 Strategies to build confidence in students. When teaching students most of the time, we mainly focus on just teaching them the language and having them pass some tests, and that is how we measure if they have learned well or not. In reality it is a bit different though. Knowing how to read, speak, or write, a language does not necessarily translate to the student excelling in the language. There is another often ignored factor called confidence. Confidence is necessary for success in many parts of life and it is no different when learning. One of the greatest gifts we can give our students, is to instill in them a strong sense of confidence. In doing this we enable them to be higher achievers. Why is confidence important? Confidence breeds success. If students believe they can succeed, they will succeed. As teachers it is our duty to instill confidence in our students, as we teach and interact with them every day. Besides helping them to be able to express themselves more clearly, having confidence helps the students to learn faster, and gain the fluency they need. If a student does not have confidence, they will usually make excuses like it's too hard or I can't. These sorts of excuses stem from a lack of confidence, and they can be very debilitating and detrimental to a student's learning process. Having said that there are a couple of things that teachers can do, in order to help their students be more confident in themselves. 1. Mistakes are not bad. Accept mistakes with grace, a teacher who belittles or humiliates her students when they make mistakes, is destroying their self-confidence. It's crucial that you model to your students that making errors, is a normal part of the learning process and nothing to be ashamed of. Accept your students mistakes with grace. Just take them in stride as a natural part of learning. Never tolerate a student snickering or laughing when a classmate makes a flub. Talk to the student after class, and make sure he or she understands why this is unacceptable, and not the culture of your classroom. 2. Saying good things is great. Praise and encourage your students, when your students do a good job, or you catch them doing something positive, let them know. Replace general words of praise and encouragement, such as good job or great work with specific words of affirmation. Teacher students how to do and figure out things by themselves, a big part of learning is being able to be self-sufficient, and having the confidence to be able to solve problems by yourself. As a teacher you should be able to teach your students to correct their own mistakes, when they make them. This will help them greatly when they actually solve the problems alone. 3. Use visual aids. Use visuals-visuals like flashcards, posters, or graphic materials provides a different learning experience for the students. If a student has some visual material to see when they learn something, they are more likely to remember that and this will help with their confidence. Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today. Although I have only mentioned a few methods that a teacher can use to boost their students' confidence, but there are countless ways in which to achieve this. The teacher will just have to use what's at their disposal, in order to get the best out of their students. you