How to Motivate Students to Learn English？

董入鳳

Introduction

Language is the means by which people communicate with each other. Nowadays English， as a language， is more popular than any other language， and more widely used by people throughout the world. We regard English as a common language in our daily life， wherever or whenever we maybe use it in order to improve friendship or get to know people and something well. It is related to various aspects in society. David Crystal said， “English is now so widely established that it can no longer thought of as “owned by any single nation.”（Crystal 1997：21）. As an English teacher， I feel that it is a great responsibility to teach students English well. But it is very difficult to be good at English， English teachers must be patient to help students interest in English. Otherwise， it will be late when we find that students have no interest in learning English.

Einstain said， “Interest is the best teacher.” Yang Zhengning， who ever won the Noble Prize， also said， “The secret of the success is interest.”Interest is very important to study. People can do everything better if they are interested in it， and at that time， their thinking is very active， if they face various difficulties， they will do their best to try out different ways to solve the problems. They can also ask the teachers、the students or someone else for help or search the books. They must be happy when they success. During the process， a kind of good habit in studying has been formed， and it can courage them to learn further. Now we know the vital status of interest in learning English， and we also know most of time that the teachers and the students can get together is in class. So how to deal with the process of teaching to motivate students to learn English， will become the most task for English teachers.

The importance of the process of teaching

As English isnt our native language in China. We cant usually speak English in some conditions at all， and there is no environment to practise English. In our town， we hardly ever meet a foreigner， we have no chances to communicate with other people in English. Sometimes we also speak English， but they are only some simple greeting words like “Hello， Hi and Bye-bye”in our daily life. But English as a vital subject， and most of English knowledge that students acquired comes from the class， the class is the major teaching form in China. So the process of teaching is quite important. During the process of teaching， English teachers should supply the students a good environment， let the students listen、say、read and write more， using all kinds of teaching methods. The teacher must catch such favourable chance to motivate students to learn English， and should often indicate them， the final aim of language is to use. Then some ways will be shown here.

Listening materials

Listening material is a very important part in English learning. We often emphasize four learning skills：listening、 saying、reading and writing. Listening lies in front， it is an important principle to learn language. Mostly， we get the knowledge through listening， first we hear it， second we can say and master it after practicing it. There are many kinds of listening materials， such as， a piece of new、a chant、a poet and so on.

Showing materials

Chinese ancient great educationist， Confucius said，"Its better to like than know， enjoy than like.”Interest is the most active and positive factor in learning， and is also the basic internal motive power.To junior students， when they begin to study English， maybe they feel it interesting， but a bit hard， at this time， showing things directly can get rid of their afraid feeling. For example， twenty-six letters、traffic means of transport、fruit、school things and so on. Students know those things well. At this time， we show pictures about them， and they can think English is easy and interesting. I can learn it well if I do as the teacher does.

Making up stories

Everyone likes listening to the stories， especially the children. So it is one of the best ways to improve students interest. The teacher can change the new words、the new drills and the grammar into a story， it may be humor、strange、happy、sad or moving， no matter what it is， the story should supply them thought and moral character education， and they should be helpful to the students. The students learn not only the knowledge from the book but also some ways about how to live in society.

Asking questions

Questions must be the first step in getting knowledge， just the ancient people thought， “ Thinking is the most important in learning，but thinking comes from questions， finally the result. We cant catch it well until the result appears.” Thinking and question exist in the same thing， and they will be never divided. So asking appropriate questions can guide the students to be eager to know the result， then they will pay more attention to solve the questions. The approach is suitable for learners in different ages， so the teacher should provide some good questions about the text to motivate students desire of getting the knowledge.

Playing roles

The development of the self-consciousness is an important character for the junior students development on personality， they usually think they have grown up， they like expressing their own opinions on all kinds of things， they wish to be respected by other people. So the teacher should understand it and provide enough chance for them to show them.

Using the poems、songs、films and rhymes

Ways of the poems、songs and rhymes. I talk about one example of songs. Singing songs can give people pleasant feeling. Everyone likes singing and watching films， we always do one of them to relax us when we are very tired， at the same time we can learn more， I think its one of the ways to motivate the students interest.

However as we know that we cant get all the knowledge only in class， but we can organize some extracurricular activities.

English corner

English corner is the best way to learn English， the students can practise the conversations learned in classes. As we know， we cant express ourselves better until we speak more， the students communicate with each other in English from the simple sentences to the difficult sentences in the environment like that. When they cant do it， they can learn from the others at once. As in the school， sometimes the teacher may assign them a certain oral training material according to the students and the textbook every time， from one circumstance to another circumstance， gradually they can use more tenses and more drills， then the short passages， even the long passages， after a long time， the students can speak English more fluently than before， later they will be interested in speaking English， and usually like to express their meaning in English. It is a good way to learn English. They can understand how to learn English？ Now where are their shortages and how are they going to change them？ The clear learning consciousness will improve the quality of the teaching.

Various matches

The junior students are not easy to give up anything when they are in trouble， but not willing to be defeated by the others willingly and gladly， above are their the most obvious characters. So it is the second important and necessary way to learn English. On the one hand， The students can get more chances to practise the knowledge learned in classes， on the other hand， the ways of the matches are richer and more interesting， I often use the following ways to organize the activities： 1. English handwriting.2. reciting words and texts in limited times. 3.writing down the usages of the grammars.4. Holding the relay race about the words of the same category. 5. Playing short English essays. 6. English speeches. 7. Games and so on.

Furthermore， those activities should be insisted on in a certain time， I think it is held once a week at least. If we can do like those， we will motivate the students interest in learning English truly.

Conclusion：

Interest is quite a very vital and essential former factor to study English well， it exists in everything. English is not easy to master and the students often face a lot of problems as well. And sometimes the junior students cant go on doing as permanentyly as the adults. They only do what they are interested in. They are always fed up with what the adults force them to do. So the teachers must improve the students interest. In teaching activities， they should use different useful and vivid teaching methods to motivate students to learn English， and supply various suitable learning circumstances to make the students study it actively.