Types of Successful Students Nowadays

In the process of teaching English as a second language, you may encounter different types of students based on their attitudes and inclination towards the language. In this article however, my main focus will be the attitudes of successful students towards the English language. The last time, I decided to undertake a quick survey on my successful students in order to obtain information about the reasons for getting excellent during examinations. To achieve this, I asked them questions about their interest in English, their methods of studying and practicing of the language. Also I tried to obtain information more about their general performances in other subjects.Based on my findings, I noticed that my successful students are divided into
two groups. The first group are those who are passionate and motivated to learn the language while the second group are those who are obliged to learn the subject because they are already having excellent in all other subjects. Now
let us look at the characteristics of each group separately.

Passionate, Motivated and Successful Students

To be truly acquainted with the characteristics of the real successful students let us take a look at their attitudes towards ESL.

a) Passion for the language – These students love the language for it self and they are always interested to do what ever it takes to achieve their goal of progressing in it. You find them very active in and out of the classroom in as much as English in concerned. They always do their home and other activities on time.

b) Mastering language skills Because of their interest in the subject, they are quick to master the language skills. Firstly, they do not limit themselves to the Course book; but explore other avenues such reading other books and listening to audio programs.  They are very eager to engage a native speaker in conversation so as to practice the language. They often watch English programs on TV and listen to radio programs therefore they acquire excellent communication skills. When they learn vocabulary they do not do so only for the purpose of passing examination but to gain excellence in the
language so they do not forget easily.

Obliged Successful Students

 

a) Lack of true passion for the language– It was observed that these students have no real passion for the subject but the effort they exert is only for the purpose of getting excellent grades in examinations. The reason for this is
that these are smart students who usually obtain excellent grades in all other subjects, and as such they dislike having poor marks in English as this will definitely affect their overall performance.

b) Lacking Essential language skills Since their goal is only to pass examinations; it is observed that these students lack essential language skills because they limit themselves to the course book. Anything other than that is not of interest to them. They are not motivated to practice the language by reading other books or by conversing with native speakers. They neither watch English programs on TV nor listen to radio programs related to English. Because of these, they do not
make significant progress in learning the language.

In conclusion, the students that will make real progress are those who immerse themselves in all aspects of language learning and acquisition and these are the truly successful ones. What type of students do you have? Are they passionate about English language or are they obliged learners? You opinion with regards this issue will be warmly welcomed.

Why Some Students fail to progress in English!

Have you ever witnessed a situation where teaching English as a second language becomes so difficult that you find some of your students unable to make significant progress after a considerable long period of time? Well, stay with me while I explain my own personal observation with some of my students. The other day, during one of my teaching sessions, I asked some of my students to differential between number fourteen and forty and to my surprise most of them couldn’t. But that was only a tip of the bag as when I further asked them to spell their names in English that also proven to be a Herculean task. This made  me worried as I have just been transferred to a new school. Immediately, I started an investigation by discussing  this issue with some teachers and the following was the result my findings:

–Inadequacy of the Course Book

Foundation in any thing is the most important. However, a careful look at the course book reveals that the foundation course  which should enable the students to master the reading and writing skills is absolutely inadequate. The exercises and activities are not well designed and organized to give students the opportunity to grasp the basic of the language. In consequence they continue to face basic problems in reading and writing.

– Students’ attitude towards the language

Most of our students think that it is not necessary to learn a foreign language and as such they are not motivated to devote their effort to learn. This negative attitude is causing frustration to the teachers and impacting their enthusiasm. A teacher who knows that he or she will have to face a group of disinterested students will lack the zeal to do the optimal and students will be the losers in the final analysis.

– Size of the Classroom

Added to the above mentioned problems, teachers usually have to deal with a large class. The number of students far exceeds what is reasonable so this make it very difficult to handle and these uninterested students are taking advantages of the  situation to practice their nonchalant attitudes.

– Lack of cooperation from Paren

The role of parents towards the education of their children can not be over emphasized. But pathetically, most of them are not doing enough to monitor their children’s learning progress.This is dealing an adverse blow on the learning process of their children.

– Solution

For every problem there must be a solution, if we honestly search for one. Contemplation on the above problems leads us to the following solutions:

– Redesigning of the Course Book

I think if the present course book is resign to include worksheet, flash cards, other activities, exercises and necessary learning aids to assist the students to master the basic skills of reading and writing then they may not encounter difficulties in the
understanding of further advanced lessons.

–  The Role of the Teacher

In relation to students’ negative attitude towards the target language, the teacher should endeavor to create a classroom situation wherein students will feel motivated and encouraged to learn the language. The teacher should use inspirational speeches to emphasize the need of learning English in this technological age.

– The Role of Parents

In order for teachers to be successful, their effort must be supported by parents and guardians. This cooperation will create a sense of discipline and responsibility on the part of the students and consequently enhanced the learning process.

 

– Reduction of Classroom size

The number of students in the class should be reasonable to enable the teacher to easily handle them. A class which is relatively small gives the teacher the opportunity to teach well and therefore monitor the progress of the students. So if there is any problem in the learning process it could be solved at the initial stage.

Making Your Students like you and Your subject

Imparting knowledge to students is a very delicate task; therefore teachers should do their utmost best to make it as successful as possible. It is with this view that I decide to write on the above topic. I am going to outline some of the factors which I think will make a teacher likable to the students:

Good Leadership

The teacher should be able to manage the class well by demonstrating excellent leadership skills in order to maintain positive control of the classroom situation. The importance of this cannot be overemphasize, as no good relationship will be establish between him and the students if there is chaos. The teacher may achieve this by setting clear objectives as well as rules and regulations of what is expected of the students at the initial stage. If this is done, there will be coherence in the class  which may ensure the smooth running of the teaching and learning process and thus the students will like their teacher.

Knowledgeable of your subject

This is a factor that will immediately win the admiration and confidence of your students. It is very important because it gives the teacher an academic authority over the students. If students ask this well versed teacher questions for instance, he or she can easily respond to queries without getting irritated like will be the case if he is not well acquainted with the subject matter. Students love a teacher who is ever ready and competent to respond to their academic problems.

Teaching Style and Humor

To be knowledgeable is one thing but the method of imparting the information is yet a more important issue. Because if
the teacher does not know how to motivate the students and keep them interested in the lesson they may be bored and lose interest in the teacher and therefore is subject also. A humorous and motivating teacher cause the students like him or her thus they will me focused and always look forward with enthusiasm for their teacher’s arrival in class.

Considerate

 A teacher should be considerate and sensitive to the psychology of the students. He must be very sensitive to their feelings and emotions. To treat them well as you will like to be treated. The teacher should also take into consideration that certain behavioral problems of their students may be related to the physiology of their age and as such deal with them appropriately. This responsiveness to their emotions will create a special bond between the teachers and their students. If any one has additional points on this subject matter, I will appreciate your sharing with us.

Bad Eating Habits and Students’ Performance

Irrespective of the great advancement in science and technology, but this have not lead to better eating habit among
people especially young school going students. The easy availability of fastfood and snacks which are mostly classified among junk and unhealthy food are wrecking havoc on the health of those who are unaware of how detrimental they
are to the health. In this article I will focus on the effect this bad eating habit has on students’ performance.

Health

Junk food or poor eating habit may affectthe health of students on either way. For instance, some students become obese
and this in turn makes them less active in school and this ultimately affecttheir academic performance. On the other hand, you may find students with pooreating habit very weak and sickly and this also may affect their overall school performance.

Distraction

Some students because of uncontrolled and disorganized eating habit may tend to eat in every place and at unusual times. Because of this, it is not uncommon to see some students busy themselves by eatingsnacks and nuts while the lesson is in session. This unnecessary distraction is a great cause of concern as it impedes students’ concentration. As it is well
known, the academic outcome of students who are not well focused during lesson will ten chances to one be poor.
Consumption of teacher’s time

This undisciplined behavior of eating during class time may consume some of the teachers time because may want to
restore order and discipline. Time spent in this way might have been used to explain the lesson better.

Solution

– Education: I think teachers should endeavor to educate students about the dangers of bad eating habit. They should
be informed how detriment it is to their health and consequently on their  educational performance.

– Provision of Break Time: To make students stop eating in class they should be given break time in between teaching periods for relaxation and eating snacks or light refreshment. This can provide an outlet for students to satisfy their craving for eating.
– Prevention: Students should be prevented from eating in class during lessons after efforts have been made to educate them about the detriments of doing so and provision has already put in place for break time. This is will help create a conducive learning environment where students are focused and it will ultimately impact their educational
performance in a positive way.

Any suggestions about students’ eating will be most welcome.