Motivation

In everything you do, you are always looking for the reason to do it. You must be motivated enough to take on something. Do you remember when you were a student how difficult it was for you to sit and study for hours about something that you did not find interesting and worth spending time on. I am sure we have all had moments like this.

Your students feel the same way if they do not receive the necessary motivation to be in your class. In one of the previous tipcards, I wrote about the first lesson and how important it is. It's the first lesson when you have to ask your students about what interests them and take into account when preparing your lessons. In their book "Tutoring Matters: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about How to Tutor", Rabow, Chin, and Fahimian note that it is very important to involve your student in the topic taught and "sometimes it is merely a matter of incorporating something that the student enjoys or is interested in into the lesson, such as art or animals, or sports." (Rabow, J., Chin, T. & Fahimian, N., 1999, p. 74) Ask your student what their interests are and incorporate them into your teaching. For example, if your student is interested in auto sports, obviously an assignment on make-up artistry is not going to be very suitable. Or if another student finds art and painting interesting, you will not leave a good impression if you ask her to do a report on space craft engineering. In other word, listen to your students and teach accordingly. That way you will also motivate your student to complete their assignment and to also explore further the topic on their own outside class. In this case, the benefits for your students are twofold: they will improve their English in a fun, interesting way; and they will expand their knowledge about a topic of interest by reading and researching on it in their non-native language. The benefits for you are obvious: you will have motivated happy students who will appreciate your own interest in their hobbies, thus you will expand your network of students willing to take your classes because their friends recommended you.

Rabow, J. Chin, T. Fahimian, N. 1999. Tutoring Matters: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about How to Tutor. Philadelphia: Temple University Press