Reference Material  1.

Motivating Young Learners

We’re helping to solve your EFL teaching problems by answering your questions every two weeks. In this week’s blog, Verissimo Toste responds to Sylwia’s blog comment about motivating young learners.

I’m interested in the idea of participation points for the class. How does it work? Is it a motivation for the whole class? Are there any awards? I’m asking because I mainly have a problem with involving students in the lesson, especially the weaker ones. They fell behind with grammar and vocabulary and they became discouraged. They are also very lazy.”

Sylwia brought up an interesting issue: involving young learners in the lesson, or more specifically “the weaker ones”. According to Sylwia, these weaker learners “fell behind with grammar and vocabulary and they became discouraged.”

The first point I would like to bring up here is that success motivates, and equally, failure demotivates. If a learners’s previous experience with English has been negative, it is natural that they will give up. So, an important objective for the teacher of young learners is to make everyone feel successful. This is not as difficult as it may seem. Here are some ideas:

1. Focus on what has been learned

Praise learners for their achievements. When teaching colours, for example, focus on the colours each child has learned, not on the ones they still don’t know. Don’t compare them to one another. Relate to each learner individually. Focus on what each learner has achieved and the improvements they have made.

2. Make your classroom safe and supportive

Strive to make your classroom a place your learners enjoy being in. Equally, make your lessons a time your learners look forward to. Encourage them to enjoy the songs they sing, the games they play, the projects they share with each other. Make your lessons fun and have fun with them. When an activity is on the verge of being too difficult or uninteresting, step back. Save it for another time. Children do not learn when they feel stressed or when they don’t like what they are meant to learn.

3.  Children like learning

This is an important point, so I will repeat it: children like learning. It is what they do all day, every day. Children learn what they need to learn. Your learners will enjoy learning a new song. If you ask them to teach that song to their parents, you create a need for them to learn the lyrics. You also create a situation in which they are motivated to learn the song in order to teach someone else. This may create a need for reading the lyrics, or to memorise the song well enough for when they arrive home. Notice how, in this situation, you have also created a need to play the song more than one time, as your learners will need to know it well in order to teach it.

4. Children are natural language learners

Everyone has learned a language. There is no language in the world that is too difficult for a child to learn as their mother tongue. So, children are natural language learners. They will make the effort to learn the new words you are teaching, or some new language structure. They simply need to feel safe, to enjoy it, and to believe they can do it.

Now, more specifically, what can a teacher do to involve all of their learners in the lesson?

5. Personalise the learning

Whatever language you are teaching, see how your learners can use it to talk about themselves and their world. When teaching words associated with the house, relate it to their houses. When teaching abilities with “can”, or possessions with “have got”, relate it to their abilities and their possessions. Young learners like to talk about themselves. When they see English as a way to talk about their interests, they will become more motivated and will make a greater effort.

6. Each according to their ability

As your learners are learning the language, relate to each according to their ability. Antonio may tell you a lot of things he has got and, in this way, use most of the language you have been teaching. Ana, however, may only tell you about a few things. In both cases, praise them for what they have done. This will encourage Ana to continue learning. She will notice how others communicate more and be encouraged to learn more. Remember, success leads to success. If Ana feels successful, she will continue to make an effort.

7. Praise them! Reward them!

Establish a system for rewarding your learners for their efforts. Rewards should be based on effort and not knowledge. Make sure that everyone is able to get the reward if they try. For example, in my classes I create an honour board called, “I Am Special”. Let’s imagine I am teaching likes and dislikes, with the vocabulary related to food. The first week anyone who can name 5 different food items without looking at the book gets their name on the board. Two weeks later it might be those who can tell me 3 food items they like and three they don’t like.

8. Give them the opportunity to succeed.

Give your learners a second and third opportunity to succeed. Maria may not be able to name 5 food items the first week, but during the second week she is able to. That’s when you put her name on the honour board. Eventually, you may see everyone’s name on the board. Great! Congratulate the class on how well they are doing – all of them!

9. Establish routines

Establish a routine in class. This will help communicate to your learners what is expected of them. How should they enter the classroom? What is the first thing they should do as they come in? What do you want to see on their desks? What do you not want to see? Do they put away their books? Establish some definitions for working together, raising hands, etc.

10. Use project work

Finally, since Sylwia mentioned weaker learners and the idea of mixed ability, I always recommend that teachers use project work for these situations. I mentioned that personalising learning helps motivate children to learn. Using project work can give learners a basis to use the English they are learning. For example, when learning “can” for abilities, learners can make a poster of what they can do. Using images will reinforce learning. The project gives everyone an opportunity to show what they have learned. Making it personal and sharing the information with others in the class will engage them in their learning and make the language real.

Invitation to share your ideas

We are interested in hearing your ideas about getting young learners involved, so please comment on this post.

Please keep your challenges coming. You can let us know by commenting on this post, on Twitter using the hashtag #EFLproblems, or on our Facebook page. Each blog will be followed by a live Facebook chat to discuss the challenge answered in the blog. Be sure to Like our Facebook page to be reminded about the upcoming live chats.

Reference Material  2.

Motivating Young Learners

Motivation is a hot topic. It is also one of the most challenging areas when we are teaching young learners. After all, there’s nothing worse than going into a class full of people who don’t really want to be there. You see, unlike adults, younger learners probably don’t have much say about being in your classroom. Usually their parents will have placed them there. There may be some tacit agreement on the part of the young learner, in the choice that they have made (English vs. another extra curricular subject), but usually they have little say in the matter. Also, adults often have to pay for their place in your classroom, which gives them a higher level of motivation to ensure that their learning succeeds. Younger learners invariably do not. This has an impact on their motivation in class and hence their overall performance.

One of the skills that we as teachers can bring into the classroom is that of successfully motivating students to learn. So it is important for us to take an active role in trying to improve the motivation levels of our younger learners groups. Think about it for a moment - a highly motivated group of students is usually going to be easier to teach.  So we are the ones responsible for creating the right ‘motivational environment’ for our learners to grow and develop their knowledge of the language.

In essence, we need to create a supportive classroom where students can feel comfortable. We need to demonstrate that we are in control and can run the classroom effectively, utilising appropriate discipline techniques. The nature of our own behaviour in the classroom is going to be crucial if we are to be:

a)  an effective role model for our students

b) able to establish an effective rapport and group dynamic

c) enthusiastic and able to generate enthusiasm in our students towards learning

To be motivated to learn, students need both opportunities to learn and steady encouragement and support of their learning efforts. Because such motivation is unlikely to develop in a chaotic classroom, it is important that the teacher organise and manage the classroom as an effective learning environment.

So in this section we will first look at how we can motivate our young learners to learn. Following on from this we will examine how we can best motivate our primary aged young learners, before moving on to look at how we can help to motivate our teenage learners.

Motivating Primary-aged Learners

In my experience as a teacher of young learners, they need stimulation from the start of the lesson to the final minute. From the moment they enter the classroom, to the minute they leave, something needs to be happening. This is partly because at this age (3-11 years) our students tend not to be goal orientated. There is no ability to see the future or to understand whether their English is or is not improving. At this age level, young learners are generally unable to see past the activity they are engaged in, so as teachers we need to encourage immediate motivation. This motivation must come from the task we as a class are doing at the present time.

So it is crucial that we incorporate a fun element into our lessons, so that learners at this level enjoy what they are doing. As we said in our analysis of young learners earlier, young learners will enjoy being challenged within their ability range, but they will learn more if they are enjoying what they are doing. So remember to not let your students get bored. They need to be engaged and active. A tip here is to have lots of activities prepared and not make them too long – long enough for them to be interesting but not so long that students lose interest. Vary your tasks too.  For example, don’t make them all ‘drawing’ activities. Students who don’t like drawing will soon latch on to the fact that in Ms. X’s lesson ‘all we do is drawing’. The dislike of the method of learning will quickly develop into dislike of the subject itself.

But it is not all about having fun in the classroom. Having lots of activities up our sleeves is not going to work all by itself. Yes, we can reward our students when they do well, and indeed we should. But there are more effective motivational strategies that we can employ to be successful at this level as well. So here we look at five key elements that will help to keep our young learners interested in the lesson.

1. The Importance of Planning

Planning is crucial to successful motivation. When you are planning, think about what your young learners will be interested in doing. Where possible, use a young learner course book at a targeted age level for your class. Build your lesson around part of the book, but remember to think about what we have said regarding attention span. We need to understand and accept how quickly your young learners will lose interest in what they are doing and how easily they may become distracted.

Top Tip 1 –  MAKE LESSONS  FUN!

Question 1

On this page we are going to ask you to do some research. Longman has produced some excellent rules on planning activities for young learners, which we really like. They explain in really simple terms what each teacher needs to think about when planning activities for this age of learner. They are bullet pointed below:

Tips from the Top Motivating Young Learners

Planning for motivation The secret of good motivation is planning. Remember the old saying: 'If you fail to plan, you should plan for failure.'

• Plan for the learners' activities, not for the teacher's activities.  • Plan for an average of 5 minutes for each activity.  • Remember that children can't sit still being passive for more than two or three minutes.  • Activities where children are actively involved can be longer than five minutes.  • Be careful to sequence the activities so children do not become overexcited or excessively bored.  • Stirrers are activities that excite children. Any activities that involve singing or moving around the classroom will be stirrers.  • Settlers are activities that calm children down. Most 'paper and pencil' activities - writing, copying, colouring, drawing - will be settlers.  • Don't imagine you can have a quiet classroom by using only settlers. The children will quickly become frustrated and de-motivated.  • Remember to balance head-up activities and head-down activities. Head-up activities are when children are looking at the teacher, the board or at other children. Head-down activities are when children have their eyes on a book or a piece of paper.  • Remember to balance individual, pair, small group and whole class activities. Children need to learn to operate in many different social situations.  • Finally, plan for time. Remember that in a large class, distributing papers, cards, coloured pencils or books takes time. Think carefully about how you will organise these administrative things because they can turn a good plan into an unsuccessful lesson.

• Share your plans with the children. Tell them what they are going to do during each lesson. You will get better co-operation.

(Content formerly located at  following page:  http://www.global-english.com/tipsfromthetop.htm)

In your answer booklet, we would like you to make a note of these 12 rules. Please bullet point them in your own words, as this will help you to learn and remember them. Then underneath this, answer the following questions:

1. What is the difference between a ‘stirrer activity’ and a ‘settler activity’? Can you give an example of each?

2. Why is sequencing our activities important?

3. One of the rules is to ‘plan for time’. What does this mean?  In your own words (around 100), say why you think that failing to plan for time can turn a good lesson plan into an unsuccessful lesson.

Go to Answer Booklet, Question 1

If we get our planning right, this can go quite a long way to helping us become successful YL teachers. We hope that this article has given you a flavour of what is a very important area – one which we will come back to and deal with in more depth later in the course. But there are several other ways in which we can help to generate high levels of motivation in our young learner classrooms. Here are just a few of our suggestions:

2. Giving Praise

Young learners really respond well to praise when they have done something well, or made an effort to try something new or something that they find particularly challenging. If you can reward this then you will see motivation levels increase. One way to achieve this is through a Star chart. It is really simple and easy to set up.

Draw up a chart with all your students’ names down one side. Explain to students how you are going to award stars and what you are going to award them for. At the end of each activity or task, or at relevant points during the class, mark a smiley face or a star on the chart for your special performers. Remember to reward with consistency, while taking time to support those who may not be able to achieve quite so well. Getting a star can really be a great motivator for younger learners – you’ll see the results in beaming faces and renewed efforts in future activities.

3. Reinforce and Repeat with Fun Activities

Young learners like familiarity, so if you find a popular game or activity that your youngsters enjoy, don’t be afraid to use it frequently. For example, you can use a game format to revise new vocabulary and/or grammar from the previous lesson. This will help to ensure that there is some continuation from lesson to lesson, and you will be able to see if students have learnt the work.

4. Vary your material

Even though students do like familiar activities, it is still important to vary your material. After all, students will get bored with doing the same type of activity day in day out. So use a variety of different materials: TV/video programmes for visual stimulation, games for active participation, an overhead projector to display something or tape recorder to tape your younger learners speaking English. Alternatively, use colourful images from the internet or use paints and colouring pens/pencils to get students doing interesting activities in English. Try to introduce new ways of doing things – in this way you will be able to re-present material or learning points that you have covered before in a way that seems new and exciting for your students.

5.  Be consistent in your Approach

At this age, students like secure surroundings – and routines can help the learning process. As with the idea in number 2 (above), think about ending your lessons with something which is familiar to them. This will let them know that the lesson is coming to an end – indeed it may give them that final push and lead to you leaving on a positive note. Some ideas that we have used before including finishing lessons with a song, or if they have been really well behaved and tried hard to learn what you have been teaching, you might choose to reward students with a favourite game.

It is also important for you to be consistent. If the lesson aim has been achieved, let them know that you are pleased with their progress. Praise is a wonderful stimulator and can really help to encourage your young learners.

Again, these are just a few ideas and later in the course you will find more, when we take a closer look at material for these students. However, it is now time to turn our attention to our ‘older’ young learners, so find out if we can see what makes teens tick!

1  Play a listening and drawing game

Teacher described the picture and Ss draw it.

Yoyo's masterwork

Practise:listenning, vocabulary, location,  drawing.

2   What if the Ss are not motivation ?

3  if you meet this situation, what  will you do ?

3 situations and solution

4 motivation

The Affective Filter Hypothesis :

Definition and Criticism

Linguist and educator Stephen Krashen proposed the Monitor Model, his theory of second language acquisition, in Principles and practice in second language acquisition as published in 1982. According to the Monitor Model, five hypotheses account for the acquisition of a second language:

Acquisition-learning hypothesis

Natural order hypothesis

Monitor hypothesis

Input hypothesis

Affective filter hypothesis

However, in spite of the popularity and influence of the Monitor Model, the five hypotheses are not without criticism. The following sections offer a description of the fifth and final hypothesis of the theory, the affective filter hypothesis, as well as the major criticism by other linguistics and educators surrounding the hypothesis.

Definition of the Affective Filter Hypothesis

The fifth hypothesis, the affective filter hypothesis, accounts for the influence of affective factors on second language acquisition. Affect refers to non-linguistic variables such as motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety. According to the affective filter hypothesis, affect effects acquisition, but not learning, by facilitating or preventing comprehensible input from reaching the language acquisition device. In other words, affective variables such as fear, nervousness, boredom, and resistance to change can effect the acquisition of a second language by preventing information about the second language from reaching the language areas of the mind.

Furthermore, when the affective filter blocks comprehensible input, acquisition fails or occurs to a lesser extent then when the affective filter supports the intake of comprehensible input. The affective filter, therefore, accounts for individual variation in second language acquisition. Second language instruction can and should work to minimize the effects of the affective filter.

Criticism of the Affective Filter Hypothesis

The final critique of Krashen’s Monitor Model questions the claim of the affective filter hypothesis that affective factors alone account for individual variation in second language acquisition. First, Krashen claims that children lack the affective filter that causes most adult second language learners to never completely master their second language. Such a claim fails to withstand scrutiny because children also experience differences in non-linguistic variables such as motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety that supposedly account for child-adult differences in second language learning.

Furthermore, evidence in the form of adult second language learners who acquire a second language to a native-like competence except for a single grammatical feature problematizes the claim that an affective filter prevents comprehensible input from reaching the language acquisition device. As Manmay Zafar asks, “How does the filter determine which parts of language are to be screened in/out?” In other words, the affective filter hypothesis fails to answer the most important question about affect alone accounting for individual variation in second language acquisition.

Although the Monitor Model has been influential in the field of second language acquisition, the fifth and final hypothesis, the affective filter hypothesis, has not been without criticism as evidenced by the critiques offered by other linguists and educators in the field.

这本书我想买

Motivation is a interesting thing, which can make a person who don't like take photos taken an active  part to  it. what does motivate me to do it?