How we're solving motivation problem
The exact step-by-step process
I’ve noticed something exciting.
For the past couple months or so, any student I work with directly has been consistent with their self-study. They no longer struggle with motivation. They are diligent and spend 30+ min a day on language learning.
Results are similar with tutors who work for me.
When I look at students who work with CLN tutors, most of them are consistent…but it’s not across the board. Some students are inconsistent.
This shows me that I have not done a good enough job on training. Therefore, today I sat down and documented exactly what I have been doing with students that seems to be keeping them motivated.
Let’s dive in.
Step 1: Agree on a daily study goals.
I say something like this: Here is how long it takes to level up based on the amount you study per day. How much do you want to study per day based on this table?
Here’s the table that I show them.
Step 2: Track study hours daily
Students do this in a Google Sheet I created.
Step 3: Review actual amount studied
We do this every week in class. Did they study as much as they planned on studying? If yes, I say cool, good job!
If not, I provide coaching by using these steps:
Step 3a: I ask oh, what happened? I tilt my head sideways to indicate curiosity and take on a curious tone of voice (slightly high-pitched). I also raise my eyebrows and lean back a little bit to physically show mild surprise and curiosity.
I know it sounds ridiculous to explain my body language and tone of voice, but I’ve learned the hard way that when I’m not careful with my body language and tone of voice I can come across as rather blunt, when my intent is to be warm and helpful.
Step 3b: I let the student share their reason. I then repeat their reason back to them. Oh ok! So basically it sounds like you didn’t do the homework because ______. Is that right? I use a lower-pitch tone of voice that is more assertive. If the student agrees, I transition to step 3c by saying ok, that makes sense! If they do not, I repeat step 3a and 3b again.
Step 3c: After saying ok, ‘ that makes sense!’ I set a study goal that is about 50% higher than what they did last week to gradually build up toward their daily study goal in step 1. Let’s set a goal that’s a little bit higher than last week. Last week you did _______ (e.g., 15 min a day). This week let’s do _____(e.g., two days of 30 min a day and the rest can be 15). How does that sound? I use a lower-pitch tone of voice to demonstrate assertiveness.
Step 4: Set the study goal for the next week.
Unless the student requests otherwise, we are gradually working up toward the number that they said they wanted to study per day prior to starting lessons.
Step 5: Do a monthly study summary.
I tell the student after 4 weeks of class, this month you averaged _____min of study per day. You initially wanted to study _____min per day.
I then redo step 1-5 for the next month.
That’s the gist of it.
I do more than this, but I think those 5 steps are the easiest to replicate for my tutors with some level of basic training. I will be working with tutors on these steps so that we really can deliver on the promise of reliably offering a pathway to fluency for all students who enrol in our lessons.
Excited to keep building!
Thanks for reading! Best of luck with your language learning journey.
Azren
Calgary Language Nerds owner
https://azrenthelanguagenerd.com