This episode’s vocabulary
Flexibility
noun — the ability to adapt to different situations. → Online teaching gives students more flexibility.
Access
noun — the right or opportunity to use or benefit from something. → Students now have access to teachers worldwide.
Engage
verb — to attract and keep someone’s interest. → Teachers try to engage students with interactive materials.
Peer pressure
noun — influence from members of one’s peer group. → Teenagers often make choices because of peer pressure.
Influence
noun — the power to affect someone’s actions or thoughts. → Parents have a strong influence on their children.
Role model
noun — a person looked up to as an example to follow. → Many athletes are role models for young people.
Negativity bias
noun — the tendency to focus more on negative information. → The news often plays on our negativity bias.
Impending
adjective — about to happen soon, usually something bad. → People are worried about the impending storm.
Disaster
noun — a sudden event causing great damage or loss. → Earthquakes and floods are natural disasters.
Donation
noun — something (often money) given to help a cause. → The charity received large donations after the flood.
Virtue
noun — moral goodness or quality. → Patience is considered a great virtue.
Collapse
verb — to fall down or fail suddenly. → His argument collapsed under close scrutiny.
Scrutiny
noun — careful and critical examination. → The company’s finances are under public scrutiny.
Worship
verb — to show great respect or admiration for someone or something. → Some fans almost worship famous singers.
Appropriate
adjective — suitable or proper in the circumstances. → Teachers must use appropriate examples in class.
Motivation
noun — the reason why someone acts or behaves in a certain way. → Praise from teachers can boost students’ motivation.
Dedication
noun — the quality of being committed to a task. → Her dedication to her studies paid off in the exams.
Charisma
noun — a special charm or power that inspires others. → Leaders with charisma often influence people easily.
Resilience
noun — the ability to recover quickly from difficulties. → Children need resilience to cope with challenges.
Mentor
noun — an experienced and trusted adviser. → A mentor can guide young people in their careers.
Questions and answers
How can online teaching motivate students to learn? Well, it certainly opens up a ton of avenues in terms of resources and flexibility, maybe access. Teachers can use a load of different materials to engage students as opposed to just one textbook, which is what they tend to use in a physical classroom. And the students can access more teachers, so they don't have to put up with what might be drier approaches in their own countries. Assuming they get the right person, that could be very encouraging.
Besides parents and teachers, who else can motivate children? I suppose their peers are the next most significant influence, since we always hear about this concept of peer pressure, which can make kids do all kinds of activities, not always the ones in their best interests. Other than that, maybe role models? Though I'm not so sure about that. Maybe the influence is more indirect there.
What kind of international news inspires people? Oh, wow, I wish I could say it was more positive press, but people have this inbuilt negativity bias, which means it's probably the news of impending doom and gloom, which makes them more likely to take action in protest of something or to prevent something from happening. For example, all the news about various natural disasters always seems to inspire a flood of charity donations.
Who can influence children more, teachers or parents? Well, as a teacher, I would love to say it's people in my profession, but it's probably parents, just by virtue of the sheer volume of time their kids spend in their presence. You might get eight hours a day in school, but the rest is 16 hours in a home built and maintained by your folks. So there's not really any competition there. It's definitely the parents.
Why should children learn from role models? Oh, God, I'm not sure they should, really. These abstract models of perfection and ideal behaviour very swiftly collapse under even minor scrutiny. But I can see why people think we should. Having an ideal to strive towards could be seen as inspiring, even if their lives and what took them to such heights don't really exist in the lives of the people who worship them.
What qualities make someone a role model? Well, whatever is seen as a culturally appropriate model of success. In the West, that's largely people who are seen as wealthy or intelligent, or maybe talented, in the mainstream. And people who work hard, whatever that is supposed to mean or look like. I'm not a big fan of role models as a concept, really, to be honest with you.