Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Bobster]

Here's what I did at my last school, after witnessing another teacher do it at the one just previous.

Printed up some pieces of paper of my own (poor) design, labeled them "Genius Money" and used them as an all-purpose reward tool. Perfect spelling test, 1 Genius Dollar, homework finished on time with no mistakes, 2 Genius Dollars (late homework or mistakes, 1 Dollar), and I'd sometimes just hand them out randomly to people who answer a question in class, especially in those classes where the kids just sit there. If the whole class had a perfect test or all did their homework I handed out a double bonus.

I also demanded that they give one back to me for speaking Korean in class, or for other egregious behavior. If they tried to call it "Chunjae Money" I asked them to give me one, haha ...

About once a month I went to the store and used a very little bit of my drinking money to buy small presents, and then I'd later sell them to the kids with the Genius Money. I never spent more than 15 or 20,000 won per month and it was always worth it. Classroom management became a breeze overnight, and kids were suddenly studying - yes, studying - for weekly quizzes, drilling each other in those few minutes before the bell rang and I entered the room, which is something I had never seen before in any of my classes here.

I set the bar pretty high and made sure that even the most concientious kids would need to save up for a couple of weeks to buy even something as small as a Harry Potter ballpoint pen. (My cost, 500 won - their price, 25 Genius Dollars.)

I became the most popular teacher in the school, and kids were requesting to come into my class, despite the fact that I was far more strict than other teachers and seldom allowed card games and such. One night I was having some beer with my supervisor in the evening, and some parents came over and introduced themselves and thanked me for making their daughter suddently get interested in learning English.

Like I said, well worth the money.

Love to hear some other ideas cuz this system isn't quite practical in the school I'm at now ...

[kangnamdragon]

That's a great idea!! What happens if a kid misbehaves in class and has no dollars left?

[globalfish]

Great idea!

Might steal it.

Thanks

Globalfish

[kimcheeking]

A perfect example of why rewards work and punishments don't. Great idea... if I ever teach kids again (please kill me first) I would do something like that.

[The Bobster]

Yeah, sometimes the incorrigible ones go broke really fast. I used to open up my attendance book in front of everyone and say, "David ... minus 1."

What worked best was the bonus dollars when the whole class was doing well. If there's one kid who's consistently the only one with no homework, the others got on his case for me. Hey, why should I be the only one stressing out over a troublemaker?

[Scott in HK]

I have done the same thing...one twist you can add is to have an auction for the toys/gifts with the students bidding (in English) for the ones they want....

[IconsFanatic]

Wow, great ideas.

I think I'll now employ the onomaetapia for "stealing", as on The Simpsons:

YOINK!

[The Bobster]

If more than one teacher at a school is doing this, they'd better all get together on it and not be competing with each other or else the kids win and you need to pass out more and more stickers or coupons or whatever just to keep them happy.

The goal is not just to make them happy, but rather to make them happy WHILE they learn something.

Had some counterfeiting going on, also. I mean, I just used the office photocopier to make these things, and some kids must have figured out that you can make copies of copies ... got a little stamp pad and had to sit and stamp each one of the suckers in blue ink with a certain little design with the kids would find it hard to duplicate. Got to be a hassle - I liek the suggestion of play money from back in the States : it would be hard for them to get hold of over here.

[mack the knife]

at our school we tried "red cards" and "yellow cards" which were handed out like football penalties. yellow cards for repeatedly speaking korean or talking durning class, and red cards for fighting or other more serious behavior. the kids had to take the cards home to get them signed (korean teachers would write on the card what the kid did wrong). it never really worked because the korean teachers were too hesitant to give them out...and perhaps a few foreign teachers were over zealous...but i liked the idea and the kids can relate to it...

i always divide my classes into 2 teams. teams score points based on homework turned in, test results, games played in class, behavior, etc...the team with the most points at the end of each class gets candy or some other small prize.

as for discipline issues...i put the real trouble makers out of the classroom (they sit in a chair for 5 minutes of "time-out"...this "time out" is as much for me as it is for them!!) if you let them remain in the room they simply distract the other kids...

[william beckerson]

Stickers! They dont even have to be good stickers either.

When I remembered to do it, I would list the kids names down on the board. They get a point for working, they lose a point for being a turd. (Turd being an arbatrary judgement) The kid with the most points got the sticker.

I think they like to rub each other's faces in it.