Motivating Reluctant ESL Students Part 2

As I was writing the first part of this two-part series about motivating your ESL students, I had an “explosion” of ideas. But a difficult week with (wouldn’t you know?) a very reluctant and attitude-filled student almost made me turn around and not write about it anymore. After all, what kind of an expert am I if I cannot come up with a solution to the very problem I am instructing others how to overcome?

Glad I didn’t cave into self-pity. Teaching is one of those professions: just like a doctor, you cannot take things personally, or else you will not get anything accomplished and the bad energy will poison your own life more so than that of your students’. And, I am happy to say, that as of today, we’re back on track – thanks to using my own advice:)

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As I was gathering my thoughts and information for the second part of the post about how to keep students motivated – middle OR high school, ESL AND native speakers, I couldn’t help but think about how much we do for our students. The ones that are not motivated are the ones that make us feel as if we are not doing our job right. I don’t know about you, but I feel guilty and cannot stop thinking about what can be done differently in class just so that the student who is completely indifferent to my teaching would be reached.

But then the other side of me, a more exhausted human side, pitches in and I realize that attempting to motivate a student who is not engaged for a prolonged period of time is a one-way struggle, a battle of wills that exhausts the teacher and leaves the others in the group – who may be much more willing to meet you half-way – without much value. Teaching is a two-way street, after all, and there is so much even the best teacher can do.

In this part, I am looking a little bit into the human sides of both participants of the educational process – the teachers and the students. After all, we all are going through something in our lives that makes us behave one way or another.

But one thing is certain, older students are already at the age when they are capable of understanding the bigger picture and taking responsibility for their own learning. Whether they choose to accept it or not, that’s a different issue entirely.

Tap into your ESL students’ strengths

Remember the student that wouldn’t look at me that I mentioned in the first part of this long post? Through trial and error (because let’s face it – if one party doesn’t talk, the other has to guess, right?) I figured out that she was quite competitive and pretty good at word searches. Sooo… enter vocabulary list with me explaining it on the board the first day or so, and her writing it down (sometimes). Now that she knows the words (most of the time, I hoped she did though),  I can prepare the word search. Offering her to have a “match” of who would finish the word search first was the best decision. To tell you the truth, she always beat me, even though I was the one that came up with lists of words and definitions and word searches themselves. In the end, although her lack of motivation was most likely due to problems much larger than I could even begin to tackle, I’d like to think that at least a few words from those word searches made their way into her life.

Your turn!

Think about it. Is one of your students good at math? Have him/her help another of your ESL students with the homework. Is one of your students great at reading comprehension? Have them summarize the points for other students and work together to come up with vocabulary words they may need. The possibilities are endless on this one.

One-on-one conference with your ESL student

A lot of students don’t like to be singled out, but a one-on-one conference might be just what they need. When you think about it, it might reveal things that you may have not known had you just let it slide in the group of other students.

You could come up with your questions and/or concerns beforehand. It is better if they are open-ended which would allow the student to give you more in-depth answers. The conference does not have to be long, and can actually take place either before or after your regular ESL session.

The whole point is to get to the bottom of what it is that makes your student reluctant to work and possibly come up with a solution that works for the both of you.

The best part of a one-on-one conference is the fact that you can have a conversation during which you can express the need for the student to own their actions as well as come up with ways of how he/she could take responsibility for their actions and own the behavior/attitude towards learning. That is a huge step in creating the two-way street.

Shock them, or make them laugh.

Yep, you heard that right. I’ve always said that  I like to “shock my students into learning”. Your brain perks up when you hear something that is out of the ordinary and unexpected – whether it would be a totally unbelievable fact or an outrageously funny play on words or something they misheard or did not know altogether. This attention grabber produces much more engagement than hours of nagging and “making deals” with the students. And if they know your class will be interesting – the ONE class where they can laugh, for example – they will be more engaged.

BONUS READ!

Above is by no means an exhaustive list of ideas of how to motivate your students. Therefore, here is a bonus – brilliant tricks on how to keep your students motivated written by Kia DeCou from Think in English blog. She not only shares my view that students should begin owning their learning process but also offers a wide variety – 12 to be more exact! – of ways to keep them motivated. Check out her article here.  A highly recommended read!

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Over to you:

What has or hasn’t worked for you in terms of keeping students motivated?

Which of the above strategies have you used and found helpful?

Share in the comments below!