Engage, Motivate, Learn Peter Lucantoni

1. Engage, Motivate,LearnPeter Lucantoni

2. Peter Lucantoni • Started teaching in 1979 in UK, MA TESOL University of Edinburgh, lived and worked in Europe and Middle East, now based in Cyprus • Author, Educational Consultant & Teacher Trainer for Cambridge University Press • Cambridge TKT, CELTYL, CELTA & DELTA trainer and Cambridge CELTYL assessor • Examiner for Cambridge ESOL speaking examinations

3. Overview • What do ‘engage’ and ‘motivate’ mean? • Strategies and activities for motivating learners • Some final advice • Conclusions

4. Engage • What does it mean? • Make a list of words and/or phrases which you think capture the meaning of ‘engage’ in our teaching and learning context • Can you think of any verbs which are close synonyms for ‘engage’? • How does the word ‘engage’ translate into your own first language?

5. Engage • Look at Handout 1 • Complete the gaps in the nine verbs with a vowel. All the verbs have a similar meaning to ‘engage’ • Are the verbs the same as the ones you thought of in the previous activity? • Did you enjoy the activity? Why/not?

6. Engage • 1. tooccupythe attention or efforts of • 2. to secureforaid,employment, use, etc. • 3. to attractandhold fast • 4. to attract or please • 5. to entangleorinvolve • 6. to occupyoneself;become involved • Synonyms: absorb,engross,interest, involve http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/engage 210912

7. Engage • Find nine verbs in the wordsearch on Handout 2 which have a similar meaning to ‘engage’ • Four words go down; three words go across; two words go diagonally. Some of the words go backwards! • V attract, involve, absorb, engross • > interest, please, secure • / entangle, occupy • Did you enjoy the activity? Why/not?

8. Engage • Here are some examples of similar activities from Interchange 1, 4th edition (Cambridge University Press, 2012)

9. Motivate • Engaging our learners is the key to motivating them. So what does it mean? • ‘Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge …’ • http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm 210912

10. Motivate • Motivation ‘involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something ...’ • http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm 210912

11. Motivate • After being occupied, secured, attracted, pleased, entangled, involved, absorbed, engrossed, interested, our learners then have a reason, a motivation, for doing something: • to learn!

12. Motivate • Motivation involves three major behaviours: activation, persistence, intensity • What do you think each behaviour involves? • What are the characteristics of each one? • Match these key words with one or more of the behaviours, and give reasons for your choices: concentration, decision, effort, energy, initiate, obstacles, pursuit, time, vigour • Did you enjoy the activity? Why/not?

13. Motivate • Many authors say that listening to authentic recordings is more motivating and engaging for learners • The Video Program from Interchange 1, 4th edition,provides opportunities for learners to listen to authentic recordings, as well as giving teachers extra classroom resources

14. Motivate • What are your top strategies for engaging and motivating learners? • Draw up a list with your colleagues, for example: provide authentic recordings for learners to listen to • Did you enjoy the activity? Why/not?

15. Motivate • 2 motivation experts , Dornyei & Czizer, surveyed 200+ Hungarian teachers, and checked their views on motivating learners • Teachers asked how important they found, and how often they used, a selection of 51 strategies • Based on answers, the two researchers created a list of 10 ‘motivational macrostrategies’ • http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2011/05/06/10-commandments-for-motivating-language-learners/ 210912

16. Handout 3 - Word dominoes Motivation strategies

17. Motivation strategies • Set a personal example with your own behaviour • Develop good relationships with the learners • Increase the learners’ linguistic self-confidence • Make the language classes interesting

18. Motivation strategies • Promote learner autonomy • Personalisethe learning process • Increase goal-orientation

19. Motivation strategies • Familiarise learners with the target culture • Create a pleasant relaxed atmosphere in the classroom • Present the tasks clearly • Adapted from: http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2011/05/06/10-commandments-for-motivating-language-learners/ 210912

20. Motivation strategies

21. Conclusions • There is no quick and easy solution to motivating students to learn more effectively and efficiently • Every teaching and learning context is different: the teachers, the learners, the classroom, the resources, the administration, the parents, … • Teachers need to adapt to different contexts

22. Some final advice … • 1 Engage your students • 2 Make them curious • 3 Challenge them • 4 Find out what they’re good at • 5 Let them tell YOU about stuff • 6 Give them responsibility • 7 Shake them up a bit • 8 Encourage them to use their imagination • 9 Stop working so hard • 10 Turn your classroom into a spider’s web

23. Did we … … discuss and decide what ‘engage’ and ‘motivate’ mean? … look at some strategies and activities for motivating leaners? … did we make some conclusions?

24. Any questions?

27. peter@cup-training.org http://www.facebook.com/CambridgeUniversityPressMiddleEast