Describing Learners

 HIYA! 👊

This is the last entry of the second register, time sure flies by! 

This last topic really caught my attention because I feel it is something basic but sometimes missed. Some teacher just go to school to do their job because they have to, on the other hand, there are teachers that love what they do and are really passionate when doing so. I have noticed that teachers who do make an effort to accomplish their job and do it with all their heart have a good relationship with their students, and this is known as rapport, as we saw in class. 

However, it is not only a matter of being passionate or establishing a good teacher-students relationship, but the teachers must also know their students. How would teachers describe their students? First of all, these are the aspects to take into consideration: 

• Age
• Learner differences
• Language levels
• Their motivation
• Background

Not everyone learns in the same way, so it is important to recognize these aspects in students. A child cannot learn in the same way or about the same subjects as an adolescent. Children learn indirectly; they learn by what they see, hear and touch. They have a limited attention span, so they start losing interest after ten minutes or so. Then they start interrupting class saying their bored or they start telling the teacher something that happened to them. They are keen to talk about themselves. I used to teach Sunday school and I assure you this is true. In the middle of class, kids would raise their hands to talk and I thought they had questions or wanted to go to the bathroom, but they were actually talking to me about what happened to them at school or whatever comes to their minds, literally whatever. 

Adolescents are a whole different matter. Their attention span is longer but they are usually committed and passionate only when they like what they are being taught. In contrast with children, they don't seek approval from the teacher but from their peers; adolescents are in search of identity. They are not talkative; they are keen to talk about their experiences when they feel comfortable. 

Now, adults are a totally different category. They're more serious with their learning. Adults are disciplined, they have a expectations about their learning process and not to mention their range of life experiences.

Thus, we can see that we don't all learn in the same way. Besides age, learner differences must be taken into account. This is where multiple intelligences and different learning styles come in. Teachers must assess student's abilities, skills, learning styles in order to make the best choice on how to carry out their class. In addition, teachers must also know the language levels their students have as well as their motivations. Some students may find it more difficult to learn because they are not at the same level as others, and some may do better than others academically because they don't have the same motivations for learning.

Teachers must adapt to the needs of their students so that they can learn in the best way. Everyonelearns if both teachers and students strive to do their best! 💪