There are many ways an instructor could motivate his/her students, whether by their energy, the learning activities they plan, the visual aids they use, etc. Aside from that, I also believe in trying to spark a sense of motivation within the student themselves, along the lines of that old saying: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" I suppose that by using the methods I first mentioned, an instructor is inspiring self motivation by example, but I think that speaking to students about learning in a general way, pointing out how exciting the acquisition of new knowledge and skills can be, gives the students a desire to pick up that metaphorical fishing rod and take that urge to learn with them into later experiences. That was a run-on sentence and a half, wasn't it...