The Sticker System Is Over

It was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, students have figured out ways around my system to get prizes and I just don’t feel like dealing with it anymore. I feel like it might have gone on longer with elementary school kiddies but my middle schoolers are just too clever.

I’ll be happy to give out cool prizes during review games…later this semester. Besides, this year lessons are about 100% from the textbook whereas before it was about 50%. That means I have to get super serious about getting through the book’s activities and making sure students can pass their exams at the end of the term. So instead of stickers…they get wonderful, delightful knowledge! And vocabulary and a sense of self worth! /sarcasm

But really I’m happy to be working with the text books because then I can manipulate them in my favor to get students’ attention. Like this:

The original was "I'm fine, thanks". My students are way too advanced for that boring answer. Thanks to some MS Paint Know How, textbook comics can be a little stranger and more fun.

I suppose context would help you understand this dialogue but I'll let your imagination run wild on it instead. HEY I'M WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE!

I see the same old jobs over and over but I know that deep in their hearts, all my students really want to be Sailor Moon.

What makes me particularly happy is being able to inspire students to deface their own books to make silly comics without any push on my end.  And no, I’m not teaching the book word for word but I am teaching my students to expect the unexpected which is a pretty valuable skill in the world of foreign language.