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ESL forum > Ask for help > Rewarding primary students in one to one lessons    

Rewarding primary students in one to one lessons



izulia
China

Rewarding primary students in one to one lessons
 
Hello dear teachers,
I would really appreciate your advice.
I give private lessons at home to a 6 year old boy who studies at the international school but he �s already managed to develop hatred towards English, as he is falling behind in his English studies.
He showed his negative attitude at first but he is getting slightly better now and I wonder what is the best way to reward him for those little signs of progress in his behaviour.
In our school students get house points and the younger students would do anything for an extra point. At the end of the week the house points are counted and the winner  would get a Certificate, etc.
What about private lessons? I give him stickers for good written work, but I think if he had a clear understanding how he can be rewarded for good attitude and good work, he would be more motivated. I wouldn �t consider sweets or anything like that. The boy comes from a very rich family and is spoilt terribly. What would you do in such situation?
 Thank you,
Zulia

9 Oct 2010      





ELOJOLIE274
France

what about a "board of achievements"? you can put the things you do together on the board - things like a poster, a drawing, a little text - so that he can be proud of his work, look at it whenever he wants, show it to his family/friends...
to decorate the board at first, you can just put some words like "fantastic", "great", "well done" and a few images like:

and other pictures that symbolises success!
then the goal of each lesson will be to put something on the "board of achievements"!

hope it helps!


9 Oct 2010     



elderberrywine
Germany

Success and improvement in itself should be motivating enough, I think
Normally children are pleased and proud when they make progress, hen they overcome obstacles etc.
If we give children "extras" whenever they behave or work appropriately (just appropriately, not extraordinarily!!) they lose the feeling of having ACHIEVED something and of being proud of their ACHIEVEMENT . A pity really.
My very old-fashioned view...

9 Oct 2010     



cauffeepot
Benin

try a jar of marbles. decide on how many marbles he has to get by the end the week, then every time he does something you deem good, put a marble in the jar. if he achieves his goal, give him a prize.

9 Oct 2010     



pErikita
Argentina

There are several ways of rewarding students, however, you need to be careful on what you congratulate your students on. Rewarding kids only acts for a motivator when the kid feels that he has a chance to earn the reward IF he puts some effort into the task, so if you reward the kid for doing stuff he �s supposed to do all the same, it will work, but only for a short period of time; when the rewarding system gets "old" the kid will not even try to improve. So whenever you reward your student on something, explain the importance of learning  and improvement. Nonetheless, if you set a series of different goals (and prizes), for the kid to achieve, that might be useful, as your student will definitely try to win the award. Also remember that every child is different, so what is motivational for one, it might be useless for another. Try to find goals and prizes that fit your student �s personality, and also things that you know he is going to be able to do.
Anyway, here �s a list of prizes you can offer:
*Free homework night.
*Wear a hat or a paper crown for the rest of the day.
*Earn a red star (young learners ADORE red stars)
*Take a mascot home for the night (it can be a teddy-bear, a fish, whatever)
*Take a special note home.
*Listen to music during class (preferably soft)
*Choose a story for the teacher to read aloud.
*Watch a movie/cartoon in class (of course, in English!)
*Choose a song to learn in class.
*Post achievements in a bulletin board.
*Have tea with the teacher.
*Earn candies.
*Draw a picture.
*Write with coloured pens/pencils during the day.
*Etc.
Well, I hope it helped! Let me know how it worked out!

9 Oct 2010