"Motivating the Unmotivated"

On 14 – 15 October, as part of Teachers’ Continuous Development Programme, a group of lecturers attended the ELT conference titled “Motivating the Unmotivated”, which was presented by Ken Wilson, in Nicosia. More than two hundred English Language Teachers from different institutions attended the conference. The main focus of the training event was how to grab students’ attention and motivate them easily, by using various activities. Motivating and taking the attention of learners, especially during listening activities, was one of the most emphasized areas. Lots of emphasis was placed on pre-listening and pre-reading tasks. Ken Wilson believes that students should be motivated in the pre-activity tasks and should have abstract ideas with the help of some authentic pictures, songs, activities. Learning occurs when the unmotivated is motivated.