Motivating and Enthusing Teenagers
to Learn Chinese
By Jonathan Robinson
1st April 2006
This lecture will look at …
• Promoting the study of Chinese to older
children of Chinese
• The important role of personal motivation
and ingenuity of the teacher
• How to motivate teenagers to learn the
language in and beyond the classroom
On Promoting the Study of Chinese
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Number of speakers: well over 1.3 billion
Crouching Tiger: booming economy
Hidden Dragon: political heavyweight
Tourism: mutually beneficial
Culture: art, philosophy, alternative medicine,
cinema, martial arts, history
• Support: Chinese government promotion
• Language: a growing Western fascination and a
cultural rediscovery for the BBC
How to Promote Chinese at School
1. Set up an extracurricular language club
2. Survey the students’ interests before and after
taster language sessions
3. Organise cultural awareness days at key times
of the Chinese year with cross-curricular
collaboration
4. Research funding opportunities and
timetabling possibilities for classes
5. Present a realistic plan to HoD and SLT
6. Take advantage of the Language Ladder
7. Organise international trips / guest speakers /
links with schools in China
The important role of personal motivation
and ingenuity of the teacher
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What is my experience of learning Chinese?
Why am I a Chinese teacher?
What are my goals as a teacher?
What are my teaching priorities?
How does my teaching and learning style
affect my motivation?
6. How motivated am I to prepare my lessons
thoroughly and evaluate them successfully?
7. How do external factors affect my motivation to
teach effectively in any given lesson?
We learn …
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10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we discuss with others
80% of what we personally experience
90% of what we teach to someone else
What type of learner am I?
When learning a new language do you prefer to …
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Use mind maps to brainstorm a topic when revising for a test?
Record your voice onto a tape to improve your pronunciation?
Act out role plays with your friends?
Put up posters as aides-mémoir?
Go over the key points of a lesson with someone else?
Learn by doing something creative or making something?
Draw diagrams and pictures to help you acquire new vocabulary and structures?
Get someone to test you / ask you questions?
Keep vocabulary notes on small memory flashcards?
Use TV and internet resources regularly to supplement your text book?
Enjoy giving presentations / speeches in the target language?
Create models rather than draw posters?
Use mnemonics to memorise vocabulary / grammatical rules?
Learn from songs, music and rhymes?
Move around rather than sit in one place for a whole lesson?
3 Types of Learner
Visual
Learners
Auditory
Learners
Kinesthetic
Learners
1, 4, 7, 10, 13
2, 5, 8, 11, 14
3, 6, 9, 12, 15
As a teacher I need to be not only aware of my own
preferred learning style, but of the various learning styles
of my students and cater to everyone’s needs accordingly.
A variety of learning style opportunities in each lesson
and over the course of a unit of work is essential and
should be included in the SoW for an y course .
How to motivate teenagers to learn the
language in and beyond the classroom
1. Don’t be
discouraged!
Motivation will rise
and fall over the
duration of the
course.
Motivation
Time
2.
Tackle the things you can control
Games that Motivate
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Listen and eliminate
Dictations
Spot the mistakes
20 questions
Role plays
Find someone who …
Memory games
Charades
Cocktail party
Board games / card games / murder games
Graded stories
Flashcard games
Making longer and longer sentences
Families
Bingo
Connect 4
Stop thief!
Motivation Flow Diagram
EXPERIENCE OF SUCCESS

PRAISE REINFORCEMENT

STUDENT’S SELF-BELIEF

MOTIVATION
3. Develop strategies for dealing with
the things you cannot easily control
Summary of Motivating Learners
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Physical surroundings
Body language
Rewards and Sanctions
Marking and Assessment
Planning, Preparation, Teaching
Classroom Activities