An imaginative way of using classroom name charts to motivate young learners.

It can be quite a challenge to keep young learners focused and engaged during the English lesson. Even with a carefully-chosen coursebook and a well-planned lesson full of stimulating activities, children’s attention can wander and their willingness to get involved can wither – especially if they have just put their hand up to answer a question yet again but the teacher has called on somebody else yet again!

If only there was a simple way to reward diligent children and encourage active students to keep up their good work without interrupting the flow of the lesson…

Good teachers know how important it is to praise and encourage their students as much as they can. By making children feel good about themselves as language learners –  and as people – we are helping them to become more motivated learners. A warm word of praise and an encouraging smile can work wonders to help children relate positively to the learning situation. This positive attitude will help each time they enter the classroom. But it needs to be sustained. We need something tangible that appeals to each individual learner and which does not fade away.

I’ve been using a simple poster-colouring technique for years. It really gets children inspired to do as well as they can in class and also allows the teacher to keep an informal record of how actively children are getting involved in the lesson.

Here’s how it works. Create a snake poster for display in the classroom. It should be big enough for everyone to see, durable and portable – especially important if you have your lessons in different classrooms and need to carry your things around different rooms in the school. Use A3-size card and punch a couple of holes in it which can be threaded with yarn. You can then hang it anywhere you like in the classroom.

You need to make one snake for each child in the group. So if there are fifteen kids in the class you need to draw fifteen snakes on the poster. Draw a long snake for each child, complete with triangular body sections. The more sections you have, the longer the poster will last. I normally have about 30 sections per snake. Make sure that you write the name of a different child next to each one of the snakes. And that’s it – the poster is ready to make its appearance in class.

Take the poster to your next lesson and show it to the children. They will be intrigued – especially when they see their own names. Tell them that the snakes would look much better if they had some colour. Explain that the kids will have the chance to make their own snake more colourful bit by bit. Tell them that whenever you want to reward someone for good work in class, you will say “come and colour!” and that person takes a colour pencil, comes out to the front of the class, colours in a segment of their own snail’s tail, and then goes and sits back down. You carry on teaching.

So when exactly do the kids come and colour? It’s up to you. You can reward anything you like, you might even decide together with the class what kinds of things you are hoping to see from them. Be generous and imaginative. Keep an eye open for small things that you can praise: neatly written homework, a correct answer, beautiful singing, great chanting, patient waiting, playing by the rules, helpful behaviour – anything you want to single out for praise.

Use it to highlight the kinds of values you want to promote in the class by inviting children who do something fair, honest, helpful or kind to come and colour. You can tailor it to your students’ needs, for example by rewarding the more timid kids whenever they get actively involved. In the same way, saying “well done – come and colour!” to a child with discipline problems who has just behaved really well during a lesson is a simple yet meaningful way of signalling to that child that you have noticed their effort – and value it.

The best thing about this technique is that it does not slow the lesson down. You just shout out the names of the kids who get to come and colour and continue as before. They won’t need telling twice! Kids love coming up to the front, and really look forward to getting the chance to colour in another segment. They can come up in pairs or threes if several of them deserve praise for something, and there’s no reason why the same child should not have the chance to “come and colour” more than once in a lesson. You can make it as frequent or as infrequent as you think is appropriate.

Establish this as a routine. Continue it from lesson to lesson, always carrying the poster with you to class. You and the children can monitor the growth of the colour tails. It’s a great way to motivate them further – and also provides you with an ongoing tool of informally recording levels of effort and activation.

Much better to have a snake in the class than a snake in the grass! 🙂