Many students (and parents of
schoolchildren) would subscribe to the following statement: “If a student
learns something or not, if she or he is motivated or not to learn, depends
entirely on the teacher. A good teacher is so inspiring, makes the material so
interesting, so that anybody will want to learn even inherently boring or
difficult topics.”
What is wrong with this?
For most people, the word “motivate”
really means “manipulate me, trick me into doing something I would have not
done otherwise on my own initiative”. In language learning this means, we
somehow ended up in a language class: because our parents sent us there,
because we need it for our job, because somebody convinced us that this is
necessary. Then we realize that learning a foreign language is not something
that can be fixed within few weeks. And now we need somebody to persuade us
into learning over a longer period.
Many teachers, too, subscribe to the
“inspiring” teacher model. It makes them feel good about themselves. They read
books on persuasion, practice all kinds of tricks like NLP to live up to this
new standard.
Why should a good teacher manipulate you
into spending long periods of time doing something you are not convinced you
want to do?
In a way, this is a symptom of our
society. So many people are doing things they do not really want: in the
education system, or sitting in cubicles in some corporation. According to
studies, around 90% of American employees report they are “disengaged” from
their job. The solution: the company regularly brings in motivational speakers
that get employees “excited”.
At the beginning of each of my courses, I
give students a template of a goal sheet, where they specify why they want to
learn German, and what their specific goals are. Although I give detailed
instructions on how to complete it, the majority does not fill in their
answers. Why? “We do not know what do write. You tell us!”
What should a responsible teacher do?
·
To
help students clarify what they really want and need: This does not necessarily
mean to give up the language, but, focus their goals in slightly different areas.
·
Assist
students in selecting the right means to attain their ends.
·
Only
then should the “inspirational”, “motivational” part start. Otherwise, an
inspirational teacher helps students waste their time, which I consider
unethical.
·
The
teacher should always take a step back, so that students become not dependent
upon him.
Do you want proof that the concept of the “inspirational
teacher” is bogus? Here it is.
Have you ever met inspiring teachers
during all your school years? Probably, yes. At least one. Now: have you opened
a book on mathematics, physics, geography, history, philosophy, chemistry,
biology unrelated to your current job during the last four weeks? If no, even
though those teachers may have “inspired” you to learn until the final exams, all
that “motivation” evaporated with your graduation day. Do you really want to
learn a foreign language, just to finish a course and then forgot about it?!
If you like the attitude of these
articles, please check out my
online courses : at the moment, German for English,
Russian and Romanian speakers, as well as on goal-setting.
If you are interested in improving your
English in the area of business presentations, I know of no better address than
Tom Antion. Please check him out following this link.
Stay tuned!
Gerhard
The GO Method
The GO Method applies quality management and psychological
science to the study of foreign languages. It helps students establish
individual and clear goals, build learning routines, overcome psychological
obstacles, monitor progress and systematize the learning process.
It is the perfect approach for high performer students that
need to speak as closely as possible to a native speaker. From lesson one, it
focuses on building your own sentences bottom-up, and not memorizing phrases
like a parrot.
Gerhard J. Ohrband
Psychologist and polyglot from Hamburg /Germany (*1979).
Married with children. MA in psychology from the University of Hamburg. More
than 15 years of experience as a university lecturer in psychology as well as a
consultant for UNICEF, Terre des Hommes, IOM, the EU and private companies.
Coordinator of the GO Method network, with representatives in more than 90
countries worldwide.
Contact
If you want to save time in learning a foreign language
without a teacher, please check out my book “The GO Method” on Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment