Props and Rewards — Natasha Luise

When interviewing to become a VIPKID teacher, part of what you need to do is show that you can have high energy, use TPR (Total Physical Response), and have the use of props and a student reward system. Props that go along with the lesson, help to increase student interest and engagement, as well as to improve their understanding of the material. The reward systems are there to let the student know that they are doing a good job and are on the right track. There are rewards system is built into every lesson, that teachers are able to use. It is required that teachers use a reward system, but it is not required that we use the one that is already in the lessons. I personally am not a fan of the reward systems that come with the lessons because they require me to print things out, or draw, and I aint got time for that!

What has worked for me in the beginning was to find things that I had around the house, or things that were relatively inexpensive from the store. I had a pack of erasers that were in the shape of donuts so I used that as a reward by saying, "When you do a good job you get a doughnut" and then pretending to eat them, or pretending to feed them to the students. Those were cute for a while, then I went to the party section at Target and they had goodie bag items. One of the packs was a pack of six little toy cars, another pack was six ice cream cone shaped lipglosses. I used the toy cars and say, "When you do a good job you get a car, vroom vroom!" and I would drive the car around. As I started to get more and more students that are regulars who I have taught before, I realized I couldn't just keep giving them the same old crusty ice cream, the same old crusty donuts, and the same old crusty cars so I did a dollar store run and here are some of the goodies that I found.

As you can see there are 15 items here on the table meaning I spent $15 on these things from the dollar store. For props I found giant sunglasses, huge $100 bills, stuffed animals; one of a girl ,one of a shark, one of the monkey. I couldn’t find a monkey anywhere, and the monkey was at the dollar store! A tiny guitar, that thing is cool, it even plays music! I mean it sounds a little clunky but it plays. Bells, like jingle bells, there was a big bag of them at the dollar store because of the holiday season coming up. The bells are fun to play and jingle around when you’re waiting for your classes to start. If you are in the classroom early and so is the student, it can catch their attention and get them ready!

The silver thing in the background, is a metal serving tray so magnets will stick to it! Also if you look at the table, there are packets of stickers. The stickers are really what I will be using for the reward systems. I have some magnetic sheets with adhesive, that can be cut and stuck to the back of the stickers. The stickers can now be reused as magnetic rewards.

The dollar store had a number of really cute packs of stickers googly eyed dogs, googly eyed cats, 3-D stickers that looked like birthday cakes, presents and balloons. The best part is there are quite a few lessons that incorporate some of those same things; dogs, cats, birthdays etc.

With the serving tray idea, you can use anything that’s magnetic to be a reward which saves a lot of space because the stickers or magnets are usually pretty flat and so they can store easily. You won’t have more clutter around your desk area or wherever it is that you teach, and the magnets are easy to stick to the tray, which saves time. When teaching lessons we want to make that sure we’re covering all the content, and it can get a bit difficult to make sure that we’re moving the props and moving the rewards, while also keeping the students engaged and making sure the student can see the rewards! if you can find something to prop up your serving tray on, stick the magnets onto them quick and easy, and you are good to go! I have my serving tray propped up on a small easel that I found at the Target in the dollar spot.

Does it work.......Yes! I actually tried it out this morning, I used jungle animals for a lesson about animal behaviors, and I used googly eyed dogs for a student who loves dogs! It was a hit, and super easy!

What props or rewards are your go tos? Comment below!

Not a teacher yet?

Below is my referral link, if you start an application using my link, it will notify me, and I will reach out to you to help you along your journey to becoming a VIPKID teacher!

https://t.vipkid.com.cn/?refereeId=7138938&refersourceid=a01

*Disclaimer: If you get hired and start teaching, I do get incentive pay for being your referral.

Take care,

-NL