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Motivation in the ClassroomArticles used: 1. How esl students can gain confidence to speak 2.Conversation partners help esl students with English 3. Choosing props for the ESL/EFL classroom 4. Secrets to keeping students motivated while learning English What Role Does Motivation Play in the Classroom and How To Promote It? The Webster Dictionary defines motivation as follows: "Motivation: The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action towards a desired goal, the reason for the action." In other words, we need to have a reason behind our actions to achieve our goals. There is no easy way to learn English when the language is unknown to you. It requires a lot of time and effort, without motivation, EFL learners will not have any interest in spending the time and effort required. It is imperative for students to understand why they are learning English, this way they see the relevance and importance in doing so. Relevance can be acquired by practicing multiple tasks with native speakers in a scenario that approximates real life situations that students can see themselves in. Having conversation partners can be very beneficial to students learning English, even though it might be hard for the teacher to locate these volunteers. When students have the opportunity to converse with native english speakers, it gives them motivation to learn because they can see the results firsthand. Even though the student may not understand everything it gives him the opportunity one to one to ask for clarification, which in turn give the student confidence and that is true motivation. Confidence has a lot to do with motivation. When a student feels confident he has an inner force that propels him to want to do and learn more. The confidence comes from positive feedback wether given by the teacher or getting it from knowing he is doing things right and learning is taking place, which in turns motivates him to continue. Conversational activities, can provide great motivation in the EFL classroom. Lack of opportunity for students to practice or develop conversational skills, results in insecurities which inhibits their confidence and subsequently their motivation. What can the teacher do? Warm-up games at the beginning of every lesson are important since they allow students to get ready to study English. When students are having fun and are relaxed, their frame of mind is more positive and they even forget they are learning. Example of warm-up games "Twenty Questions," "Categories," "I Spy," "Word Chain," "Would You Rather" and "Two Truths and a Lie". As students become more conversational, the teacher can introduce other activities like for example 'Small Talk'. In this activity, the teacher writes down small talk questions/topics common to their home country. Once they have chosen together topics to discussed, teacher and students can role play a variety of conversations. Having these opportunities to converse, will not only increase their fluency and skill, but it will boost their confidence and motivate them as well. The kinds of materials used in the classroom can be a source of motivation. Props for the EFL classroom can arouse students? interest and involvement in class activities. For example: Personal Photographs can emotionally involve students in the lesson when they speak and write about something that is important to them. It also gives them the opportunity to speak about something familiar - thus building confidence in their own speaking abilities. Another useful prop are hand puppets. When students are using these in their conversations it becomes "the puppet", and not themselves who speaks allowing them to be less conscious of mistakes and feel more at ease. Besides photos and hand puppets, toys when teaching young students, are excellent props. They can be used for 'Show and Tell', when learning about parts of speech, in a discussion about verbs, in practically any situation toys are going to motivate the students to engage and learn. Motivating the EFL students in the classroom is of outmost importance. Motivation will drive the students to want to learn and the job of the teacher will become much easier. Let's not forget though, that the motivator is the teacher and he/she is the one responsible for this to occur in the class. The extra effort needed to plan a lesson that includes activities and materials needed to motivate students it's well worth it.