What motivates you ?

[bundoi]

What motivates teachers here ?

[gerry123]

well for sure not the money

[aidenai]

What motivates teachers here ?

Why do you want to know?

[bundoi]

I think the question is framed as simpy as it can be.

... What motivates you?

PS This is an English Teacher's forum inThailand

[SlyAnimal]

For me (in a teaching context) it'd be:

Success

Respect

Responsibility

Creative input

Competition

Money (kinda)

If I do something, I enjoy seeing the students have successfully learnt if.

If the people are respectful, then I'll always do my best to help them. Although if someone refuses to try, I think it's disrespectful of them to expect others to carry them.

If I'm allocated a task, and I have responsibility and authority for that task, I'll be significantly more motivated than if I'm just asked to help out.

Likewise if I have a creative input in the decision making process for anything, then I'll be more motivated towards achieving the goal.

I'm also motivated by winning, by being the best. Although when teaching this only comes up when I coach students for the Skills competitions (And I'm rarely given complete responsibility so am less motivated)

Money isn't really a motivator for me, but it'll make me do things which I otherwise wouldn't have done. I see the amount of money I'm paid, as being reflective of the amount of respect my employer has for me. It also reflects how successful I am in my job.

[Scott]

Let's remember that some of our teachers do not teach English. Some teach other subjects. Most will teach in English, however.

I find it very interesting to figure out how students learn. There is quite a difference between the young ones and the older ones, of course. Some learn auditorily, some are more visual. It's also interesting to find out what motivates different students. Most boys, around puberty, will start speaking more. They are mostly interested in girls and sports (usually football). Girls tend to get a lot more shy and are harder to teach, but they usually already have a firm grip on the language so they continue to progress.

As long as there are secrets to the process, I am motivated.

Of course, on a day-to-day basis, things like overcrowded classrooms, excessive noise, uncooperative directors tend to get in the way.

[bundoi]

Well Sly and Scott thanks for your replies, you are the gatekeepers of the forum ;-)

my question is really more fundamental , about teachers in classrooms, how do you know (or believe) you have done a good job ?

[rijb]

My favorite is when I give them a challenging assignment and they say OMG! No way! (actual quotes)

And then they do it (successfully) and you see the pride in their faces. I get such a kick out of that.

[bundoi]

rijb thank you so much for genuine real life feedback

one of my favourites is "teacher, ask me a different question"

[phitsanulokjohn]

I'm not a teacher,but have just had a friend return to the UK a very despondent man.Before he left he told me that the Thai's are just not interested in learning.He was teaching 18 year olds and instead of learning were more intent on playing with their mobile phones,which in my opinion should be banned from the classroom.

He also said he managed while here, to get a bit,but not enough work teaching Japanese and Koreans,who apparently listened attentively and showed a great willingness to learn.Here again in my opinion,lies the difference between the 3 countries.2 are top countries,while Thailand is well down in the learning stakes,so it's with little wonder that we see a post on Thai visa today,the link i've provided below.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/689433-thailand-lagging-behind-in-english/?utm_source=newsletter-20131216-08

[connda]

I'm good at what I do, I enjoy teaching, but mostly, I get a charge out of watching others develop their skills.
It's as simpy as that.

Edited December 16, 2013 by connda

[squarethecircle]

teaching Japanese and Koreans,who apparently listened attentively and showed a great willingness to learn.Here again in my opinion,lies the difference between the 3 countries.2 are top countries,while Thailand is well down in the learning stakes,so it's with little wonder that we see a post on Thai visa today,the link i've provided below.

But Japanese and Koreans might have different motivations for learning. They don't have the uber fertile land and climate as in LOS, and are more inerdependent on other countries. I read Japan imports a major percentage of its food. That may be the reason they (and Chinese students) have a better reputation: more motivation to learn.

OP many teachers are retirees or temporary younger people looking for "experience". And then a few (or more than a few) who are teaching for the wrong reasons...

Edited December 16, 2013 by squarethecircle

[Scott]

What motivates teachers is probably different than what motivates students. You are dealing with an entirely different sub-set of students when you are teaching Japanese or Korean children that live in Thailand. The families are probably quite different from the average family from their home countries.

[dapsolapsalai]

, how do you know (or believe) you have done a good job ?

how does anybody know (or believe) they have done a good job? regardless of profession.

[Andyfez]

I'm not a teacher,but have just had a friend return to the UK a very despondent man.Before he left he told me that the Thai's are just not interested in learning.He was teaching 18 year olds and instead of learning were more intent on playing with their mobile phones,which in my opinion should be banned from the classroom.

He also said he managed while here, to get a bit,but not enough work teaching Japanese and Koreans,who apparently listened attentively and showed a great willingness to learn.Here again in my opinion,lies the difference between the 3 countries.2 are top countries,while Thailand is well down in the learning stakes,so it's with little wonder that we see a post on Thai visa today,the link i've provided below.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/689433-thailand-lagging-behind-in-english/?utm_source=newsletter-20131216-08

I teach Koreans, but speaking generally I find them charming non-learners.

Very sociable, but just not prepared to work as individuals.

They can't understand why it's wrong for one to do the work, and all the rest to copy.

Giving them an exam is a nightmare as they simply can't understand why they shouldn't talk during the exam.

In my opinion Thais are one-up on them.

They have a more individualistic outlook.

But it's in the Thai culture to try and negotiate an easy answer.

[dapsolapsalai]

.He was teaching 18 year olds and instead of learning were more intent on playing with their mobile phones,which in my opinion should be banned from the classroom.

so why didn't he ban them from the classroom?

[NoshowJones]

Well Sly and Scott thanks for your replies, you are the gatekeepers of the forum ;-)

my question is really more fundamental , about teachers in classrooms, how do you know (or believe) you have done a good job ?

The way I found out I was doing a good job was when one of the other teachers had complaints from his students about his lessons. After the Head of the English Dept gave him the lesson plans for what she wanted him to teach, I went and looked at them. They were the same lesson plans that I was using, and I made them up myself.

[mrdome]

I was self-motivated, i.e. to do the best job I could. The clear non-interest/understanding and rudeness (or non-thinking, enjoying the non-pressure of a foreign teacher vs. the stricter Thai ones) of some of the students at the private uni I taught at could wear you down fast otherwise.

I lasted 4 years (money was good, though up to 100K in some months 0r $US16K per year - I was not a "real" teacher). Still, it was probably the most fulfilling job I ever had and being able to travel around SE Asia every 2 months or so was a great bonus.

[dao16]

When a student "get's it." That is what motivates me. Could happen in a single class, when they suddenly go "snap" and something they never got before becomes clear. Or, if you teach (or are around) long enough, you won't know until years later, when a student comes back to you and thanks you for making a difference in his or her life. Try it....it is a high.

Of course, money also helps, as I need to eat and pay rent.

[Colabamumbai]

I have taken a lot from the universe it my 63 short years and it is a way for me to give back some of the knowledge and experience that I have gained living in many different countries of the world, but been born in Canada. Besides what ever subject it is I am teaching, I try to teach people about life, as most of us have no one to guide us growing up.

I will work till 70 if I am employable teaching here, presently it allows me to save my savings before I receive a pension, in a climate that I enjoy.

It gives me a sense of purpose and being, part of the community where ever it is. I could not sit on a sofa all day.

If one person, or student sometime 10 years down the road does something or thinks something and remembers that they got it from me, I will roll over in my grave with happiness. That_{is my purpose.}

[inutil]

through the 8 years or so of dossing about on tefl ive found an avenue to properly consign myself to oblivion. I might be in it for the wrong reasons...

[simon43]

He was teaching 18 year olds and instead of learning were more intent on playing with their mobile phones,which in my opinion should be banned from the classroom.

Going slightly off-topic, but that would be the norm for most teenagers.

I solved the problem by not only banning phones and laptops, but physically putting them in the rubbish bin if I saw them open in class. (Not one tough teenager dared to stop me - they probably thought I was mad...)

Back on-topic,I am motivated by seeing the look of happiness on my young students' faces when they have mastered what is for them a difficult concept or task. The 'Hey - I get it!' look is very satisying.

Simon

[bundoi]

I'm not a teacher,but have just had a friend return to the UK a very despondent man.Before he left he told me that the Thai's are just not interested in learning.He was teaching 18 year olds and instead of learning were more intent on playing with their mobile phones,which in my opinion should be banned from the classroom.

I've heard variations of that complaint from many NES teachers... "my class is not interested in learning", but I've seen the same class respond very positively to a different NES teacher; every time I hear a teacher say "I can't teach those kids anything, they're so stupid/inattentive/dispresctful etc" I know the teacher's in the wrong class or the wrong profession.

On the subject of phones in class, most of my students use the their phone dictionary applications - I encourage it.

Other teachers get the students to drop their phones in a box before class starts - that also works for them.