Student Counseling to Develop Interest
Counselling involves talking through their strengths and weaknesses. It is an interactive process in which they are able to say how they feel about their learning, the course, and their teacher.
Why counselling is important
Traditionally, learners take courses, tests are set and marks are given. This is a fairly linear process.
- Counselling allows assessment to become more dynamic and interactive. It also gives learners a sense of ownership over the assessment process.
- By giving learners the chance to open up and talk about the state of their learning, you help avoid sudden unexplained dropouts, who perhaps feel that the course has passed them by. It may highlight strengths and weaknesses in your own teaching, so it is a chance for you to obtain feedback as a teacher as well.
Structure
Counselling is not a matter of simply sitting down and having a chat. Nor is it a therapy session. It’s important to decide in advance what you are going to focus on.
For example, perhaps you are working with a group of busy, upper-intermediate level executives, who are doing the course because they have been told to, rather than because they want to. They have other things on their mind and motivation is low.
In a situation like this, test performance might be quite poor if they have not spent much time revising. So you might decide to focus on the following in your counselling:
- Where they were at the beginning of the course versus where they feel they are now
- The barriers they feel exist in their learning and how to overcome them
- Their goals for the future and how they hope to achieve them in manageable, discrete steps.
At Easy English we can help your student, by a free online counseling session (or in home).