Post by matt on Nov 4, 2016 12:25:32 GMT 8
As all have mentioned, motivation tends to be a problem with our students. Besides running into the issue of students with different levels, we run into the issue of students with different interests. It won’t work for all classes in I2, but I have a class with 2 students who are very different. One loves to draw and the other despises it. The benefit of having only 2 students is that I can manage having two activities in the class that suits both children. It helps to keep both kids motivated.
For the student who didn’t like drawing, his mother was also concerned with his motivation in learning English as he doesn’t come home wanting to share what he has learned. The solution I came up with, and is along Moon’s reference to motivation outside the class, is to give a small assignment after every class for the student to go home and talk about what we learned about and have his mother report back to me what he’s told her. If he completed the task then I will reward him with an extra sticker. Although, I think I could change it to an extra stamp if he does it every time during the month when we have class. It gives him the extra motivation to receive a prize and to have his mother interact with him in English outside of class. If we can get more students to go home and practice and have a rewards system set up, I think we could see great improvements as the students will be using English on a more frequent bases. To many times do students go home after class and leave what they learned behind in the school for when they come back.
As for another means of motivation with older kids, especially in a mixed class of boys and girls, we can use there hormones to get them involved more. With the activity I mentioned in a previous thread, musical commands, it gave a chance for all the students to give commands. So even the student who might be at a lower proficiency level, they are still able to participate and pick on each other. It’s fun to watch the boys and girls pick on each other as they, even if they don’t know it, are flirting with each other. You will notice how a certain boy or girl will often pick on the other.
For the student who didn’t like drawing, his mother was also concerned with his motivation in learning English as he doesn’t come home wanting to share what he has learned. The solution I came up with, and is along Moon’s reference to motivation outside the class, is to give a small assignment after every class for the student to go home and talk about what we learned about and have his mother report back to me what he’s told her. If he completed the task then I will reward him with an extra sticker. Although, I think I could change it to an extra stamp if he does it every time during the month when we have class. It gives him the extra motivation to receive a prize and to have his mother interact with him in English outside of class. If we can get more students to go home and practice and have a rewards system set up, I think we could see great improvements as the students will be using English on a more frequent bases. To many times do students go home after class and leave what they learned behind in the school for when they come back.
As for another means of motivation with older kids, especially in a mixed class of boys and girls, we can use there hormones to get them involved more. With the activity I mentioned in a previous thread, musical commands, it gave a chance for all the students to give commands. So even the student who might be at a lower proficiency level, they are still able to participate and pick on each other. It’s fun to watch the boys and girls pick on each other as they, even if they don’t know it, are flirting with each other. You will notice how a certain boy or girl will often pick on the other.
