Friday, September 10, 2010

Enticement...

First week of school is over, and here is what I have been thinking about the most.
How do you get students to speak French in class?  I have been trying a new tactic for me for a little while now, and that is giving students 'jetons' when they speak French in front of the class.  They must collect a certain number per term and the number they get contributes 10-15% towards their speaking/oral communication mark.  I like the idea that this is a participation mark, but it starts to get annoying when they kids say whatever they need to say in class (like "est-ce que je peux avoir une feuille de papier s'il vous plait") which is immediately followed by "jeton?" and a beatific smile.  I have in the past run the classes without jetons, but it meant a lot more marking and trying to find opportunities to evaluate speaking skills that were more formal, not just on the fly.  Not to mention the counting of jetons and keeping track of them for the younger students in envelopes kept in class. 

How do you get students to speak French in class, particularly those who aren't super keen students?

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