Using Incentives and Rewards to Increase Motivation and Improve Classroom Management
It feels like year after year, it becomes harder to engage and motivate students. We can attribute blame to the year of distance/hybrid learning brought about by the pandemic, or the ubiquity of technology (TikTok, I’m looking at you!) hijacking our students’ dopamine receptors, or changing parenting styles… but regardless of the reason, we know that our students are different these days. So, we as teachers need to be a bit more creative and intentional about how we think about classroom management and student engagement in our World Language classes.
In my classroom, I use rewards and incentives to help spark motivation and excitement within my language learners. I’ve found this to be a low-cost, low-prep, and effective way to get my students excited about whatever class activity we’re working on. In this blog post, I’ll share the class incentives that I use in my classroom, explain how I use them, and offer some tips for motivating even the most reluctant learners!
World Language Class Rewards and Incentives
Need inexpensive, easy-to-use, but highly effective prizes that you can offer to your students to help incentivize them to stay engaged and motivated in your French, Spanish, Italian or English class?
My World Language Class Rewards & Incentives product contains 8 different prize cards you can award to students for winning games, completing assignments, or meeting learning and/or behavior goals! Simply print, laminate (optional), and cut out these prize cards – and you’re ready to go. These are low prep, low cost, and high value. And the best part? You can reuse them throughout the year! Using these prize cards has been an absolute game-changer in terms of keeping my students on-task and excited to learn!
In this product, I've also included an editable document that allows you to customize each of the prize cards in order to best suit your and your students’ needs, as well as detailed suggestions for implementation to give you some great ideas about how to best implement these amazing prize cards in your World Language classes!
Click the image above to grab these World Language Class Incentives on my TpT Shop!
What are the benefits of using incentives?
The benefits of using some sort of reward system in your World Language class are plentiful: rewards can help boost motivation among your students, encourage participation (even among your shyest of learners), create a positive learning environment where students come excited to learn, encourage accountability for active participation, and ultimately build confidence in your students!
How to implement class rewards and prizes
Once you have a stack of prize cards, your options for rewarding students are virtually limitless! Here are some ideas:
Games — Whether digital (Kahoot, Blooket, Gimkit, Quizlet Live, etc.) or manual (board games, dice games, etc.), games are a great way to get students practicing target vocabulary and grammar. Reward winners with a prize card! Let students know that there will be prizes BEFOREHAND to get them to work and focus harder, or surprise them at the end of the game!
Target Language Use — Hand students a reward when you catch them using the target language! Can also be used to incentivize students to stay in the target language during Interpersonal Speaking Activities (Click HERE to read more about how to best implement speaking activities in your World Language class!)
Good Behavior — Some students may struggle with appropriate behavior, and so these incentives can be used to help motivate students to make better choices while they are in your class.
Assessments — Do you have a student who recently did exceptionally well on an assessment? Let them know how proud you are of their progress with a prize card!
Tips for Motivating Reluctant Learners
Here are 7 tips for motivating students who may be reluctant to learn the target language or participate actively in class activities and discussions:
Build trust & respect — Students tend to be more receptive to instruction coming from teachers they know, like, and trust.
Make your content relevant — Students respond well to topics and themes that connect to them and their lives. Try to find ways to make connections between the target language and your students.
Account for various learning styles — Not all students will enjoy reading, so bombarding them with lengthy and complex readings multiple times per week may not be a good idea. Try to appeal to your students' various learning styles and preferences. And if you’re not aware of these preferences, simply ask them!
Create agency by providing choice — One of the easiest ways to build motivation and engagement is by giving students a sense of agency in their learning. This could be super simple and does not require you to make 3 different learning activities from scratch. If you’re trying to get students to practice clothing vocabulary, they could… watch a Youtube video on clothing vocabulary, complete a worksheet, practice using flashcards, listen to a song, read a short text about clothing in the target culture(s)… you get my drift.
Pair and group students — Some students work better with partners, especially partners who hold them accountable for their work. If you don’t do a lot of paired or group tasks, consider incorporating one paired or group assignment into your lesson plans next week and see if it has any difference on your reluctant learners.
Recognize and praise progress — One of the unfortunate habits we fall into as teachers is to note all of our students’ shortcomings and areas of improvement. But how rarely do we stop and point out where our students have excelled? Sometimes, a reluctant learner just needs to be told they’re doing a good job and making steady progress. It can go a long way in transforming their self-concept as a learner.
Celebrate their achievements with…you guessed it! REWARDS! — It’s basic behavioral psychology, really, that we tend to produce more of the behaviors that are rewarded. If students know that they are rewarded for producing high-caliber work, they are much more likely to produce high-caliber work! My World Language Class Incentives are a great and easy way to celebrate your students’ achievements!
I hope this blog post has provided some ideas for how to implement class rewards and incentives in your French, Spanish, and/or Italian classes. Whether you're a seasoned educator looking to refresh your approach or a new teacher seeking strategies to engage today's learners, incorporating rewards and incentives can be a game-changer. By tailoring these tools to your students’ needs and interests, you can foster a classroom environment that’s not only productive but also fun and inspiring.
Remember, the goal isn’t just to hand out prizes but to create moments of joy and connection that make learning memorable. Let’s embrace creativity and intention in our teaching practices, rising to meet our students where they are today. In doing so, we can reignite their passion for learning—and maybe even spark a lifelong love of language!
Happy language teaching,
~ Michael
