ACTFL 2016 is winding down and I have one quick idea to give those conferences lanyards a second life that CHALLENGES (not forces) students to stay in the target language.
Collect conference lanyards and put the title in your TL.
A Chinese teacher in South Korea showed us this idea. When students come in, they can choose to take a “Master of Chinese” sign. I prefer using the lanyards to protect the sign and I can see it better hanging around their neck. This sign indicates that they are going to challenge themselves to stay the target language the entire class.
My ACTFL 2015 lanyard
If they try to get away with just being silent all class, she will make sure that she asks them more questions than the others. If they speak in English, she takes the sign away. If they stay in the language all class, it counts as a homework for them (You can change how it counts in your class). I love that students were choosing to challenge themselves to stay in the language! This is one way you could motivate them to use the language and see that they can do it.
So now is the chance to gather a ton of unwanted lanyards to give them a new purpose!
great idea…I will try it this week…
Let me know how it works and how you tweak it for your class! I’m especially curious what you will set as the “reward” for staying in the target language all class.
I made mine the day after MEA in Helena!
Awesome! How’s it going in class?
It’s actually going well. I stand at the door and hand them out to students who want them. In one class, all but 3 students took one and almost all of them made it through the class! They are getting really good. I love how they get each other to take one. One girl gave a boy a piece of candy for taking one! So cute.
That made me smile! I’d do about anything for candy too. 😉 I’m impressed so many are accepting (and completing) the challenge. What do they “get” if they complete the challenge?
Great idea, I loved your two workshops that I attended! ¡Muchas gracias por todo!
Thanks! We love presenting about those topics. Let us know how you apply any of the ideas to your class!
I am using the challenge with my 3rd and 4th graders and they are doing amazing!
I only have 2 lanyards at the moment and I have lots of volunteers each class so I need to get more:)
Good problem to have, right?
I haven’t used any rewards as candy can be tricky with the little ones;)
Thanks for your great ideas and I love anything Helena Curtain does!
Awesome problem to have! Thanks for sharing how the challenge alone is enough. No reward needed. 🙂