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Teaching Strategies to Build Student Confidence

Today, I want to share this article about how to promote students confidence. I think that a very important aspect when learning a language, is that students can feel comfortable in the process, this can help them to enjoy more the activities, participate actively or ask without being afraid of make mistakes. It is important to give to the students the opportunity of feeling  satisfaced with their own learning process according to their own rhythm. Let´s read the article and tell me about your teaching experiences.

By: Janelle Cox

What do self-confidence, trust, and social interaction have in common with regards to your students? If a child does not have any self-confidence, and has a hard time trusting others, then her ability to socialize with peers could be hindered. It’s easy for teachers to spot children who lack self-confidence, because they are the ones who usually keep to themselves or are easily influenced by their peers. As children develop self-confidence, they begin to learn to trust others. When they can trust others, they can interact with their peers in a more positive way. Here are a few effective teaching strategies to help build students’ self-confidence, their trust, and their ability to socialize with their peers.

Teaching Strategies that Build Students’ Self-Confidence

If you feel that your students are in need of a confidence boost, then you can start by giving them praise. Praise can be a powerful motivator, and influence a student’s behavior quite quickly. Praise works best when you specify a students’ accomplishment, for example, “I noticed that you studied really hard for your math test.” It’s also important to note that praise should not be given if it’s not earned. Only offer praise when it’s deserved, because the students will know when they are worthy of your praise and when they are not.
Another effective teaching strategy to nurture a student’s self-confidence is to build on his strengths. Create opportunities for your students to succeed. For example, if you know that a student knows a lot of information about animals, then ask them to tell you more about their favorite animal. Asking students for their help is a great confidence boost to their ego.
Lastly, be encouraging and help your students see that there’s a connection between hard work and success. Have a discussion with your students about how long it took the students who got a good grade on their exam to study, versus how long it took the students who didn’t do well to study. It’s important for students to compete against themselves, not their classmates, because this will help them build their self-confidence.

How to Build Students’ Trust

When you meet someone for the first time, you don’t automatically trust them, do you? Trust is something that has to be earned, and when it comes to trust and your students, you must build it in order to have a solid relationship with them. For some students, trust is something they may not have in their lives, so it’s even more imperative that you make the commitment to earn their trust. You can start by always being consistent. Consistency is key when it comes to earning the trust of your students. Make sure that you say what you mean and you mean what you say, because as soon as you go back on your word, your word no longer has value, and your students won’t trust you.
Another teaching strategy to help build your students trust is to be mindful when it comes to your communication. When speaking with your students, be open and honest, and always speak the truth.  When you do this, you are putting your cards out on the table and showing them that there is no reason to mistrust anything that you say or do.
Trust takes time to build, but when you’re patient and consistent, your students will learn that you are a trustworthy teacher.

Promoting Positive Social Interaction

Fostering a classroom atmosphere where all students interact with one another in a positive manner is not always easy. In fact, it can be quiet difficult. To increase the likelihood of your students interacting with one another in a positive manner, you must incorporate a few teaching strategies. The first teaching strategy to try is to give students a classroom job. Classroom jobs are great for social interaction because they force students to work with one another. When students are forced to interact with all different types of people, they must learn how to interact with everyone regardless if they get along or not. Not only do classroom jobs require social interaction amongst all of the students, but it also helps build a sense of classroom community as well.
Another effective teaching strategy to enhance positive peer interaction is the way that you arrange your classroom. When desks are in the traditional “Rows,” it makes interacting with peers much harder. Instead, you need to create a learning environment that flows. Try arranging your classroom in a half circle, use flexible seating, or arrange the desks into groups. This will help students be able to interact with one another better. The more opportunities that students have to be exposed to positive peer interactions, the more they will develop these skills in a positive manner.
Building your students’ self-confidence, as well as their ability to trust (not only you, but their peers), will also help them learn to socially interact in a more positive way with everyone that they encounter. By taking the time to develop these characteristics and skills, your students will thrive, not only in the classroom, but in life.
What are your thoughts and teaching strategies on this topic? Please feel free to comment in the section below, we’d love to hear from you.

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Janelle Cox is an education writer who uses her experience and knowledge to provide creative and original writing in the field of education. Janelle holds Masters of Science in Education from the State University of New York College at Buffalo. She is a contributing writer to TeachHUB.com, TeachHUB Magazine, and Hey Teach. She was also the Elementary Education Expert for About.com for five years. You can follow her on Twitter @empoweringed, on Facebook at Empowering K12 Educators, or contact her at Janellecox78@yahoo.com.

Helping anxious kids

The last topic we were talking about was anxiety, in the video that I present you today you can find the opinions, comments and tips from the clinical psycologists Jo Ann Unger, Michele Warren and John Walker.  The experts tell us about how to identify an anxious kid, the different kinds of anxiety,the way in which we can help them in the process and also the effects in adulthood of not treating anxiety.
 It is impotant to say that parents are the most influential and important part to identify the problem and help the kids to solve it. The previous wiyhout forgeting that kids are great part of their time at school, so the teachers are also important in the process.
The video is very interesting and it would be useful for teaching practices and also for those who are parents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri1CKtfyEuE

I want you to see the video and come here to tell me experiences from your students or family. Maybe we can find some case to start helping.

ANXIETY IN THE CLASSROOM

Here you find a crossword about the topic of difficulties learning a foreign language, please read the  statement and complete the activity.

CROSSWORD

Crossword

Complete the crossword, then click on "Check" to check your answer. If you are stuck, you can click on "Hint" to get a free letter. Click on a number in the grid to see the clue or clues for that number.

							1
					2
3
			4
					5
6

Across: 3. What you need to feel for bringing all your potential in your English classes. 5. A great barrier when you try to speak or make a performance in your English class. 6. The cause of being bored in your English class.

Down: 1. A class in which there is no active or fun activities. 2. What you feel when the class don´t motivate you to do the activities. 3. A boring English class. 4. What you need to improve your level and feel better in your English class. Remember that you need time to practice.

Hello!

     It is possible that you are here looking for this blog, because you are having troubles in your English learning process. Don´t worry, nobody said that it would be easy and if somebody did it it is because there are different lenarning processes.

Monotonous and uninteractive classes

     Having boring classes is one of the factors that can most affect the performance of a student to learn, regardless of the subject that is. Many people of all ages, put resistance to learn English, the clue is in finding strategies that can attract their attention and interest. 

One aspect that could help is to try to focus on the interests, tastes and experiences of the students, this with the aim of doing classes with various activities that will make students take more ownership of their space.

Definitely get to sit and listen to a class is not fun, if you are a student and do not feel comfortable, do not wait to let your teacher know, please think about what you would like to do to change the dynamics and propose it to your class. Take the initiative.

Shyness

     Shyness is presented as a great barrier in learning English, I say this through my own experience. When I was starting to learn English in college, I felt terror of being wrong, I felt that if I spoke and went wrong, everyone would make fun of me. It took a long time for me to have confidence in myself and I had to fall to get up and say, yes I can!

Your process should not keep pace with the process of others, take your time and reflect on what you do. A good activity can be that you make a picture and identify your strengths and weaknesses, in this way you can see how with what you have you can build a better learning.

Your strengths are more and they will help you to trust in you, trust in what you are and little by little you will improve, you will see how in a while you will see the past and you will be proud of yourself.

It is normal to be shy and feel afraid to make mistakes, but to make mistakes is human beings.

Lack of constancy

     Students must understand that you do not learn from one day to the next and that without practice you do not advance. The key is not to study more, but to be more constant. To have in some way a routine of study and practice in which to be able to keep up to date what has been learned and to keep the mind fresh from the learning that is being acquired. Setting a schedule, objectives and plans are a key to incorporate the practice of a new language, and constant improvement.

Lack of motivation

     As we discussed earlier, there are several factors that make students not want to learn English, the lack of motivation has much to do with the type of classes that take place. The boring classes make students cling to the idea that learning English is boring and not worth it, so they will not try to learn at all.

If you know more possible difficulties when learning a new language, please let me know in the comments.😝

This post was based on some information taken from another blog and my own experience as student. 

https://babyradio.es/blogfamiliar/dificultades-y-obstaculos-en-el-aprendizaje-de-ingles/