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| A Child with Positive Attitude |
I asked a group of primary teachers in Hong Kong to tell me their mam problems in teaching English. They mentioned pupils negative or indifferent attitudes to English and lack of motivation. These problems are common, particularly m teaching situations where there is no obvious reason for learning English and where pupils have little exposure to English in the environment.
Why don't they like learning English?
What are your own worries or concerns about pupils attitudes towards and motivation for English?
- My pupils only enjoy English lessons when I am doing games or songs
- My pupils are interested in English just to pass their exams So they do not want to do communicative activities
- I have very limited resources or materials to teach English so it is hard to make lessons interesting for pupils
- While my younger pupils are very free in using English, it is very hard to get my older pupils to say anything
- Pupils rely on the teacher to motivate them they don't know how to develop their own interest in the language
- Some of my pupils start with positive attitudes to English but soon lose interest when they begin to fail
My pupils think
I feel
We know that successful learning is linked with positive attitudes, so when we have identified negative feelings, we can look for ways to counteract them.
solutions
- Encourage pupils to bring in materials they may have at home, eg postcards in English, labels in English, songs, stamps, etc. Use some of them to make a collage. Write to publishers, tourist offices, industries to find out if they have any free posters or materials in English Share ideas and swop materials with teachers in other schools, eg tourist posters, songs.
- Adapt activities to suit the level of your pupils so that you give each pupil a chance of being successful at his or her level. Pair pupils so that a stronger pupil works with a weaker pupil. Vary activities in each lesson so that you include some which all pupils can do successfully. For example, pupils could work through these three tasks based on following instructions to colour a picture of fish They could begin with the easiest so that all pupils complete at least one task successfully. More difficult ones could be attempted in pairs.
- In the long term, you want pupils to be able to create their own reasons or goals for learning English, to self motivate. Help them to create action plans for the term. Show some examples made by other pupils. Discuss with them some possible goals related to their needs and get them to make a learning plan, eg This term, I am going to work on my reading. I will read one page a day. Talk to them at the end of term to see how far they kept to the plan and if it helped them.
- Maybe some pupils are only prepared to tolerate English as long as they can have a good time and not work too hard. But for many other pupils, it may be that they are unaware of why they do certain activities. If they could see the purpose for the activities you use with them, they might engage in them more actively. Try to make sure that each activity has a clear and understandable purpose for the pupil, eg Let's listen for the words of this song you like. Then you'll be able to sing it yourself. Discuss at the end of the lesson which activities pupils have done and help them to understand the reasons for doing them. Get them to evaluate activities they have done which they did not like. Find out why Maybe they did not realize it could help with English. For example, many pupils do not like writing as it often seems like hard work. Create interesting reasons for writing and an audience to write to. For example, they could write poems, songs or jokes for their friends.
- Younger pupils tend to have less fixed attitudes and to be more flexible. Older pupils (age 12 and over) are becoming more self-conscious, and some are becoming interested in sex. They are more sensitive to the opinions of others in the group and do not want to seem foolish. Try to find out what the older pupils, interests are through a questionnaire or through discussion. Find out how they like to work, eg in pairs or groups. Find teaching materials which are related to issues of interest to the age group. Use real materials from English-speaking learners of the same age, eg tapes of them talking or videos or letters in English written by pupils from a school in another country.
- If you are in a situation where you have to prepare children for a formal examination which involves grammar, here are some ideas to make some of the exam-preparation material more pupil-centred and communicative.
- Pupils work on grammar exercises in pairs and check the answers of other pairs.
- Pupils develop their own exercises for other pupils in class.
- Pupils act as peer tutors and teach an activity to their group.
- Pupils practise grammar in the form of games, such as the one below, which uses grammar practice activities from workbooks.
- Help pupils to see how communicative activities can develop skills which are needed in exams.
Collaborative grammar game
- Choose two pupils to act as your helpers, to check answers and keep a note of scores.
- Divide the rest of the class into groups of four or five. Each group chooses a runner to carry their answers to the teacher's table.
- Put up an exercise on the board or OHP and tell the groups that they must write only the answers to the exercise on pieces of paper given to each group.
- Groups have several minutes to write the answers to the exercise on a piece of paper. Their group name needs to be clearly written on their paper.
- Runners take the answer sheets to the teacher and helpers, who calculate the score and keep a total of the marks on a graph on the board.
- After each exercise, group scores are added to the graph so that pupils can watch the progress of their group, which adds to the excitement.
The work is done through collaboration and at the same time pupils are practicing grammar for the exam.