Bean Jars

Materials: two jars or containers for each class participating, one filled with small beans or dried corn

Description: So, my counterpart and I were tired of the kids saying simple things in Bulgarian that they certainly knew the English for (like, “Can I go to the bathroom?”, which I think is the first phrase everybody learns!) and so we decided to create “English-Only Days.” The bean jars are a way to monitor the Bulgarian usage, and also as a way for classes to compete against each other.

It’s very simple. The jar full of beans is marked “English” and the empty jar is marked “Bulgarian.” On a day when the jars are in class (we don’t do it everyday, because some grammar discussions require a lot of Bulgarian explaining), if someone says something in Bulgarian, we remove one bean from the English jar and put it in the Bulgarian one. It doesn’t matter if the Bulgarian comment was to us or a friend in the class – if we hear Bulgarian, they lose a bean. It’s a lot quieter in the classroom on English-Only Days!

Sometimes, if a class is really struggling and losing a lot of beans, we give them a chance to earn some back (like, one bean for every “6″ on a test). At the end of each semester, we count the beans for each class, and the lowest number of beans wins. The prize is a game day, where we play games or watch a short movie instead of doing work. Then we start from scratch again at the beginning of the next semester.

If you have a more advanced class, you can pull the bean jars out more often. For intermediate classes, we have one or two days a week with the jars. This is not only a good English tool, but it also helps with discipline, because if you hear talking you can take away a bean, and the other kids get really mad at the talker. The even chew them out in English, so as not to lose any more beans!

PS. You will get a lot of weird looks from your collegues as you carry bean jars to and from class. (Don’t leave them in the classrooms, or kids are tempted to cheat!)

-Abeth S.