Comment

Comment by Safiétou Ndiaye on November 6, 2011 at 4:53pm

Dear Martha,

I find the topic relevant. I hope we will be able to exchange tips and experiences about how to get all our students become motivated ones!

Comment by Clare Bassett on September 9, 2011 at 12:00pm

Hi teachers,

This is a really interesting and relevant topic. I had a lot of trouble motivating some Chinese students studying English in Dublin.

Their main motivation in coming to the class was to get an attendance letter from the school so they could keep renewing their student visas and work in Dublin.  They were all working lots of hours in tiring jobs and they were coming to school in the evening really tired and not that interested. 

I did some research about motivation and it was broken into ''intrinsic'' = it comes from the student ie. they love your subject and want to learn, extrinsic = they have to do an exam or its for their work or their visa, (as it was with my learners) and interpersonal , that is like a positive version of peer pressure, all your friends speak English so you learn it too!

They say there is very little a teacher can do about intrinsci motivation but I personally believe it can be cultivated by giving the students acheivable and fun tasks and lots of insentives to learn. For example I used to do group / team work and sometimes the prize was the best team got to leave 5 minutes early. Often the best team were so pleased with themselves that they would stay chatting for the last 5 minutes and we'd all end up leaving together.

It takes time and consistency and lots of determination and patience but I think you can really make a difference to motivation levels.

You may need to listen to them first and find out what motivates them even if it is not something you like. You could offer reward activities like listening to a song in a class if they finish all the work on time?

What do other people think?

Clare

 

Comment by Martha Rhodes on August 10, 2011 at 8:37am

Let's exchange ideas about what we are all doing in the classrooms to movtivate students to engage, learn, and thrive!