How to motivate students with no eagerness to study

[Barthram03]

Hello everyone,

An inexperienced English teacher here asking for some advice.

I graduated from a very reputable university in Turkey, and teaching English was not really among my career plans. Yet, with some twist of fate, in the October of 2017 right after graduating I started teaching at this private institution. Things work in this institution in such a not-educationally-professional way that several months ago I quit the job. But now I am back and going to be working here for a while at least. So I have decided to -do my best to- figure out a way to make teaching here easier for me, and maybe even enjoyable. For this I need your advice.

In this institution there is no failure: even though a student may fail all the exams, if they have attended %70 of all classes they are given a certificate. Knowing this, students do not bother to learn. Most of them do not even do the homeworks. What I end up ultimately is a B1 class where some students cannot even speak A1 English. Because I can't fail them and they proceed to the next level nonetheless. So teaching in this kind of classes gets unbearable for me.

So here are my questions:

I) What can I do to make the students study? What can I use as leverage?
II) How can I acquire a method based more towards making them speak English, rather than mere grammar and vocavulary?
III) Any particular, efficient way of teaching a particular skill, or advice on teaching overall: they are all welcome.

Thanks!

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello, everyone.

I'm an inexperienced English teacher [STRIKE]here[/STRIKE] asking for some advice.

I graduated from a very reputable university in Turkey, and teaching English was not really among my career plans. Yet, [STRIKE]with[/STRIKE] by some twist of fate, in the October of 2017, right after graduating, I started teaching at [STRIKE]this[/STRIKE] a private institution. Things work in this institution in such a not-educationally-professional way that several months ago I quit the job. [STRIKE]But[/STRIKE] However, now I am back and am going to be working there for a while at least. [STRIKE]So[/STRIKE] I have decided to no hyphen here do my best to no hyphen here figure out a way to make teaching here easier for me, and maybe even enjoyable. For this, I need your advice.

In this institution there is no such thing as failure; even though a student may fail all the exams, if they have attended [STRIKE]%70[/STRIKE] 70% of [STRIKE]all[/STRIKE] their classes, they are given a certificate. Knowing this, most/many/the students do not bother to [STRIKE]learn[/STRIKE] study. Most of them do not even do [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] their [STRIKE]homeworks[/STRIKE] homework. What I end up with, ultimately, is a B1-level class where some students cannot even speak A1-level English. [STRIKE]Because[/STRIKE] I can't fail them [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] so they proceed to the next level nonetheless. [STRIKE]So[/STRIKE] Teaching in this kind of [STRIKE]classes[/STRIKE] class [STRIKE]gets[/STRIKE] is becoming/has become unbearable for me.

[STRIKE]So[/STRIKE] Here are my questions:

I) What can I do to make the students study? What can I use as leverage?
II) How can I acquire a method based more towards making them speak English, rather than mere grammar and vocabulary?
III) Do you know of any [STRIKE]particular,[/STRIKE] efficient way of teaching a particular skill, or have any advice on teaching overall? They are all welcome.

[STRIKE]Thanks![/STRIKE] Unnecessary. Thank us after we help you, by clicking on the Thank button.

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

I'm going to leave it to someone who teaches classes with multiple students to answer your question. I have only ever taught one-to-one and have never had a student younger than 18. I was lucky in that all my students were there by choice and I never had trouble getting them to study!

Please note my corrections to your post above. I would like to draw your attention to one thing in particular - the number of times I had to delete "So" at the beginning of your sentences. There is no need to use it as an empty filler.

I note that your member profile shows your native language as American English and your current location as United States. Are you sure those are correct? I mean no offence, but there are errors in your post that suggest that English is not your first language. Your IP address does not show as the US. Please ensure that all the information in your member profile is correct.

 

[jutfrank]

How old are your students?