How Motivating Students Helps Them to Grow

I believe that motivating your students is a major part of teaching and is relevant to all students regardless of age or level. Keeping students motivated throughout a class has positives for both the learner and the teacher. It will result in the class running smoothly and effectively due to having an engaged class that is eager to learn, this will result in a productive lesson for both the teacher and the learners. I believe to motivate students you have to keep the lesson entertaining, positive and energetic. To build this kind of lesson atmosphere there are a lot of things you should consider when planning and carrying out your lesson.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Claire R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Planning Your Class

Within your lesson plan, you should consider the best seating arrangement for the students to ensure they feel comfortable and able to build a relationship with the other students, while also easily being able to see you throughout the class so you can build a rapport with them too. The more comfortable students feel within the class the more confident and relaxed they will be about answering questions and providing their ideas. Ensure when creating your lesson plan that the activities you are planning will be fun and interactive so to keep the class morale high and the students interested. You should also consider the learner's age as younger learners will lose interest a lot quicker than older learners so ensure to keep the lesson activities short and simple to keep young learners engaged.

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Lesson Flow

During the class, you should keep all of the students involved throughout the lesson by ensuring none of the learners are left out and everyone is treated fairly. Splitting the class into pairs and groups for activities will encourage the learners to work together and will also take off individual stress especially for lower-level students or nervous/shy students too. Try to keep the topic relate-able to the students as this will also help to keep them interested in the lesson. Ensure to provide positive feedback to all students regardless of incorrect answers, do not put down students if they get an answer wrong as this will put them off participating in future lessons. You want to build confidence in using the language and not leave them feeling nervous to participate. Ensure you positively correct them and praise them for their efforts in the process.

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Lesson Productivity

Having motivated students will increase productivity within the lesson and also minimize the chance of students becoming bored and therefore disruptive during class. If the students enjoy your class they will be more willing to learn and provide a positive atmosphere for the rest of the learners within the class. Motivated students will have a higher chance of learning the language quicker than students that are not motivated, this is because when a student is reluctant to participate within the class they will not take in the information as effectively or as willingly which will make the learning process slower for these students.

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To summarise motivating your students is highly important both for yourself as the teacher and the learner. Keeping the students motivated will result in in-class participation, class enjoyment and also increased productivity.

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