How To Motivate Esl Students Strategies For Teachers

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Oct 30, 2025, 6:02 AM

how to motivate esl students strategies for teachers

Stay connected with industry news, resources for English teachers and job seekers, ELT events, and more. Teaching English as a foreign language comes with its own unique set of challenges, especially when it comes to keeping students motivated. Whether you’re teaching online or in person, figuring out how to motivate ESL students can be the difference between a classroom filled with energy and engagement or one where students are counting down the... Let’s explore 10 proven strategies to keep your students motivated and engaged. Goal setting is fundamental for keeping track of students’ progress, building students’ self-esteem and confidence, and keeping students motivated. Goals give students purpose, so establishing clear, achievable goals for your students is crucial.

At the beginning of a course, work with your students to set both short-term and long-term goals. These goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, a short-term goal might be to learn 10 new vocabulary words related to a particular topic by the end of the week, while a long-term goal could be to improve speaking fluency... Setting goals helps students see their progress and gives them a sense of accomplishment, which is a great motivator. Read about eight engaging ESL vocabulary games for teaching in person or online. You’d attract bees with honey rather than vinegar—and the same idea applies to motivating the students in your ESL classroom.

One of the toughest tasks a teacher can have on their plate is to motivate their students the right way. This means motivating them from the inside rather than from the outside. Let me show you several classroom strategies that’ll bring out the best in your students and get them excited about learning English. Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Start at the beginning of the school year with clear rules. Above all, you need to explain from day one that this is an English class, and English will be the medium of communication. Have realistic expectations too, depending on the language level of your students. Obviously, different age groups “ring the bell” concerning language or maturity levels. Your students also won’t develop their language at the same rate, face the same struggles, or excel in the same areas. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Learning English opens doors to new opportunities, but the journey is not always smooth. As an English teacher, you must have noticed your student’s daily challenges. Most commonly, it is about the difficulty of mastering tricky pronunciations to understanding complex grammar rules. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Also, recent studies show that most ESL (English as a Second Language) students struggle to stay motivated beyond their first few months of learning. It is natural for your students to feel overwhelmed when learning a new language.

But here’s the good news: with the right approach and support system, you can help them succeed in their English learning journey. Whether you are a professional teacher carrying out classes on Online Teaching English in Malaysia or anywhere else in the world- you need to inspire your students. You must grasp the nitty-gritty of what drives successful language learning to make all the difference. Imagine trying to learn a classroom lesson when you don’t understand the language in which it is being presented. Teaching English language learners requires specialized strategies; and at the most basic level, one of those strategies is to “put yourself in their shoes.” More than 5 million children in U.S.

schools are classified as English language learners (ELLs), according to the Department of Education. These students face the dual challenge of learning the material while also learning the language, as their teachers face the added challenge of using the right educational strategies to help them succeed. Some of the most effective English language learner strategies start with common sense and respect for cultural differences. Simply getting to know the students is considered to be an essential part of the process. For educators who teach English language learners, developing a deeper understanding of their unique needs and the best practices for teaching them has many benefits. These include:

Here, we will review a range of time-tested English language teaching strategies that benefit students and educators alike. In today’s fast-paced educational landscape, keeping students engaged and motivated can feel like a Herculean task. Did you know that according to Gallup, only 33% of high school students report feeling engaged in their learning? This alarming statistic highlights the urgent need for educators to adopt effective teaching strategies that not only captivate students’ attention but also inspire them to take ownership of their learning journey. In this article, we’ll explore 12 powerful strategies that can transform your classroom into a dynamic learning environment. From connecting lessons to real-world applications to incorporating mixed media, these techniques are designed to resonate with students of all ages and backgrounds.

Whether you’re a seasoned educator or just starting your teaching career, you’ll find actionable insights that can elevate your teaching practice and boost student motivation. So, are you ready to unlock the secrets to student engagement? Let’s dive in! Ready to enhance your teaching toolkit? 👉 Shop engaging educational resources like Reading Eggs and Mathletics to bring these strategies to life in your classroom! Quick Tips and FactsUnderstanding the Importance of Student Engagement and MotivationConnect Learning to the Real World: Practical ApplicationsDid You Know?

Engaging Resources to Enhance LearningEngage with Your Students’ Interests: Tailoring LessonsFill “Dead Time”: Maximizing Every MinuteHarness the Power of Group Work and CollaborationEncourage Students to Present and Share Work RegularlyGive Your Students a Say:... We at Teacher Strategies™ have learned that engaging students is not just about providing a fun environment but also about creating an atmosphere where students feel motivated and motivated to learn. Let’s start with a link to our article about my teaching strategies gold at https://www.teacherstrategies.org/my-turbo-teacher-gold/, which provides insights into effective teaching strategies. For those interested in learning more about our approach, we also have a category on instructional strategies at https://www.teacher strategies.org/category/institutional-strategies/, which offers valuable resources for educators. In this section, we’ll explore some quick tips and facts about student engagement and motivation. Supporting English learners (ELs) requires more than just great resources—it takes intentional strategies that help students develop language skills in a structured, engaging, and supportive way.

This post will explore effective strategies for listening, speaking, reading, and writing, providing detailed explanations and examples you can easily incorporate into your teaching. Listening is a crucial skill for language development, and it can be challenging for ELs to process new sounds, vocabulary, and sentence structures. Using intentional strategies can improve comprehension and retention. What it is: TPR connects language with movement, helping students internalize meaning without translation.Example: When teaching action verbs, say “jump” while jumping. Have students mimic your actions. For content lessons, act out steps in a process (e.g., the water cycle).

What it is: Pictures, diagrams, gestures, and realia (real-life objects) help ELs understand spoken language.Example: When discussing habitats, show images of forests, deserts, and oceans. Use gestures to reinforce key words like “big” (spread arms wide) or “cold” (shiver and hug yourself). What it is: Repeating key phrases in different ways increases exposure and comprehension.Example: If teaching “The sun rises in the east,” restate it as “Every morning, the sun comes up on the east side... Why Teaching in Cambodia Is the Ultimate Travel Experience — at Any Age When most people think about travelling abroad, they imagine temples, beaches, and... 🚨 Big News! Destination TEFL Partners with English 1 – Indonesia’s Top English Language Centre 🚨 We are thrilled to announce a brand-new collaboration with...

Why a Gap Year Teaching Abroad in Cambodia Could Be the Best Decision You’ll Ever Make — And Why Parents Should Feel Confident About It... “How can we motivate ESL learners?” This is a question that I ask myself often, especially when I must teach what seems like a boring lesson. My mind wanders and I foresee my students slumping at their desks with hollow eyes and blank expressions. Learning can’t always be fun. It’s sad, but true. For some ESL students, English class might seem like more trouble than it’s worth.

To others—excepting the few who may want to study abroad or work in the tourism industry—it doesn’t seem as valuable as core subjects such as math or grammar in their native language. In other cases, students may have to take ESL classes just to keep up with other students who speak English natively. And finally, as is the case in most English language centers, parents force children to take English classes with hopes that English language skills will provide more opportunities for them in the future. However, there are things that we can do on a regular basis to make the necessary (but not so fun) lessons easier to get through and the fun lessons even more enjoyable. RewardsFirst, let’s talk about the most obvious and controversial way to motivate students— rewards. During my first few years of teaching, I utilized intrinsic motivation almost exclusively and rarely rewarded my students.

While intrinsic motivation is more valuable for students than extrinsic rewards, I cannot deny that rewards directly motivate my students when given in a controlled manner. Clearly communicate to your students what they must do to earn a reward and find a way to keep track of their earnings. Use a reward system only to encourage positive behavior, and not to punish negative behavior. For example, if they earn a prize for something they did well, don’t take it away if you catch them misbehaving later. There is a plethora of reward system ideas on the internet for you to look through. Find one that works for you and your class and use it to add another layer of excitement to your lessons.

CuriosityAnother way to motivate your students is to pique their curiosity. English is the most widely spoken language in the world, which has resulted in an enormous amount of quality content in English. You can find countless videos, songs, books, articles, etc. related to your students’ interests in English. Display a map — or better yet use Google Maps — in your classroom to introduce students to places and people they may have never heard of. As a Christian teacher, you have even more access to inspiring English content, and depending on the context in which you teach, you can use English not only to make them curious about the...

PraiseUnlike other subjects that always have an obviously right or wrong answer, English can be more complex. Progress can be gradual, and students can have strengths in one aspect of English such as writing, and weaknesses in another such as speaking. This gives us teachers the opportunity to be gracious and generous in our praise. If a student gives a wrong answer, you may be able to give them praise for using a complete sentence or good pronunciation before you correct them. When the shy students who were previously too timid to speak utter a single, soft-spoken word, you can shower them with praise. This can build their confidence and give them intrinsic motivation to engage in class and improve their English skills.

How To Motivate Esl Students Strategies For Teachers

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