📘 Part 3: Inspiration and motivation

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

Maria: 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.

Maria: 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.

Maria: 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.

Maria: 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.

Maria: 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.

Maria: 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.