Oct 30, 2008

A ticket out of here

I am combating the negative undercurrent in my classes in a number of ways these days. One of them is that I have ended class a few minutes early and had students line up at the door. A lot of teachers do a ticket out or a similar concept - turning in your assignment, etc. Well, my ticket out is a smile and a compliment in Spanish. I know it's corny, but I think it falls into that old psych experiment - if you smile long enough you begin to believe you are happy. If you smile often enough is Spanish you begin thinking Spanish is fun, even if the smile is coerced. If you tell me how wonderful my class is often enough, sooner or later you will begin to believe it. (I hope) In the meantime, it is nice to hear how nice my blouse, hair, my clothing are... and how smart and beautiful I am... and how interesting and fun my class is. I know they are just playing the game but it sure beats the, "this is boring" that we can hear from them. :)

Oh, and one student gave me her compliment in Chinese after asking permission in Spanish. I love it! She is practicing outside of Chinese class, and is using her Chinese because she wants to! And she loves my class too. I wonder if she tells her Chinese teacher anything in Spanish?

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