- Why do students learning English lose motivation?
- Why do students give up learning English?
WARNING: The following email is deep! Make sure that you’ve had your
morning coffee!
Students often ask, “how can I improve?”
Our lives and priorities are all different. However there are some things that
are pretty much universal.
Of course, friends, family, love and health are all consistently at the top of
everyone’s list.
However, without fail among the top 10 most important things in everyone’s
life, are purpose, passion, self development and potential.
Why are purpose, passion and potential so important?
Starting with purpose; having a goal and a specific target is a huge determiner
of happiness and life satisfaction.
They fit in with dreams, career aspirations, personal meaning of what success
is…
People search for their purpose. It’s a natural instinct to look for the purpose in
everything that we do. The reason that we exist. Why am I doing this? Why am
I here?
If it isn’t clearly defined for us, we will inevitably give up on whatever goal and
challenge we are facing. Students often start out with clear goals, but quickly
lose sight of what they are. The mountain is too high so to speak.
As a teacher, your purpose is to guide students to their potential. Clearly tell,
show and demonstrate what the purpose of the activity, lesson and course is.
Give your students short, achievable goals that they can reach. Make them
feel like they are always moving forward and consistently making progress.
What do you mean by “passion”?
Passion comes in all shapes and sizes and it looks different for everyone. But
there’s one thing that’s very hard to disagree with. Passion helps maintain our
psychological well-being. Simply put, it wakes us up in the morning. Without it,
every day feels like a gray, rainy, miserable day. A day that we don’t want to get
up out of bed.
People become passionate about things because of something or someone.
It’s usually a person that helps fuel a passion.
Help ignite your students passions. How? Part of a teacher’s job description is
coach and motivator. Ask your students to read a passage with intonation and
rhythm. Do it again and ask them to stand up using body language to
emphasize key points. There are lots of ways to show and bring out passion.
Help your students reach their potential
Potential is that proverbial dangling carrot in front of us.
As teachers and leaders, it’s our job to guide, coach and push students to
reach their potential.
Our students are the heroes.
We are their guides, showing them the way. Reminding them of the purpose of
something step by step. Cultivating their passion by bringing energy into
lessons. Helping and guiding them to truly develop and reach their potential.
And anything less means that you should be looking for another job.
There are powerful tools to simplify these things. The 21st century learner’s
expectations include:
being able to achieve something in a short time (bite-sized lessons: micro-
learning)
- instantly seeing and feeling progress: a visual representation (course progress
lines)
- reaching goals: being rewarded with badges or something that signifies that
they’ve achieved something
- a feeling of self accomplishment which ultimately comes from being
evaluated or given feedback which highlights strengths (encourages them)
with a balance and the right tone of feedback on areas for improvement
(challenges them)
Here’s to keeping our students motivated, inspired and on the right track.
