Motivating Students

[Niko]

One powerful way to motivate adult students is to show one or more short films or movie extracts which demonstrates the roles of actors / actresses and the language skills that will be attained by the student. That is, select a simple film, and then get your students to act out this skit with each student choosing a role they are comfortable with.

Do not try to complete this all in 1 lesson. Take your time and spread it out over a few lessons, with each lesson slowly equipping the student with the needed skills and phrases in order to succeed.

For English as a second language, the most helpful way in setting students at ease and quickly involving them in the action is by giving a brief explanation of the theory, goal, and instructional format.

Students often come to class with a relative or friend who speaks some English and can translate and help each other out. So involving such a group exercise surely helps students to continue their passion for learning English.

[Hypiereon]

Motivating students (I call them Trainees in my business) is ultimately the key to success in my business, but also the key to their learning success as trainees. I notice that teachers/trainers are usually pretty motivated, as are students/trainees at the beginning of a year or whenever classes initially start, but when newness and interest declines, so does the personal motivation to attend classes.

I also noticed not a lot of people seem to have much of a clue when it comes to how to resolve these issues. So, for what its worth, here's my two cents, and how I stay in business.

1. Trainees sign a "Commitment to Learning Contract." I get them to clearly articulate their goals, and then clearly explain to them that those goals cannot be reached with half-hearted efforts. It will take discipline and a commitment to come to class, do the homework, practice outside of class, and do all of these every week.

2. "Certificates of Completion" are awarded to Trainees who miss less than 4 days out of the training period. They are shown what the certificate will look like ahead of time, and it is stressed that someone who misses 5 days will not get a "Certificate of Completion." When someone does miss more than 4 days, they are met with personally to keep them encouraged and coming to see results even if they do not get the Cert.

3. I tell my Trainers that motivation begins and ends with them, and for them, motivation is not a feeling, it is a choice you make. Getting an energized person in the room adds energy to the room - period. I know we have to talk slow so they understand, but in the beginning of classes I train for, I'm always talking 100 mph - WAY beyond their level of comprehension - just to get class started and moving. Talking fast gets people moving and thinking fast, and after about the first minute I bring things down to speed with the class alert, attentive, and smiling.

4. When class gets quiet and rather solemn, try this - it always works for me. CLAP - POINT - ADDRESS. Clap your hands loudly - this always startles a few people to attention. Point to an individual - they will know you are talking to them. Address them by name - now everyone is looking and expecting that something is about to happen. Then go with whatever you have planned "Come to the front of the room and . . . ." "Please stand up and read out loud the . . . ." "Choose one person to come to the front of the room with you and . . . . "

For getting everyone's attention and immediately on the same page, I have found this works really well. Thought of trying fireworks once a long time ago, but will only try it when this loses its effect.

[Boke]

Movies are good motivation but remember to be aware of levels
Some movies are seriously hard

Look at the movies target demographics
Kids-Easy 1
Teens-2
Family-3
Action-3-4
Drama-5 Difficult

[ICAL_Pete]

Check the latest of the ICAL TESL videos to see how you can exploit movie trailers to get your students to use their English in a real way, just as native speakers do.

ICAL Videos

[mohsam1977]

I think movies is a very good way to motivate students .
It has a powerful effect on students .
it will help if we exploit it in suitable way .
it can finish alots of things you want to do in a very short time

[AdvantageEnglish]

I try to give alot of variety in my lessons... which removes the monotony and makes the lesson more interesting than the common chalk-and-talk-textbook lesson....

I often use TV commercials and public service announcements which can be found on sites like youtube, downloaded as Flash videos and converted to video files for playing on a DVD player or straight from the computer.

These are great for intermediate to advanced level students to discuss such matters as drugs, alcohol, smoking, drink driving, speeding, methods of advertising products, the way people are portrayed by the media - example: gender roles and stereotypes and many more topics... The clips are typically 30-60 seconds long, but the discussions can last a whole lesson if backed up with some well thought-out questions and pehaps a few interesting expressions and vocabulary for the students to use...

This type of lesson, I find, is alot more interesting than page to page in a texbook !

For a listening activity, I make cloze activities using the lyrics to songs.
(A cloze is a Fill-in-the-missing-words activity)
Play the song and students listen and fill in the blanks in the lyrics - on a worksheet that you've made and printed.

There's usually alot of vocab, idiomatic expressions, slang, phrasal verbs etc... to introduce to make the activity worthwhile and you can choose a more advanced song or a faster song for higher level students, easier or more straight forward song for beginners. For lower level students, provide all the possible words in a WORD-BOX at the top of the page.
For advanced students, annalyze the hidden meanings of more abstract songs - example: Hotel California, Bohemian Rapsody !

Adult students are generally studying at their own discretion - not forced by parents, obviously. So they obviously have enough motivation to have contacted you and enrolled in your classes in the first place. Now all you have to do is keep that motivation level high by offering interesting lessons with loads of variety... There's nothing wrong with using a textbook - it's a great way to make sure you teach topics and grammar points in a logical sequence. But going from page to page can start to become dull... Spicing your textbook up with these and other interesting activities should keep motivation high.