting in any discipline. As a musician, growing up I experienced a wide variety of teachers and teaching styles. Some of my teachers were from a different era and had a fairly strict approach to teaching. For example, not much, if any of what I did was ever praised, but any mistake made was quickly and aggressively criticized. While this kind of motivation produced quick results based out of fear of my teacher's disappointment, the end result was that I almost quit entirely. It is always important to get to know as much about the students as is possible, in order to understand their motivation for learning English. Reasons, as stated in the ITTT courses can range from wanting to be able to travel, to being mandated by an employer. Some reasons for learning English provide students that arrive, with a high degree of self motivation and some reasons have students coming to learn English more out of a sense of obligation. Once, we as teachers, have had a chance to get to know our students we can tailor our approach to best motivate them. In getting to know our students it is important to establish a good rapport. However, as stated in the previous ITTT course, we may not always make connections with students easily. For example, our interests may be different. In this case asking the students about their particular interests can be a good way to get to know them. We can then find ways of incorporating their interests into lesson plans. A student's interest in music may be completely different from my own, but after a bit of research, I may find a song that they have suggested with lyrics that display some of the grammatical content I am teaching. Other positive ways to engage and motivate students might also include incorporating particular interests of the students, such as places they have traveled as a way of teaching nouns, hobbies as a way of teaching different kinds of verbs etc. In all cases a creative and positive teacher can find a way to engage with their students. However, it is necessary to state that there are some general rules for motivating students that apply across the board. For example, rules such as, always finding a positive way to frame things, even if we are pointing out errors in a student's speech, writing, reading or understanding of what they have heard. Also, finding creative ways of praising them for things done correctly however small they may seem, can go a long way to positively motivating students. I appreciate the continual reference to positivity within the ITTT course material. It is good for us as English teachers to do our best to put ourselves in the students' shoes as much as possible. Otherwise, we may find it difficult to understand why they may be having troubles with concepts being taught. This will in turn help to negate teacher frustration, which will go a long way to positively motivating students.