Motivating young learners

Emma Heyderman from International House in San Sebastián, Spain, gives us the following tips to cope with young learners. Have you tried any? If so, let us know how it worked. If not, do you think they may work? Leave your comment/s!

An important difference between teaching EFL to adults and to young learners is motivation. Very young children have an intrinsic love for learning. Their pleasure is obvious when their first words are understood or when they are able to get their favourite toy after taking those first steps. However, as what children are learning becomes less tangible and more abstract, maintaining motivation, especially in the classroom, becomes more of a problem. As teachers, we need to facilitate a learning atmosphere that nurtures motivation. Classroom activities could be intrinsically motivating because students are interested in the subject, or extrinsically motivating because learners want to please significant others (parents, teachers, etc.) by getting good marks, for example, and they don't want to be punished for misbehaving. With this in mind, here are ten of my teaching tips, most of which are simply articulated common sense.


1. Show an interest in your learner's lives and tell them about yours.

If you notice that one of your students has a new pair of trainers, ask them where they bought them. This might even spark an impromptu discussion on shopping preferences. Similarly, if you notice a student is quieter than usual, take him or her aside and ask why. Students are also interested in us, so tell them something about yourself!


2. Find out what your learners are interested in.

If your class is interested in music, start a music project. Every week, a different class member has to bring in their favourite song with a worksheet for his or her peers to complete whilst listening. The worksheet could simply be a copy of the lyrics with the first word of each line removed. By asking the learners to bring in the music and lyrics, not only are you encouraging learner autonomy but also removing the onus on you to find music that your students will like.


3. Use appropriate material and personalise wherever possible.

Very good coursebooks have been written for young learners that provide relevant topics, for example, sports, school, music, famous people etc. However, if a topic is not going to interest your class, you may need to adapt it. For example, instead of asking a class if they have ever met a brain surgeon, ask them to imagine they are going to meet a brain surgeon and think about the questions they would like to ask.


4. Treat your learners like adults, don't patronise.

Drop the silly sing–song voice. By treating learners like adults, you set the tone--I expect you to behave like adults, too.


5. Fun doesn't always mean games, videos, and songs (but they can help).

Young learners like "fun" classes but what is fun? Fun doesn't mean songs and games, but classes where the students are fully engaged and take an active part. That doesn't rule out a song to reward hard work, though.


6. Pace in a class can be maintained by varying the…


• Activity. Find the balance between too few and too many activities. Consider the activity type. Sixty minutes of "stirring" activities, such as board races and running dictations, could overexcite the class and have a disastrous effect. "Settling" activities, such as copying from the board or listening to a cassette will calm a class down, but once again too much could deaden the classroom atmosphere completely.


• Student Focus. Make use of the classroom. Ask the students to focus on the board, at a later point use flashcards on the floor, and then the course book, etc.


• Interaction. Too much teacher interacting with the whole class could lead to blank faces. Also use groupwork, pairwork and individual work.


7. Take into account attention spans.


Research suggests that after an initial settling down period of about 3 minutes, student attention is at a peak for the first 15-20 minutes of any class. Take advantage of this moment to present new language. Use short "wake-up" activities to spark attention, such as repeat this sentence after me-- "She sells sea shells on the seashore"--or a quick round of "hangman."


8. Find out about school policy. Establish the class rules with your learners and stick to them.


Go though the class rules on the first day and repeat this at intervals throughout the school year. Let your learners know what will happen if they "break" these rules and make sure you impose the penalty if the rules are broken.


9. Praise and encourage (but where due).


Young learners like to know when they are doing well, so tell them. However, praising a student who has done something ridiculously easy is patronising. Be aware of how much attention you give to those who deserve to be praised and those who misbehave.


10. Avoid confronting and/or humiliating learners in front of their peers.


In front of their peers, many troublemakers become braver. It's much easier to confront your teacher in front of your friends. Ask the "offender" to stay behind after class.