How do you motivate foreign students?

Answer 1

Most foreign students work closely with an ESL teacher. You should work with that teacher as well and coordinate your efforts to help the foreign student learn in your class. They are to be admired!! Can you imagine what it must be like to enter a school and study all subjects taught in a language foreign to you? That must be extremely difficult, so any help you can give that students you should give willingly. Do not mistake their lack of understanding as a lack of effort or motivation. Most are highly motivated and will work hard to achieve.

Answer 2

Generally it is best if the motivation comes from the student.

If you travel to a foreign land to study this normally indicates more than average motivation.

I guess what you are talking about is help and encouragement as it can be difficult to study in a foreign land where there may be language and cultural barriers.

Help and encouragement and your enthusiasm will help to sustain the motivation which brought the students to study in a foreign land in the first place.

Answer 3

How do you motivate foreign students to what? To study? If they have left their home country and come here to study, that pretty well indicates that they are already motivated. They may be having other problems that get in the way of learning -- cultural problems for example, and not knowing how to relate to those around them. They may also be homesick.

Answer 4

according to theorists skinner and Thorndike extrinsic motivation may be able to re kindle the intrinsic motivation that brought them to your class in the first place. Find a relevant topic that may link to the subject. use questioning to enthuse them to participate more in the class, this will give them a feeling of belonging and self worth, encourage them in group work with other students and be sure to give each a role.
being so far from home can give a person the feeling of isolation and will indeed effect the learning process.
Maslow suggests a hierarchy of needs that must be met if we are to reach the next stage.
1 physiological need--food,drink etc
2 safety need-- security
3 social need-- feeling of belonging
4 self esteem need -- to be respected etc
5 self actualisation -- to be all we can be musicians make music, poets write poetry and artists paint

Answer 5

I think that one good way to start is to get to know something about their culture and values. like any group of students I think it is important to know your audience and what they hope to get from the course and the level of knowledge they already have. In the case of people who may have very different values and experiences this can help to avoid conflict about these and tailor the course to suit their learning and other needs.

Combining studies with visits to local places of interest can help and combining these with the main subject of study can help to enliven sessions since there is an old Chineese adage about "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." I think active participation in learning by students should be encouraged.

Hope this is of some help.

Answer 6

If there is an answer to this question I would love to know what it is. We are Americans living in Geneva Switzerland. My husband wanted our 12 year old son integrated into the culture quickly and put him into the local French speaking school. As far as we are concerned he is now fluent although his teacher seems to think he is lazy. I cannot imagine doing what he has done for the past two years.

Answer 7

In my opinion if a person has intrinsic motivation then he doesn't need any motivation at all, if he doesn't have such an intrinsic motivation then it is hard to change anything. I was motivated to study not thanks to my teachers but thanks to my abilities and life goals. Motivation is just a kind of help to a person with no clear goals in life, make them relax, laugh, play, it means that you motivate them, but in reality much depends on their life goals.

Answer 8

Find a topic of interest to them. I found that discussing the movie stars/ famous singers etc. is always an area of interest to them. You can have them do backround research and write essays. Teaching them by using a topic they find interesting is the best way to catch these fish!

Answer 9

Teach them things that are relevant to their lives, that they can use immediately. Teach so that they can hear, say and read the words. Have them drill so that they can feel some success pretty quickly. Find out what THEY want to learn.

Answer 10

Same as any other students: fear, pain, and the occasional chocolate treat