Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Thanks and acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Getting to know our students
- 2 Motivation and activation
- 3 Reviewing while maintaining interest and momentum
- 4 Dealing with written work
- 5 Working well in groups
- 6 Individualizing and personalizing student work
- 7 Making students responsible for their own learning
- 8 Establishing routines and procedures
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Motivation and activation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Thanks and acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Getting to know our students
- 2 Motivation and activation
- 3 Reviewing while maintaining interest and momentum
- 4 Dealing with written work
- 5 Working well in groups
- 6 Individualizing and personalizing student work
- 7 Making students responsible for their own learning
- 8 Establishing routines and procedures
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
One of our tasks as language teachers is to get students to express their own ideas and opinions both in speech and in writing. This is particularly important in the large multilevel class, where students often feel lost in the crowd and where there are so many students that a teacher might have the tendency to just listen to those who demand attention. Speaking about one's own ideas and outlook makes one feel much more at home in the large forum. Many students, however, are reluctant to express their opinions, partly because they cannot do so adequately in the new language. I learned this the hard way when one of my reluctant speakers once told me, ‘You never hear what I say. You just hear the mistakes I make.’
Students in large multilevel classes are also afraid to speak up because they think they will say something stupid in front of an uncaring crowd, or that what they have to say is not important, or that they really have nothing useful to contribute. Students in large multilevel classes have been heard to say, ‘Oh, I don't count. I'm just a number here.’
Our job as language teachers is to help students gain competence in language and to provide the support and encouragement that will raise their confidence and motivation. We must assure students that what they think really matters to us more than the way they express themselves.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Teaching Large Multilevel Classes , pp. 34 - 61Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001