Classroom Encouragement Prizes

[firefly06]

I am on the short list to arrive in August and I had a question about classroom prizes. I have looked through the current JETs board and read that many of you use a hanko system to reward students for their hard work and I was wondering if this would be a good idea. I found these items on Oriental Trading Company:

100 Pc. School "Treasure Chest" Assortment


and

Star Student Roll Tickets


If I got these items and gave out tickets instead of hanko stamps to students and allowed them to trade in a certain number of tickets for a prize out of the treasure chest would that be a good system? It seems like a fairly inexpensive way to reward good work. What kind of prizes do those of you that use a hanko system give out?

[mikan]

This sounds like a nice idea but I would wait until you find out more information about your placement. My base school is a really big JHS and I am only there two days a week, so I don`t see my classes regularly. I when I first arrived, I tried to implement a hanko reward system, but as I would only see a class less than once a month, most of the students lost their cards very quickly. I would also see some classes more than others so it wasn`t really fair as those students had more opportunity to get points. However, I do use a hanko system at my small ES (one class per grade that I teach every week) and it is a big hit. ESID and all that. When you find your pred, ask them if they used a reward system and if not, is it feasible to start one.

The stickers are a good idea though - everybody loves stickers and if you can`t do a hanko system you can give them out as a reward anyway.

[Namisuke]

I would recommend not spending any money on prizes. You can email your local government officials explaining your new job in Japan and ask if they have any pins, stickers, flags, etc. you can get from them. I got a TON of stuff before I left as I emailed everybody on my government's website in my city. It was all FREE!

Another thing students like are pennies. Clean a bunch of them before you come so they are all shiny and nice. I don't know why, but American money is especially greasy and nasty to touch, so it is good to clean off the gunk. You can stuff tons of pennies in your jacket when you come so they don't weigh down your luggage.

I make a lot of my prizes. For example, I make custom stickers and magnets. For the Dragon Quest game I made (in the Teaching Materials Forum), I printed pictures of DQ monsters, glued them on some coloured paper, cut them out, laminated them, cut them out again, and added magnets to the back. Students loved them! They were super cheap to make - free printing at school for the pictures, about 5 yen for a laminating sheet, 100 yen for a sheet of magnets, and 15 yen for a sheet of coloured paper. It just took a bit of time to make them, but I had a TON of them to give. You can add English on them if you like as well in Photoshop if you want to make them personalized.

Random whatever prizes have been meh with my kids. I don't use encouragement stamps as I am not in my classes often enough to make it count (I see each class once every 2-4 weeks). Stuff you can only get in your country or things that have a character on it that they love are the best, and they will likely keep it for a long time. My kids still have stickers on their books and pen cases from games we played over 2 years ago

[OdysseyOfNoises]

Don't spend any money on this stuff until you know what age and what academic level of students you're teaching. If you can get hold of free stuff before this, then that might be worth a shot.

[pnksweater]

While I like the idea of stamp cards, classroom money, and prizes, it’s just not practical for me. I work with around 1,500 kids. I don’t see each class all that often. I still like to motivate my students with bribery though. One thing I do that goes over really well from elementary school to junior high and costs me next to nothing is a quick sketch on students’ work sheets. I do this for winning teams, the first ten students to finish an activity, or students that complete a task perfectly. It’s nothing much, just a little cartoon cat or maybe something seasonal that I can scribble in a few seconds. It doesn’t add up to anything, but they still work hard for them. I give them out frequently, so even though not everyone gets a picture each time, they have a chance to try again and again.

[Eigen]

Be very careful not to be labelled as the ALT with the goodies. You really can't bribe Japanese kids here with prizes. But that being said, a few times a year special days are great! I tend to put together prizes of stickers/candies/etc (REALLY cheap/free things from home) and warn the kids about a prize day...usually with a tiny handout of prep vocab work. I find that they work harder for something that's not regular, non-standard, and with elements of competition.

Giving out tons of stickers just makes it so stickers aren't special anymore and, like any addiction, it's not something you'll be able to easily give up with the students when you find it gets expensive or you run out!

Judge the waters when you get here, I agree with everyone else! Bring SOME things, but don't be daunted in a "who brought the most swag" contest with other JETs.

Also, like Nami, I scored TOOONS of pins and things with the local government back home. <3 It's a great deal and bring some pins to Orientation! It's kind of fun to swap with fellow JETs. I have pins from 19 countries now and memories to go with 'em! *nerd grin*

[positivity]

Also be wary that some schools don't approve of using prizes like that treasure box to incentivize the kids too much. I know in my school, stickers are fine but whenever I have asked about giving bigger prizes (like pens or stationary) for things like essay contests, the JTEs in a roundabout way dissuaded me from doing it. We also have an 'international corner' in my school (just a noticeboard) and I wanted to do a poster about music around the world and have a free raffle type thing to win one of a few CDs I made with various music from around the world but they didn't think it was a good idea to give away free things like that -- their thinking being that the students should want to seek out stuff like that themselves.

I disagree totally with their viewpoints, but be aware that if you are in JHS you don't control your lessons - you are only an assisstant - and so beyond stickers you may not have much leeway for giving away prizes. (your self-introduction is the exception of course, but you only do that for each class once)

[notJiggit]

Seconding the "wait until you find out more about your school advice".

Prizes can be overrated in some situations.

Firstly, if your kids are SHS they might well feel patronised or just not care. Whenever I've given prizes I just get the same kids who always participate participating more enthusiastically and the kids who don't participate just stay asleep.

Secondly, kids get bored easily. If you're offering treats constantly they'll stop caring.

Thirdly, it breaks up the usual classroom mood. Sure that can be good, but they don't do things in return for sweets in regular classes, so why make the ALTs class the one that is clearly not meant to be taken seriously? They should be working because they're in school, not because they're being bribed. Plus stopping to give out stamps or prizes or whatever halfway through a lesson can mess with your flow.

And yeah, what everyone else has said is also true. Generally I think too many JETs are overly willing to dish out swag to the kids. Remember that just because the kids are happy to get stuff doesn't necessarily mean your lessons are better for them. Having said that I think there are situations where it's acceptable - usually I do presents for volunteering for stuff when I have Halloween or Christmas lessons.

[agrilledfish]

I give out small cards on which kids write their names, then chuck in a box. At the end of the semester I hold a lottery where I pull out a few names from the box and give out prizes. Psychologically speaking, the actual value of a token doesn't really matter, kids (especially younger ones) will still fight to get it.

Of course the older JHS kids try to pretend like they don't care at all about the prize system, but they can still get awfully competitive when tokens are at stake.

(If you use a system like this, you might want to make sure kids write their names right away - in one particularly bad class I caught one of the "cool" kids trying to collect other people's tokens.)

[OdysseyOfNoises]

At my SHS, the only prizes I ever give out are for the best class speaker in our yearly speech contest, and in the very last class of the year, where we did a quiz and the winning team got some chocolate I picked up from a foreign food store. We do the hanko points system but that isn't a prize as such, more a continual measure of class participation.

Make it a rare thing. It becomes more special that way. If you make it weekly, your class runs the risk of turning into a circus.

[stinaton]

I do "English Passports" and give out hanko points in them for those who volunteer to answer, present in class, or win a game with my SHS 1st and 2nd years and at the end of the year, I do a lottery and give out small prizes from the places I travel to. I'm not saying you should do the same with the prizes but even small things like postcards, pencils, and candy go over well.

I do find that doing the hanko points does get the kids to volunteer more and be more outgoing since they know they'll be rewarded and want to work hard for it.

I know some say that bribing students isn't a good thing and they should want to learn but I do notice that the kids do volunteer more. You'll learn quickly that Japanese students don't like to stick their necks out and for an ALT coming from an academic culture that encourages volunteering to give answers, it might make you really frustrated that students don't give the answer.

I didn't do hanko points when I got to my school in August since a)I didn't know what my predecessor had been doing and b)I didn't think of it because honestly, I didn't think I would need it. But I asked my teachers if we could try it in the new school year for April and in the end it went over well. When I asked my then 1st years if they wanted to do hanko points as 2nd years, almost all said "YES!"(I think seeing the prizes they could have won influenced their answer )

Definitely make sure it is O.K. with your JTE's first so maybe don't spend too much (or any money) on prizes yet. Like others have said, look to see if you can free things that represent your country or even your area (I have post cards and key chains from my state in America). Also make sure that it is very well planned out and if you do want to give out prizes but you think the students might not take to it, you could always show them what they could win if they get hanko points.

My own opinion is that the "English Passports" with hanko points makes the lessons the students have with me more special. It's something that is used for my class only and it encourages them to work hard if they are the competitive type. I also feel like it gives the lessons with the ALT a bit more importance if the students have to remember to bring their sheet to get hanko points (if my students loose their English Passports, I tell them they'll get a new one but the points start over at zero or if they forget it, then they don't get points for that day) instead of the class just being "filler" or "just for fun". It helps to put my lessons a bit more on par with their other lessons- if you loose a worksheet or forget your homework, there is consequences- so the same is true for my lessons.

[OdysseyOfNoises]

Not sure what the is for! It sounds like your prize system is working.

[teabot]

Not sure what the is for! It sounds like your prize system is working.

it's for bot.

"cooking" is not the user who originally posted that. scroll up to the third post.

[OdysseyOfNoises]

lol whoops