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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Teaching adults - motivation/awards/punishments
Teaching adults - motivation/awards/punishments
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lili79
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Teaching adults - motivation/awards/punishments
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Hello, everybody.� I am starting a new course, where there will be youngish adults who told me they need a strict hand over them :-) My hand is everything but strict. I am thinking of some kind of award/punishment system. I think that praising or extra homework is not good enough. So my question is what do you do to motivate adult students? How do you "punish" them? How do you award them? They are not typical studying types, they are all firefighters, so I will really need to be tough :-) I am seeking any inspiration, any funny ideas...well, anything.� Thank you very much.� For those who are starting a new academic year: Enjoy and Good luck and tough nerves :-) |
23 Aug 2010
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donapeter
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Punishments for young adults.......hmmm........sounds to me strange and kinky.  Does it make any difference that they are firefighters? I teach....workers (carpenters, cooks, shop-assistants etc) and they have their reason to study so...there is no need to "punish" them when they don �t do something as expected. You must take into consideration the fact that they work during the day and study in the evening. It �s tough enough. Some of my students come to school with their children as they cannot afford a baby sitter all the time. Giving them marks it �s enough- in my opinion. They are adults and they can understand what is good for them. The awarding system should also be made according to each personality: some of them can feel embarrassed if you prise their homework , others maybe find it enough to grade them with a better mark. Diplomas and stuff like this do not encourage my students- they are too "old" for those things. My principal asked me to give diplomas for my class and as they weren �t any genius I had to think something else than grades to award them and I have 2 students of 52-54 years old and the principal told me to give them diplomas for their diligence - Guess what? They felt embarrassed. So...no diplomas from now on! Grades are enough for me. |
23 Aug 2010
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GIOVANNI
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Donapeter has a point, it doesn �t matter if they are firefighers or cooks. I have taught Presidents of companies to people who are unemployed. What is important is respect for one another.
I think it is important not to punish but to give positive feedback and praise to your students. It is also important to create a good atmosphere in the class and let the students feel that they can trust you. By being open and positive your students will follow suit. Being organized, dynamic and showing your students you care about them really helps.
Make sure that all the students participate in class, involve them. Have them do group problem solving exercises, have them help you and have them help eachother.
Try and make the work fun by playing learning games. Believe it or not, adults love to play games as well.
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23 Aug 2010
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missiky
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hello lili, i taught adults (40-45 years old) for two years. they were very hardworking and eager to learn.so I had no difficulty dealing with them. but what I usually do when my students misbehave or don`t show enough interest is giving them a talk. I try to explain to them that the only way to learn sth is throuh dedication and hardwork, I sometimes talk about marks
to reward your students and motivate them, I suggest getting them a prize every now and then, like a short story or a pocket dictionary or even a card signed sth like ` for the most hardworking student of the week` . this way your students are going to compete to get a prize.
Good luck ! |
23 Aug 2010
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tastybrain
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I hear the point about it not mattering what they do, but I think that to some extent the fact that they are ALL firefighters will factor into how successful your style and approach to them is. I agree that punishing them is probably not a great idea. Adults are not to be dealt with like young children with punishments and rewards. Their reward is praise, encouragement and the satisfaction they get from learning. Their punishment is not learning as much as they could have. If you have a disruptive student, that is different though being adults I doubt that would be the case. I would go with the talking suggestion. Be sure to give them a down-to-earth talk rather than talking down to them. I �m guessing that your lackadaisical or less-than disciplinarian style (an assumption on my part based on what you say about yourself) will come in handy, as long as you simultaneously encourage them to be serious about learning and motivate them with your sparkling personality.
What I do with my adult students is talk to them at length after class and get to know them. I also make sure to treat them like the adults they are. I motivate my adults with entertainment. I bring things to class relating to the lesson that I think they will find interesting, funny or impressive. I �m also a goofball and like to joke around in the context of the lesson which my students tend to appreciate.
Good luck!
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23 Aug 2010
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anahutten
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Suggestion:
In my class we had a "fine" system. If they were heard using their native language instead of English they had to pay a "fine" ( not much US$0.25 or something like that). Everyone had a laugh when someone was caught, and at the end of the course we used the money to order pizza for a party! |
23 Aug 2010
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anahutten
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Suggestion:
In my class we had a "fine" system. If they were heard using their native language instead of English they had to pay a "fine" ( not much US$0.25 or something like that). Everyone had a laugh when someone was caught, and at the end of the course we used the money to order pizza for a party! |
23 Aug 2010
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donapeter
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@Anahutten: your idea works when the students have the same level of English. My students : 1. their ages vary between 20 and 56 years old 2. Their level of English is from: nothing to intermediate( only speaking or reading) 3. being of different ages they find interesting different topics, jokes, ways of acting in class
It is very difficult to teach under these circumstances and it �s more difficult to find a way of awarding them or "punishing" them. Maybe punishing a "nothing"level 45 year-old student will make him being more reserved in participating during the class, maybe he will refuse talking in front of the 20-year-old students who are more energetic and they get the information easily etc. Sadly, some of them will get bored and some of them will be lost in space- how can we choose something to reach all the levels? |
23 Aug 2010
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savvinka
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I absolutely agree that punishment doesn �t work at all. I teach young actors and according to my experience the only thing that can motivate my sts is their ability to use English at work, on stage. So, I aim them at this target from the very first class . It �s also difficult for me to teach the sts of different levels; I devide them into the level groups, but even within a group they have very different command of English. In a year of studies all of them have to play in sketches onstage. For some it �s a piece of cake, but the majority have to work hard to participate in a show. Nevertheless all of them must learn their parts to get a mark in English. I can see how happy and proud they are after a successfull show! Wow!!!! We can do it!!!! So, I think when teaching adults it �s very useful to remind them they need English for the job and their quick promotion may depend on the knowledge of English. ...It �s evident for everyone, but it �s not useless to remind of that. Actors can be motivatied by playing sketches, lawyer, for example, can have parts in the court session, doctors can be taught how to speak to a sick person, etc. The more closer they are to their profession, the more interesting for them to learn English. This is how I think on the matter.
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23 Aug 2010
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lshorton99
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Hi
You said that your students were the ones who �requested � punishment - I agree with donapeter - it �s sounds vaguely kinky! If they are asking for boundries then there �s no reason not to establish them. At the same time, I would avoid actual �punishment �.
Depending on how outgoing they are, you could have forfeits - make them do something silly (not too embarrassing) if they misbehave. For example, make them recite a tongue-twister or get them to �teach � the class something.
You could have an object represent speaking English - if they don �t speak in English, they get the object and can only get rid of it when someone else speaks L1. I recommend a stuffed animal or plastic fruit! The person who has it at the end has to do a forfeit or extra homework.
You could also try negotiating the rules at the beginning of the course. They say what they think is fair and you edit it. You then draw up a contract which they then sign. It �s a good opportunity for them to use English in context and you get to establish the ground rules early on. Plus if they �ve come up with rules, it �s harder for them to argue if they break them. You might also get them to suggest what they think are fair punishments.
Good luck and can I add that a class full of fightfighters sounds like a dream come true! I hope you �ll be posting pictures on here as your course progresses! 
Lindsey
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23 Aug 2010
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SueThom
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Such an interesting topic of discussion! I �ve enjoyed reading the other posts. Here �s my 2 cents worth:
Since they �re asking you for punishment/reward, it sounds to me like they want to learn. Most of the firefighters I know are pretty competitive. If those in your class are, too, why not work with that angle? You could post their grades--that gets them competing against each other--but it might work better if you put them in small groups and have the groups compete with each other. That gets you out of the punishment business and they�re likely to put more (hopefully good-natured) pressure on each other than you can.
Firefighters work in teams--it �s crucial for their safety and their procedures (at least here in the US) are developed around that. You might take that into account, too. I remember a class I was in years ago in which the team concept was important. Our whole class decided we were going to be the first class in years in which no one flunked out. If someone was having trouble with a particular topic or skill, others who were doing well worked with the laggers until they got it. (BTW, we did graduate everyone in the class.) The idea is that the chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so they are motivated to help each other.
Ask them what they want for rewards. Maybe if everyone does well on a test--no one gets below a certain score, which means they have to help each other--you �ll have a whole class on swear words or something unusual they want to learn! Or maybe the losing groups have to buy beer for the winners or host a party or...? Again, it gets their competitive spirits working beneficially. It�d be good to use a variety of "scoring" methods over a period of time to determine the "champion" team, e.g. which has the highest test average, which learns the most new vocabulary, which creates the funniest skit, which comes up with the funniest firefighter jokes, which writes the best fire rescue story.
And lastly, here�s kind of a far-fetched idea: what about hooking them up with a group of native-English speaking firefighters somehow. (http://www.iaff.org/) Maybe there�s a firefighter or two somewhere in the UK (or even the US) who�d want to travel to where you are and your students could work on their English to be able to host them and talk with them better. Or maybe just pen pals or some sort of competition or exchange of training or something.
Good luck--and I �m looking forward to those photos, too!
Sue
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24 Aug 2010
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