To be successful as an online English teacher or school owner you need to maximize attendance and student retention.

This is what ESL education looks like today for many students and teachers

(or ELT, EFL, TEFL, TESL, English education…) Many students all over the world

are feeling down and depressed. They’ve lost motivation to learn English and

it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to keep them motivated and inspired.

This is having a negative effect on how often students come to class and how

long they continue coming.

Students learning English often give up
Why do students learning English lose motivation and give up?

Your English school can do better.

For many English teachers and schools, things were humming along

nicely and then BAM! Covid-19 sent us all packing for our home office.

Overnight online education became the norm.

Sending old-school teachers into a panic, their classes into disarray, and

learners into a frustrating, lonely world.

Students were left thinking and asking. “What am I supposed to do next? How

am I doing? What’s the goal and purpose of this/that activity?”  

Not to mention the social component was completely lost.

How did it come to this? 

Technology should maximize student learning potential by integrating the

most effective methods, tools and science available. Yet the education sector

has been the slowest to adopt and embrace technology.

As a result, instead of being ready for COVID, many were left scrambling to use

technology in some or any form. Many of the tools and activities served no real

educational purpose. They really didn’t help students move forward or give

them a real sense of accomplishment.

Instead students were left without clear goals or purpose. Student anxiety and

depression are up and motivation to learn English is down.

Why are we so behind?

How could the education industry have been caught so off guard? More

specifically, how could English schools have been caught so off guard?

Why have so many English schools been so reluctant to offer hybrid

solutions? Organized institutions have hurdles and hoops with politics and

bureaucracy, and so it’s easier to see how and why. I didn’t say understand, but

just see how and why. English teacherpreneurs and schools though … they

have no excuse. 

– Doesn’t it just make more sense to have a learning management system that

is stacked with proven methods and techniques to optimize student learning

potential?

– Doesn’t it just make sense to offer students the choice to take English classes

in person or remotely?

– Doesn’t it just make sense to appeal to 21st century learner preferences and

expectations?

What do 21st-century English language learners expect?

English language learners expectations

21st century learners expect a lot!

For one, we are accustomed to instantly finding things out (think Google). If we

want a new recipe, we Google it. If we have a disagreement with a friend, we

Google the answer. Within seconds we “learn” things.

This is called micro-learning and it’s completely changed how many people

approach learning. And for a number of good reasons.

1. You can learn something quickly.

2. You can learn things that you’re interested in.

3. For almost anything you Google, there are images which help you visualize

and remember things.

4. For almost anything you Google, you have the choice between reading

about it or watching a video. And guess what? Most people choose video. The

interesting thing to keep in mind here is that visual aids actually help us

remember things. This holds especially true for facts and … vocabulary.

What about that “Magic English Pill”?

Learn English with the magic English pill

Twenty-first century learners also expect results. They expect the “magic pill”

effect. Why? Because technology has made everything so much easier to do.

Though there’s still no “magic pill” for learning English, there are things that

help make your students feel they are making progress. Progress lines that

are a part of most learning management systems are a great example of this. 

They let us know immediately how far we’ve progressed and how far we have

to go to complete something. There’s no guesswork.

Micro-interactions are another example. Micro-interaction is just a fancy term

for those things that pop up on the screen and tell you that you’ve completed

something. For example, a thumbs up, or a badge. Micro-interactions provide 3

main purposes:

1. They communicate status and provide feedback

2. They help people to see the results of their actions

3. They enhance our sense of control that we have over actions

I for one, love micro-interactions and many argue that they’re the reason so

many people love learning apps like Duolingo (enter the little waving owl!)

Last, but definitely not least …

And of course there’s gamification. Everything is gamified these days. We earn

points for this, awards for that. Badges for this and stamps for that. We’ll go

into detail for all of these, but start putting some thought into these.

These are just a few of the things that can make a significant impact on

whether your students come to tomorrow’s lesson or they give up. It can

influence whether they quit today or continue learning English. 

Incorporating these things in your lessons, courses and system will make a

significant difference in how often students come to classes and how long

they continue to study for. Find ways to keep them engaged outside of the

classroom and feeling like they are moving forward.

We would love to talk with you about your English teaching goals and how

Pocket Passport can make your educational goals a reality.

Almost forgot!  We have tons of FREE high frequency vocabulary materials

that are sure to boost student scores on the TOEIC, IELTS and other exams.  

Check out how Pocket Passport can help make your teaching goals-and your

students dreams a reality. And also very importantly how your class

occupancy and student retention can be higher.

Kenta was an upper intermediate student.

He had an extremely high vocabulary with very accurate sentence structure and grammar.

 

He was also able to recognize when he made a mistake and consistently self-corrected.

 

His delivery … well that was another thing altogether.

 

Kenta’s fluency was the one thing that made him sound like a beginner particularly if you never knew him or had only taught him once or twice.

 

He had all the skills in the world but struggled to express his thoughts and deliver them fluently. He had his own opinions and ideas but just couldn’t put them all together.

 

Fluency is a skill that can be worked on and improved with a variety of drills and exercises.

 

There are also a number of reasons why students are very high level (vocabulary, grammar and comprehension) but cannot clearly deliver what they want to say.

 

Sometimes it is a matter of being shy and introverted and as a result afraid to make a mistake and reluctant to speak.

 

Other times students are trying to translate the words from their mother tongue into English.

 

Of course there are other reasons as well.

 

One of many methods that have been very effective for me is using our flashcards. That is actually the primary reason that they were developed; to get shy students speaking.

 

It’s pretty simple really.

 

Choose a flashcard or sequence of flashcards.

 

First get your student to brainstorm words that they associate with the picture.

 

After creating a list elicit synonyms and antonyms (where possible) from the words that the student came up with.

 

Ask them to use every word that they brainstormed (including the ones that you elicited synonyms and antonyms)

 

*Give students a few moments to think about their story. Depending on what skills you want to work on this can also be a writing exercise.

 

I have watched students improve considerably from doing this exercise over and over. From beginner to advanced it will help develop a number of skills.

 

Give it a try!