Day 404: The Borg

I instituted a new policy in the Parrots classroom today (well, besides no Hopping Games in gym class after Veggie Curry days at school) and I'm hoping this one sticks. The speaking of Korean has been running rampant in the classroom since the beginning of the school year and I've been feeling helpless in stopping it. You tell one kid "No Speaking Korean!" and turn around to hear another half dozen of them engaged in a conversation in Hangeul. It's like this all day and it feels like trying to stop the tide coming in with a pail and shovel. You have no idea how frustrating this feels! POLY is an "English-only" school and this is a very serious rule. And it's up to us teachers to break this in right from the start with the Preschoolers. No leniancy allowed.

Well this new policy of mine involves writing all the kids' names up on the board and whenever one of them speaks Korean they get a 'tick' put under their name. If they get up to three they don't get a sticker that day (a big deal) and for every time after that they actually get a sticker *removed* from their precious sticker chart. You can't imagine how traumatizing it is for them to lose a sticker! Also, to couple that with some positive reinforcement, all kids who don't have any ticks under their name actually get two stickers that day. Wow!

Well in just two days of this it made an immediate effect. The speaking of Korean came to a screeching halt. On Day 1 of this only two kids got up to three ticks, and on Day 2 not one of them did. I had such a quiet peaceful classroom it was so wonderful! Not only are they speaking English more now, but they're even policing each other on it. It's been great!

As successful as it's been so far I'm not breaking out the champagne quite yet. Ask me in a few weeks and we'll see then. You see, Korean children are like The Borg. Often you'll introduce a new rule or policy or means of enforcement and it'll totally be effective at first, but then it's like they adapt and assimilate your new rule and eventually become immune to it. They just stop caring about that particular rule and could really just give a shit about something that used to be so successful. You try again with more incentives and punishments and yet they keep on adapting and assimilating. Resistance is futile?

I'm determined to keep my kids from getting immune to this new policy. It's too important and I'm tackling it head on as a personal challenge. I'm not gonna let The Collective Hive beat me out this time! ;-)