Additional TESOL Certificate

Building confidence in studentsConfidence is one’s belief in his/her abilities. A confident person is not afraid to try new things and make mistakes. Confident people have less problems at school, at work and in other social communities during their life. They have more chances to become complete and happy individuals. Of course, home and family play the most important role in building confidence. But teachers also can contribute a lot in this vital mission of educating. In this article let’s try to find ways how teachers can help grow confidence in students. How to build student self confidence Educating students means more than giving them academic knowledge. Simply knowing a correct response doesn't give a student the confidence to raise his hand to answer a question. Students perform best in constructive learning environments. You can ease student insecurities with a variety of activities that build confidence and eliminate negativity. 1. Provide leadership opportunities for students. Cultivate important characteristics, including responsibility and independence by assigning students to different classroom roles. Suitable jobs include hall monitors, audio-visual assistants and classroom helpers. Mastering different duties can help build confidence and erase fear of trying new experiences. 2. Set attainable goals for each student. Realize that overcoming doubt to achieve objectives helps build student confidence. Engage in ongoing dialogue regarding your expectations and their individual progress. Reward students for meeting challenges, while persuading struggling students back on track. 3. Give constructive feedback to help reduce weaknesses and enhance strengths. Teach students that self-confidence isn't built from being spoiled with praise. Remain honest with each student to encourage her to address problems, instead of avoiding or denying their existence. Make corrections without damaging your student's confidence. 4. Encourage students to set high standards for themselves. Reassure students that they are capable of achieving greatness. Reinforce this message with age-appropriate examples and literature. Provide consistent encouragement to students to show your commitment to their success. 5. Push students to improve their weaknesses. Realize that conquering difficult tasks builds mental toughness and fosters persistence. Relay this message to your students by asking each one to write a goal that focuses on improving a weak area. Help your students develop relevant attack plans. Some dos and don’ts in building confidence ? Do not use criticism when talking to your students - even if it is just sarcasm. It hurts more than helps and can place wedge between you and your students, depleting their confidence. ? Do not criticize your students with others, it can be overheard and damage students confidence even stronger. ? Remember that you can express disapproval not only by words but also eyes, face, gesture. Control them and try not to express disappointment openly. ? Think before you speak and choose your words with care - it's very easy to say something without thinking, and then wish you hadn't. ? Give praise and positive feedback - your student measures his/her worth and achievements by what you think of him/her. "Well done, that was hard, and you managed it" is music to young ears, and even for adults. ? Make your students feel special. ? Address to students only by their names. Be sure you remember all names and pronounce them correctly. ? Practise active, reflective listening - listen carefully, repeat what you've heard to make sure you understand and give positive prompts to encourage your students to continue. ? Reassure your students that it's OK to make mistakes. ? Laugh with your students – never at them. All the following can damage students’ confidence: ? Insults or unkind remarks ? Deliberately ridiculing things a student does or feels ? Cruel teasing and sarcasm ? Endless nagging ? Aggressive shouting and swearing. Confidence building exercise The following exercise has a great effect on children, and can be carried out by a teacher. Take a sheet of paper and make two columns: in one column put 'Things I am good at' and in the other 'Things that I am not so good at' Take about five or ten minutes of discussion with the students to write a list of things that they are successful at. These will include such skills as swimming, sports, caring for pets, making a collection, dancing, drama, singing, art, painting, drawing, and so on. In the 'Not so good' column let the students write the things that they really finds hard. The list will look something like this, depending of course on each child's interests: Things that I am good at Things that I am not so good at swimming diving basketball looking after my rabbits drawing painting collecting stamps getting on well with other children clearing the table making people laugh softball being friendly to grandpa knowing about space and the planets etc. Spelling in english writing in english Speaking in english math/s The evidence is staring the child in the face: there are far more things that he is good at than things he has difficulties with. He is clearly a successful person. Re-correction of wrong self-image in young learners Self-esteem is the foundation of a child’s well-being and the key to success as an adult. Self-image is how one perceives oneself. Lack of self-image very often leads to behavior problems. Healthy self-worth does not mean being arrogant or narcissistic. It means having a realistic understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses, enjoying the strengths and working on the problem areas. The majority of students, especially young learners, with learning difficulties can come to the conclusion that they are stupid! Unfortunately some teachers would even engrave this wrong self-image deeper in the student’s mind. An effective and caring teacher must re-establish the self-confidence, but be aware that this is not going to be achieved simply by telling him/her that s/he is as intelligent as the next person. S/he needs obvious evidence. S/he needs to re-construct the picture s/he has of him/herself in his/her own mind. ? Put for such students real goals that they are able to achieve. They should not be very easy or very hard. ? Do confidence building exercise mentioned above. ? Praise him with gold stars, credits, certificates at any case but be honest because children feel false praise. ? Be patient, sometimes such change can take months. Seeing him/herself in a new light can be a turning point for the student -whatever his or her age – and this new-born self-confidence can lay the foundation for the special kind of learning s/he needs to build up: the spelling, writing, reading or speaking skills.