How To Motivate Adult Learners

Thu, 23 May 2019 Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Key Ways to Motivate Students from Young Learners to Adults As we all know, motivation is a core aspect of teaching and learning a language. Lack of motivation is perhaps the biggest obstacle that we face as students and teachers. If a student lacks motivation, he/she will not pay attention in the class or will simply find it boring. At the same time if a teacher lacks motivation to teach he/she will be unable to attract students' attention and give them all they need. Let us be honest and say that intelligent students are those, who always eagerly attend class and enjoy the process. Here we need a highly motivated teacher who is willing help them. In this article I divide students into several categories because different situations...  [Read more]

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching Adults vs. Teaching Young Learners Teaching can be extremely satisfying and rewarding, but how we teach and the methodologies that we use should be adapted to teaching each specific learner or groups of learners. Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: Types of Learners Motivation Resources Students' Experience Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Omar B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Listen to this blog post: Types of Learners Let's begin with defining what is considered to be an adult and what is considered to be a young learner. According to regulatory...  [Read more]

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Differentiating Teaching Based on Learner’s Maturity For this task, I have selected learning modes: Young learners v.s. Adults. When teachers are instructing students, they should first think about how to instruct them using the best methodologies to make learning best or what factors or aspects of learning they should consider for their classes, such as student motivation, previous learning experience, language awareness, behavior problems that could arise in class and the students' life experiences. All of the above factors can be divided by many different students, but it has been shown in this course that these facets are predominantly divided by young learners. Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: Teaching Approach...  [Read more]

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Why is it Important to Keep Adult ESL Students Motivated? Most Adult ESL students are highly motivated students – at first. They are eager to join a formal class setting to improve their English skills for themselves and for their future (career). They usually voluntarily join the class (unless instructed by a manager or supervisor). So in fact, the motivation is internal and comes naturally from within themselves. This is great for the teacher and usually assures an energetic start to the class term. However, as the term continues, the motivation naturally wines down. The excitement fades and the students have more excuses for not coming to class or when in class, have a low participation rate. So, as an ESL Instructor, why...  [Read more]

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Keeping Adult Students Motivated: Reasons and Outcomes Most Adult ESL students are highly motivated students – at first. They are eager to join a formal class setting to improve their English skills for themselves and for their future (career). They usually voluntarily join the class (unless instructed by a manager or supervisor). So in fact, the motivation is internal and comes naturally from within themselves. This is great for the teacher and usually assures an energetic start to the class term. However, as the term continues, the motivation naturally wines down. The excitement fades and the students have more excuses for not coming to class or when in class, have a low participation rate. So, as an ESL Instructor, why is...  [Read more]

Agency TEFL Course Check out tefl tesol about Agency TEFL Course and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts T.T. - U.S.A. said: Motivating students Motivation is a key factor when teaching English as a foreign language to students. If the students aren't motivated they no longer are interested in the class, therefore not willing to even try learning the material. Motivation is the base of any relationship between teacher and student. Everything else doesn't matter if there is no motivation. There are ways to keep students motivated, especially young students. Adult learners are more...  [Read more]

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Differences between Young Learners and Adult Learners in the TEFL Environment This post will focus on the differences English teacher face when they are working with a class of young learners compared to a class of adult learners. Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: What are adults - what are young learners? Typical Qualities of Adult Learners Typical Qualities of Young Learners Behavioral Problems with Young Learners Which type of students do you prefer to teach? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rebecca M. Listen to this blog post: What are adults - what are young learners? First, it is necessary to define what we...  [Read more]

Wed, 20 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas ESL Learners’ Modes: Differences between Young Students and Adults An instructor should adapt their instruction based on the student's needs and abilities, and should take into account the age of students as this is likely to affect factors such as student motivation, attention span, and openness to activities. An instructor should anticipate that young students may be less internally motivated than adult learners. Adult learners are likely to have longer attention spans than younger students, therefore the instructor should adjust lesson plans accordingly. Certain activities will be well received by very young students and poorly received by slightly older students or adult learners, this should be taken into account when...  [Read more]

The Best Teaching Ideas for TEFL Teachers TEFL Perspectives for Non-Native English Speaking Teachers Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to the problem of native and non-native teachers of English. Our TEFL graduate shares their vision of the point. First and Second Language Acquisition: What do Teachers Need to be Aware of? Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How the first and the second language are different in terms of acquisition? Our TEFL graduate explains. How Classroom Management Leads to A Positive Learning Environment Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL graduate explains how classroom management influences the overall atmosphere of the class. An ITTT Alumna's Experience of Completing a TEFL Course Elizaveta...  [Read more]

Thu, 16 May 2019 Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences How to Teach Young Learners vs How to Teach Adults Learning is something essential in anyone's life, not only as a human being but as a species. As humans we start learning about everything in our environment the moment we come into this world and this experience of learning proceeds with us throughout our lives till the moment we leave this world. The more we learn the more knowledge we accumulate, which will help us, as individuals or societies, to improve our lives in every way possible as long as we use this knowledge that we have learned and apply it correctly in our daily lives. It is evident that learning happens through communication and interaction between an individual and his/her environment and the main tool for interaction...  [Read more]

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas A 1-2-3 Guide How to Become a Motivator For Your Students When approaching a new language, one must understand that this will be a challenging journey. Not an impossible one, but a learning process that, sooner or later, will require a great deal of motivation, passion, and commitment. As educators, I think that our first duty is not only to really outline this journey for our students, but also to bring to life their inner motivation. Table of Contents Teacher Role in The Learning Process Students Psychology 1. See Their Troubles 2. State Global Opportunities 3. Show The Beauty of Language Do you want to motivate people to learn English all over the world? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Listen to this blog post: This post...  [Read more]

Organisations TESOL TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Organisations TESOL TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts D.W. - U.S.A. said: Learning ModesAs a teacher one objective should always be to know the needs of your students, build a good report, and inspire and motivate them to learn whether it be young or adult learners. The way in which you teach an adult is vastly different then how you would teach someone younger. young learners on average are usually not learning English because they want to but because it is required in school or their parents want them to learn. Most...  [Read more]

Sun, 16 Jun 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning Modes: Young Learners vs Adults In this short essay, I would like to share the differences in teaching YL and Adults. For effective learning, it is important for us, as teachers, to understand how these two groups go about learning. The critical point is the suitable design and delivery of the program. Table of Contents To enhance the adult learning and engagement Malcolm Knowles introduced 4 principles: 1. Involvement 2. Experience 3. Relevance 4. Problem-centered Teaching Young Learners vs. Adults: 1. Dependency: 2. Accepting Instruction: 3. Applying Learnings: Are you ready to teach English to ESL students abroad? Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eddy P. Please note that this...  [Read more]

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English as a Global Language: What Motivates Students to Learn English? As an international study major in college, I learned that the United Nations, a non-governmental organization, officially recognizes six world languages: every meeting, written document, and speech are translated into these languages. English is one of them. It is spoken and written by billions of people around the world. Having traveled in eight countries myself, I was surprised to have seen how commonplace it was for countries to translate directional signs in both the official language and in English. A student's mastery of the English language, or in any language, can be a difficult journey to venture. Therefore, this essay will explore what factors may...  [Read more]

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Am I Too Old to Learn a New Language? If you're a native language speaker, you've likely heard the phrase, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". There has been little evidence found to support this claim, but the belief persists. Many adult learners believe that it is too late for them to learn a new language. If you are teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language you may find yourself teaching a class of adult learners. Adult learners differ in many ways from young learners, and one such issue you may encounter is a doubt from the learners that they are capable of picking up a new language now that they are no longer children. Though the style of learning and the issues encountered will inevitably differ from those of...  [Read more]

Thu, 27 Dec 2018 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Advantages of Teaching Adult Students and Implications on Teacher’s Methodology How does teaching adults differ from teaching young learners? To most people, it should be rather obvious that teaching children is very different from teaching adults, due to adults being more mature and having more life experience than children. This article discusses the advantages of teaching adult students and what the implications on a teacher's methodology are. Adult learners refers to anyone who is above the age of eighteen. Although it is not a perfect definition, we will nevertheless use eighteen as our cut-off age since it is the most common age threshold in many language schools when it comes to deciding whether a student should go to a...  [Read more]

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning Modes: Young Students vs. Adult Students In the past, the emphasis on teaching a foreign language was, amongst other older techniques, Grammar-Translation, and is still used in some situation today. This method helped the student to learn 'about' the language instead of learning the language (ITTT Unit 3,3). Over time, and continuing today, more and more attention and research have been placed on the question of what makes a good language learner. Table of Contents Differences between youngsters and adults Differences between learning 1st and 2nd language Levels of expertise Approaches to teaching young students Approaches to teaching adults Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This...  [Read more]

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Two Primary Modes of Learning: Differences Between Young Learners and Adults An ESL teacher will most likely teach a class with young learners and adults at some point in their careers. Teaching young learners and adults has its own set of challenges. Some of these challenges will be the learning experience that each possesses, the different ways of learning and how this affects the lesson, and the motivation of the student and how it affects behavior. Whether it is young learners for adults, the rewards can be satisfying. Table of Contents Learning Background Age Specifics Motivation Level Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Chris V....  [Read more]

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Strategies for Keeping Students Motivated in the ESL/EFL Classroom Early in the course, we learn that about key characteristics of good teachers and good learners. A good teacher will have the ability to motivate their students while a good learner will be motivated to learn the English language and be engaged with the coursework. Naturally, adult learners have chosen to learn the language based on their interests while young learners are more likely to be placed in your course from parents or external pressures. The motivated student has a greater chance of success than a student without motivation and so identifying methods to keep these younger learners engaged and ready to learn is of great benefit to you as a teacher. Table of...  [Read more]

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How can a Student’s Family Assist in English Learning? English learning is mostly thought by many is the sole role of the teacher to help build the skills and development and so many parents tend to neglect a lot as learning a language which is new and foreign might not necessarily be of importance to the parents and thus find no interest in it but that's is not so as based on personal teaching experience especially dealing with students( examples based on children) because adult learners are more motivated and have made the decision to learn themselves that notwithstanding student leaving with parents some of the points below may still apply to them the role of the parent is of so much importance as it is through them and...  [Read more]

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Contrasts Between Adult and Young Learner Language Acquisition Many variances exist between teaching English as a Foreign Language to Young Learners vs adults. Despite these dissimilarities, the fundamentals will remain the same. Teachers should motivate their students to communicate in the target language, and utilize students' previous knowledge while maintaining an engaging atmosphere in the classroom. Table of Contents Teaching Practice Level of Motivation English Atmosphere Communication Challenges Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Marlon W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions...  [Read more]

The Best Teaching Ideas for TEFL Teachers Difficulties of Classroom Management and Ways to Overcome Them Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to the problem of classroom management. Our TEFL graduate shares their thoughts on the point. How to Teach English to Children Online Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to the problem of teaching English to children online. Keeping Adult Students Motivated: Reasons and Outcomes Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post contains information on keeping adult students motivated. Incredible Ways to Increase Students Self-Confidence in the Classroom Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to self-confidence of students in the ESL class. Lesson Planning...  [Read more]

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How to Approach Teaching Adults and Children? This TEFL course covered a huge variety of topics, and it was all useful information for English teachers broadly. It had a nice balance of actual how-to-tasks (i.e. how to make a lesson), as well as guidance and advice dependent on the situation (i.e. how to deal with a misbehaving student or how to establish rapport with a class). While there was new information throughout each chapter for me, the most useful, applicable information for me as a teacher was the differences between young learners and adults. This is mostly because I have taught ages preschool-late 60s (not necessarily English, I taught preschool in the USA and have taught private piano/harp lessons). I learned how to...  [Read more]

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences How Adults’ Learning Differs From Teenagers’ and Children’s Learning? ESL teachers must acknowledge that it is not equal teaching English Lessons to children, teenagers, and adults, there are some wide differences between the practices used in each case, classroom, population, levels, and country where English is taught, on this paper we will check how an ESL lesson may be affected by these variables, and how we could overlap them on the practices used in teenagers and adults English lessons. Table of Contents Basic concepts Self-concept Personal Experience Adults learning process Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Javier V....  [Read more]

Authorized TEFL Centers Check out tefl tesol about Authorized TEFL Centers and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts A.F. Russia said: Learning ModelsChildren are accustomed to listening to their parents and teachers patiently repeating after them. That makes teaching process easier with young learners and so that this method of repeating and paying attention to pronunciation can be used in a classroom. In addition to that young learners are very often easier to respect and follow their educators. So that with an appropriate approach the teacher can use all these features for...  [Read more]

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences What are Differences and Similarities Between Teaching Adults and Youth? When teaching English as a second language many considerations go beyond simply presenting language and relying on your expertise as a native speaker. Differences in age and life experience will have profound effects on how students learn and retain information. In this essay, I will look at the differences in young and adult learners in how they learn and important considerations for each group. Table of Contents The Level of Motivation The Level of Connection The Level of Inclusiveness The Way of Absorbing Information Receptiveness of Adults Main Challenges Do you want to teach English abroad or online? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Check out what...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Liza is a translator, freelancer and ESL teacher from Russia. She had been teaching in a Chinese bilingual school for more than two years and recently moved to Thiland to run her blog about teaching and freelance job. Read my articles How to Teach English Grammar Communicatively | ITTT | TEFL Blog Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas English can be taught in many ways. In this blog post, our TEFL graduate considers the communicative approach. How to Develop the Speaking Abilities of Kindergarten Level Students | ITTT | TEFL Blog Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to the problem of teaching speaking in a kindergarten. The Importance of Business English | ITTT | TEFL Blog Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this article, our TEFL...  [Read more]

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 Federico Riva Alumni Experiences Motivation: Adults vs. Young learners People of all ages around the world wish to learn English, for varying reasons, and many begin this endeavor at different times in their lives. For teachers, it is important to understand that the approach to teaching English is not painted with a broad stroke across all ages of learners. To ensure that you reach your class in the most effective way possible it is vital to know what level your students are at and also what motivated them to learn English. Table of Contents Beginning Students Reasons to Learn Personal Interest and Desire Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ilse G. Please note that this...  [Read more]

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences How Learning Another Language Can Benefit Your Career Prospects Learning a second language, whether its English, Mandarin, or any language at all, can help you in regards to your future career prospects and/or opportunities. Many people from non-English speaking countries move to English speaking countries in the hopes of finding better employment or to provide their children with the opportunity to learn English and thus increasing their chances to be successful. Table of Contents English in Business World English for Adults English for Younger Learners Job Opportunities and Perks Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Listen to this blog post This post was written by our TEFL certification...  [Read more]

Tue, 12 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas A Teacher’s Personality in the Center of Classroom Attention "Teachers have three loves: Love of learning, Love of learners and love of bringing the first love two loves together" Scott Hayden Table of Contents Students are most affected by the quality of their teachers. First of all, a good teacher should be kind and patient. To me, a great teacher should also care about their students. Apart from that, kids mess about when they are bored. And last but not least, a good teacher can motivate learners to study better. Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Students are most affected by the quality of their teachers. Not only do they interact with their teachers every day in the classroom but the...  [Read more]