I teach English as a Second Language. How can I motivate my students?

Have you tried using role plays? I’ve used these with adult students and they seem to work well. Assign the roles randomly – I have their names on slips of paper and I draw from a box. You decide how many students you need for each group (unless you decide to do pair work). Have the whole class, divided into random groups, work on ONE role play at a time, or you will go crazy! Set up things like:

1) Checking in or out if a hotel. One student is the desk clerk and others are guests of the hotel.

2) Restaurant. Divide your class into wait-staff and customers. Or, manager and customer with a complaint.

3) Banking. One or more are tellers and the rest are customers. Opening a bank account, getting a credit card, ordering cheques, making investments, complaints.

4) Store/shop. Again, clerks and customers. Making purchases, getting information, returning merchandise.

5) Travel agency. Tavel agents and customers. Getting information, planning a trip, booking a hotel/airline/train.

6) TV or radio interview show. One student is the host of the program and another (or others) are celebrities being interviewed.

7) Calling 911. Have one student be the operator and other call in with their emergencies.

Give the students an outline of the task. They can do some of the work in class, but not the full class time every day.It is one task for them to do.

They have to work in pairs or groups to create the dialogues. Then they act out their skits in front of the class and you can evaluate using peer evaluations and your own evaluation grid. Be sure to tell them that thay must use appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures.

The purpose is to make them responsible for some of their own learning and to apply what they’ve already learned, and to put them into some real life situations.Make sure that every student works.

It takes time to set things up, so do not do this as a “filler” exercise. You can make suggestions of vocab, verbs and structure to use, or let them create everything. I’ve done both, but it depends on the students you have. Good luck!

Get them out of the classroom and into the real world. Walk around or bus around. Each student has a clipbooard and pencil. Have them jot down (if they have the vocab) or draw a picture of what they find appealing. They could also copy a store sign…. anything that interests them.

Back in the classroom use this info to build dialogues, vocab charts, tape them talking to each other etc.

Revisit the original territory. Have them speak to each other in situ and/or interact with others who might be there.

ie: in a music store ask each other what cds they see

ask the clerk for a particular type of music

Without going very in depth, I would try choosing topics/vocabulary/themes that are as relevent to the students’ lives as possible. I know both as an ESL teacher and language learner, this is always important for me. If I think something we’re doing in class (as a student) is not immediately applicable, I quite quickly shut off. This is particularly true if I live and use the language where I live, if I’m immersed in it, which would be the case for your ESL students. The material needs to be meaningful to their lives and useful for them!

I also teach ESL, currently at the elementary level. I use a lot of realia and hands-on educational activities. I use animals-pictures, books, online info- to bring in maps, habitats, eating habits, outward appearance, and life cycles, to name a few. I point out interesting facts so the information will stand out in the students’ minds. I also give stickers if behavior is good. I read to them and print online books, and sometimes weekly readers, for them to take home. I use go fish as a way to practice/review sight words, vocabulary, and the alphabet. I encourage the students and engage them to make sure they actively participate in what they are learning.