Teaching in Japan - - Stickers - YES or NO

[farfromhome1132]

Do you have any advice on what I should major in and what college I should go to become an English teacher in Japan?

[myargonauts]

@farfromhome1132 to become a JET ALT, it doesn't matter what your major is - as long as you graduate. Of course, taking some Japanese language and/or culture/politics/lit/history classes too doesn't hurt. Also, college doesn't matter, as long as it's a 4-year university and not a Jr college.

[skp1970]

Giving stickers has been a key part of my (90% solo) English lessons to ES and JHS here in Chiba for the past two and a half years. A JHS JTE I work with changed her style and started giving stickers after seeing the rewards it can bring (or after being harassed by her students). You have inspired me to get cooler stickers. I'm punching out 25 lessons per week, which is a real headache, but it's honing my teaching skills. I'm expecting to reach personal satisfaction after about 3 yrs.

[PinkGloom]

Thanks for the super helpful videos!

[myargonauts]

@PinkGloom glad you're finding them useful :)

[superscheu]

Absolutely agree with sticker giving. I use them in jhs. The kids get a sticker sheet at the beginning of the school year, if they collect enough stickers they can pick out a prize. Prizes are bookmark sized laminated prints I make in photoshop of manga characters. Works like a charm even with the older kids.

[superscheu]

@superscheu oh, and I do use just the 100円 sheets of the fish, stars, insects, and sports. 144 stickers for a dollar is as far as i'll go.

[myargonauts]

@superscheu bookmark idea is a good one - anytime you can tailor something to your kids' interests, it'll be a hit

[AussiePocky]

Great job with your videos!.

I'm also a teacher here in Japan. I do agree to giving kids stickers as rewards. Like you, the only draw back I have had is when they come to me at the beginning of class begging me for a sticker...its become like a habit. However, all my kids know that I will only give them a sticker IF they have done their homework (usually I give 2 for completed homework). If they havent done it then I will give them only one after class. Sometimes I give them during games too.

[myargonauts]

@AussiePocky it will be interesting to see if my new univeristy students will like stickers.... kidding...

[AutomHatter]

This has to be my favorite video of yours so far! It has such awesome ideas in it, and great information. I'm so glad you made this video. :):):):):) Thank you Jason!

[fightingirishaholic]

omg if i was that small in japan as a shogakusei and u were my teacher i'd be scared lol

[jessemacrocks]

I LOVE stickers. While you're looking for American stickers, I'm looking for Japanese  stickers. I can't seem to find them ANYWHERE!

[hanqho]

so some teachers don't like it when you give out chocolate? here in canada we have these chocolate coins wrappedi n foil, made to look like our money. i hope the kids will like that. also, are pins lame at all? i have a ton of free canada pins from my government office

[myargonauts]

yeah - chocolate in class is a pretty big No in my schools. If you see the kids at a sports event, or somewhere more casual then it would be ok.

Pins would work well - like pins of the Canada flag? I think they kids would like them.

[BlanFan2O]

stickers are a great idea especially ones from the US or thing they can't normally get! these are great for me because I want to be a teacher, not just in japan but also of course in the us.

[IBelieveInFae]

When my daughter went to school the reward was often candy and she's allergic to most it. It'd just crush my daughter to have to refuse the treat, and to be left out when all the other kids had candy.

So, from the point of view of this Mom the stickers and pencils are golden!

[poopdood321]

what about iron on patches for their backpacks?

that batman sticker at 6:25 kinda looked like a patch. so yea.. thats sorta what gave me the idea but yea just a thought :]

[MTassarion]

I'm not a language teacher/assistant or anything. But i just wanted to add that it's really cool to actually get something when you do something.

I can totally imagine that if a teacher of mine would've given me stickers at a young age for accomplishing something, I'd stick them all together and could show them off to my classmates :P like having rows of star stickers or something. For a kid that could be awesome.

[PurgatoriX]

I also use stickers as random rewards, but I have 2 'groups', you might say - simple stickers, like stars or smilies, I use for my Elementary students, while my 'cooler' stickers with Cool English (tm) on them go to my Jr. HIgh kids. I don't always announce that there will be stickers, but when I do I limit the amount. So the first 5 to win whatever game we're doing will get the reward, or something similar. This way the kids get immediately competitive & put their most into the lesson. I hope!

[o0HoneyBee0o]

I think it's totally fine to give stickers to the kids. I understand though the point of "Well isn't learning the greatest reward?". But I mean, honestly, I'm still a kid and I don't find learning as cool as stickers xD. Great idea with the pencils too, some high school kids came to our school to talk about the foreign languages you can take at the local high school. And at the end they gave us pencils, definitely when you're my age pencils are a great thing to have at school.

[voggvogg]

I agree, Jason, especially if the stickers have English on them. Stickers make activities a bit more fun and also can encourage participation, which in turn encourages shy students to get involved. Also, individual stickers have almost no monetary value; the teachers (in my experience) don't mind. I actually think SOME of the 100 Yen shop stickers are just fine and my kids like them. American baseball cards bought in bulk at flea markets, etc., also make good prizes.

[seklarwia]

Sure, a few understand that studying now will get them places in the future, but most will require some other form of motivation. If you can do this through stickers, then you should do so. My JH kids love stickers, stamps and signatures. They have charts with a 100 spaces. If they fill each space with a sticker, stamp or signature they get a certificate. Its crazy how many chase me down during breaks, lunch or after school to present the latest dialog, etc in hopes of getting one more stamp.

[RiceKing623]

i think that you should when i was a kid lots of kids did better when they had stickers but dont give it to them for every little thing because it will just make them think that do a little thing and get a sticker do it every day and be good in school and will be rewarded

[HelloKTanna]

its not really an award...its MOTIVATION!! my elementary teacher gave me stickers, too =)

[jessman1999]

I understand the pov that education is its own reward, but tell that to a 6yr old. For your students you should have them create a sticker book. They can earn points based during your lesson, and then purchase stickers with those points. It is motivation and teaching them the value of things. In this case stickers. This can even be done from year to year. By the time they are done learning from you they can reflect on the past years learning under you. A good memento for the student.

[jessman1999]

Not only a memento but also a good motivator for students to do better in class, and they would be able to compete against their friends to see who can collect the most stickers. There is a great site you should check out. I will try to provide you with the link.

Medibadge dotcom

I attend college and also work as a phlebotomist, kids go crazy for our stickers when they come. B/c of how well they respond to stickers I planto give them to out when I start teaching.

Enjoy!

[myargonauts]

thanks for the info

[winDragon79]

reasonable view. stickers are incentive to do more/better. I know if i had an incentive in high school it would've been more enjoyable(not to say i didn't do well lol).

[wickednellie]

I think stickers are a perfectly reasonable reward for lessons. Like you mentioned, some of these kids are fairly young and stickers are a fun reward. I have a vague recollection of getting stickers, pencils, etc. in elementary school from teachers. Heck, I still have my sticker books from when collecting them was a major trend (at least at my school). I'm 23 and I still like stickers :)

Anyway it's not terribly different from here where teachers put gold stars or whatever on test papers.

[YourGo2Gal]

When are you leaving the JET program?

What do you plan to do after JET?

[myargonauts]

my job with JET finishes July 25th

[BandaiRae]

When you give out the stickers do you peel them off and give them to the students, cut them out so they can peel them themselves, or ,as I saw for some, give them individual stickers that they can peel later?

[myargonauts]

If they're on a larger sheet - I peel them off and stick them on the kids hand and they can put it anywhere they like - on their notebooks, in the lid of their pencase, etc. Some kids show me stickers on their cases that I gave them 3 or 4 years ago.

I often give out peel-yourself stickers since the kids can just put them in their pocket and deal with them later and they're less distracting in class.

[42317]

Prizes are okay as a motivation I guess... I've lost interest in stickers since I was 10yo, their purpose escapes me. But of course I can't speak for others.

The only reason I have to collect such things is to put them in a box, saving its brand-new look, and see how much somebody is willing to pay for it after 20 years. I have a drawer full of such potential collectibles, and some items like film posters already are 15 years old. Or Batman collector cards, sealed: 13 years.

I have time.

[pipster06]

From a personal view i think stickers are a great reward and i think at a young age there should be more than just having learnt something as a reward. i used to be a very naughty kid at home when i was younger and i'd be rewarded stickers for being good! this was just at home. and it was nice when i got a row i'd get 1 of those small trolls if i had like 10 stickers or if i'd been good for 2 weeks. I think little incentives like that are very effective and parents should not feel offended.

[bordolmer]

Hmmm, do u currently have a video on Gestures? That quick blurp there perc'd my interest. If u currently don't have one I'm sure we'd love to see one.

-- Always enjoy the new post

[myargonauts]

I'm gonna do a response vid soon to ThatJapaneseGirl on counting gestures - on my TaishaJason channel

[l1k3f1r3]

Whatever gets them learning and interested. You could have someone for instance who goes usually isn't engaged but then decides they want to win some stickers and ends up learning some stuff.. its a lot easier to keep going than to get started. Sometimes you loose interest, don't get any motivation then get behind and its hard to care again just for the sake of knowing.

Never heard of batman? What?! :0

Thats definitely interesting, would have figured that he was everywhere.

[2yossie]

I'm not a kid, but I want Sponge Bob stickers ^-^; !

[myargonauts]

ok - but you have to beat me in janken first... :)

[tonieboo0013]

I didn't expect you to swear lol. The Sticker System does sound pretty good. I mean, when I was learning french during Elementary school+, we didn't get any reward for knowing something and it always ended up being a boring class. Making it fun would seem like the reasonable thing to do when trying to get your kids involved.

I have a question, though. I plan on going to Japan to teach English in a few years (still in high school). What are they looking for? I mean with Uni Degrees and such?

[tonieboo0013]

Okay, limited Characters lol. I was referring to the JET Program towards ALT's. I read that ALT's are extras in the classroom who help with grammar and such, and try to encourage the kids to speak English. But, you sound like you're a main English teacher.

I'm wondering if I'd need to do any certain courses/degrees. I know I'm doing either a Major or Minor in Linguistics, I hope to be near fluent in Japanese when the time comes, but I don't know what else is expected of me. Any advice?

[myargonauts]

to be a JET your college degree can be in any field.

I am an assistant, but I've been here long enough that some teachers allow me to run the class, while others just use me as needed.

Obviously, taking classes to learn Japanese would be really good! :)

[42317]

As for what they look for: watch his JET series... answers all the most important questions.

Very short answer: You need a four-year degree.

[DeeDoubleYou81]

I have been collecting stickers and little cool toys from the quarter machines in some restaurants here in the States. I still don't know what grade level I'll be teaching so I'm not sure if I'll get to use them all (most would be geared towards elem or junior high).

[angel21d]

I think stickers and small presents can be good if it is not overdone. I am not sure it's a good thing if the kids come up to you in the hallway and ask for stickers, though.

[hartomon]

? in my school for spanish class my teacher had a watch a movie all in spanish, i was in 8th grade then,..do you think it would be a good idea to use an english movie (thats decent and not bad and stuff) as a lesson for kids in highschool or something?

[sheerblade]

"It's not fair to give stickers to only the winning team"

Sounds a bit like coddling doesn't it? If that's the case the losers at the Christmas Bowl, Koshien, and the Inter High/National Tournaments should get trophies too.

[42317]

Doesn't second place imply some sort of prize, too?

[sheerblade]

"It's not fair that you only give stickers to the winning team"

Do they know their teams don't get a trophy for coming in second place at Koshien, or Inter High/National Tournament, or the Christmas Bowl?

[Zojo87]

I think stickers and little gifts are a good idea. I've already started stocking up on stickers and tidbits from London.

In primary school, we had stcker/stamp charts and for every 10 stickers/stamps, we'd get a prize. I'd probably adopt a method like that and give out stickers or gifts randomly so that it's always a suprise when the students get them.

Looking forward to future teaching vlogs (^-^)/

[Fourthworth]

I think stickers are wonderful, but ummm I don't think giving tattoos in Japan is a good thing to do, you know. You might get in touble if the PTA find out.

[myargonauts]

haha - the temporary tattoos are for other adult ALTs to use at the English camp I have coming up - something to make us all look TUFF! :)

[MessagesFromEarth]

"I believe that's bullshit"

LOL

That was the coolest thing I've heard all day. And I completely agree. If I want a my ni-nensei students to volunteer to read their work to the class at the end of class chances are not many students are going to raise their hands. But if I flash a Spiderman, Superman, or Mario sticker I get more volunteers than I need. It's definitely a good thing. This was one of the best pieces of advice you gave us last year before we came to Japan

[mastervisaaa]

" KOOL " seal ... lol =D

[yochekeracho]

Do you find that students are not as motivated when you don't have prizes to give them? I try to motivate them enough to do things without a prize, because I assume there would be a drop in enthusiasm if they are playing a game when they know they wont receive a prize.

[myargonauts]

I don't give stickers in every class, and I don't do it as much at Jr High as I do at elementary. I usually don't announce that the winning team will get something - I just give it out at the end of the game or at the end of the class. One of the biggest ways I use them, since I always have some in my pocket - is when kids come up in the halls and ask for a sticker, I make them ask me a question in English or answer a question from me. It works.

[robinsao]

You're a genius Jason-san. Although I'm curious as to what the school system thinks about giving away fake tattoos since real tattoos can be such a controversial issue in Japan.

[myargonauts]

the tattoos are for a special English camp - not my regular classes.

[TokyoBrando]

ye, stickers are a good idea..but im not so sure if giving kids in Japan tattoo's is such a good idea lol :P

[Ido013]

Mister Jason, I do not have the diploma I need to do JET, would you have any other ideas as to what I should look for as a Canadian? I'm currently learning Japanese in order to do that kind of experience as a teacher in Japan.

[myargonauts]

you need a college degree to get work at most language schools and at any public school, so I guess my advice is try to go back to school and get that degree - it's never too late!

[StatuesBleedingGreen]

I dont understand, who told you NO FACES OF THE STUDENTS and NO IN-SCHOOL VIDEOS.

must be some kind of law or something?

[myargonauts]

yes - it's a policy of many schools here in Japan.

[42317]

How about simple ethics... and the right to privacy?

Wasn't that amendment #14?

(correct me if I'm wrong)

[A11Smi1es]

Great video! Very informative =). Will look foward to the next one.

ps: yes for reward!

[TkyoSam]

What the fuck!!!?!?! Youtube deleted my comment? Anyways! YES! Give them stickers! Bribe the FUCK OUTTA THEM! They love it! IF I have a son, I am gonna give him her own personal hooker/tutor to help with with college entrance exams.

What I do if I don't have stickers is give them signatures and tell them when I am famous they have permission to sell them online, lulz

[mikasaka]

A great video, uploaded on my birthday :D What more could I ask for? xD

[myargonauts]

cake, a present, money... :)

omedetou tanjoubi!

[OsakaPapa]

Hey Jason!

I love the idea of stickers, and I gave them to students when I was student teaching, and it went over very well :) So I whole-heartedly agree with you on the sticker idea. But I wanted to ask, do you think it'd be wierd to give kids stickers when working at a language school as opposed to a public school?

[myargonauts]

not if they're age appropriate and the students have somewhere to put the stickers - like on a notebook or pencil case, etc.

[gariko]

The new JET Programme General Information Handbook actually suggests bringing 'gifts' for your students with the additional being that they make 'great prizes for games'

[myargonauts]

I definitely think things like erasers, pencils, school supply-type items - are a good idea. And I've even given out key chains and baseball caps in some special situations. Your kids will like you just fine if you don't give them anything, but if you're like me then you'll enjoy the giving as much as they enjoy the getting.

[mostawesomestjes]

Please interview a high school ALT! I am going to have to revamp my ideas. I was all ready to teach younger kids, but now I have to readjust that with my assignment. I had stickers left over from my students here and I was going to use those, but high schoolers might think these are too kiddy. What would be a good reward for high schoolers?

I give stickers to my younger students who like stickers. I have one student that worked so much better with stickers! I say yes! Peace and stickers!

[WhiteMatrix2006]

I completely agree with rewarding students. It makes kids more interested in the lesson/game and want to participate. I was rewarded by the treasure chest if I did well on a test or if I did well on a game in class. I really enjoyed it and it made me want to pay more attention and do well. I'm sure there, since most teachers don't give out awards, they are quite happy when you do a game. I will definitely be rewarding the kids and I think stickers are an awesome idea. Great job Jason!

-Billy-

[LenaSkyheart]

I think giving small rewards to students is a wonderful idea. I know when I was younger I really liked getting stickers or hand stamps, or even getting the chance to go to the 'treasure chest'. So maybe if your students are expecting stickers all the time, switch it up and see if they enjoy hand stamps or getting the chance to browse in the treasure chest, just some ideas :D

[WhiteMatrix2006]

I remember the treasure chest. If I got a hundred on a spelling test, I would get to go to the treasure chest. It was just little toys or candy, but it was fun.

-Billy-

[robinsao]

Seal Please!

[myargonauts]

you have to beat me in janken first!

[JordanJ88]

We've actually covered this concept pretty in-depth in my Social Psychology class.

And the studies show that if students EXPECT a reward, even if it is for doing something they enjoy, their interest in the activity will decrease over time.

The best way to combat this is to give stickers away sparingly and unexpectedly. Doing this will actually increase ones interest in the activity.

PS this sounds like a great series!

[myargonauts]

interesting info - thanx for the comment.

[ZoahPorre]

That IS bullshit. Learning is your reward? The hell kind of jaded person says that?

Like you said, they are children for goodness sake, they need positive reinforcement to try as hard as they can to get such a reward.

[PiratePotatoe]

Yes.

If I was rewarded with such stuff back in the days at school.. I surely would learn much more and have a lot of fun.

[klynik]

I think its fine to give small rewards for educational games

[yozka]

i agree when i was younger i always enjoyed getting little prizes from my teachers kept me more interested in the subject haha

[redlimeoriginal]

Great Idea, I don't see anything wrong with this at all! In fact I remember how fun things like this were when I was a kid!

[SilverGunZoO]

Well their kids, I think stickers and such things are good to give them, it makes them happy, such little things but from the heart ^^ yes I totally agree with you Jason, your so kind I wish I had a teacher like you when I was in school :)

[stillwired]

man when you leave japan I'm going to be bummed...are you still going to make videos?

[kageromaru]

Relax bear! WOOO!!! :D

[ompbrecords]

When I was a student, my english teacher used to give us rewards although I can't really remember what they were. I think it works but it doesn't apply to all the students in the class. Some "active" students would really like it but for "Not Interested" students, it won't be enough to motivate them.

[Opsomaniac]

I think rewarding is a good thing, except with food (thinking with food as a reward causes a different way of thinking of food, which leads to obesity).

[afronathan]

I saw the Japanese gesture for come here today on NHK World. I think it's good to have a dedicated 'Teaching in Japan' section to help ALTs and prospective ALTs.

Good video

[afronathan]

Also, the Japanese gesture to 'come here' I saw on NHK world today :)