[Denis DNT]

It's a big problem in my school. We grade them like two weeks before the end of the semestre. The grades are sent to their parents and then we suffer the effect. They don't even want to touch their books at all. They think it's all over. Those two weeks are the hardest.

[DaveESL]

Why do you do it that way?

I realize that I'm not answering your question, but I'm really curious. It seems like a horrible situation for teachers. At my school, students have to wait until after summer vacation to beg for their grades to be changed.

[HUE]

That does sound like a horrible system. I know I sure wouldn't want to do any work if the grades were finalized and out.

What age group are you teaching? When I taught junior high in Japan, I put in place a reward system each term. I photocopied dollar bills with other teachers' faces, and passed them out for volunteering, speaking to me in English for several minutes, getting As on tests, doing writing assignments in their notebooks, etc. I had a whole system planned out with clear monetary rewards. At the end of the term, I then held an auction with magazines, T-shirts, and the like that I had picked up during vacation. It cost about $50 for everything, but those kids were motivated!!

Maybe you could try something similar, and hold an auction during those two weeks? You could post opening bids for certain items, and give students the chance to accumulate more money in those final days of the term.

[Denis DNT]

Yeah, I agree it is really not a good system and sometimes I see with the students why they behave like that because if I were in the same position I'd behave the same.
The things is, their progress evaluation sheets are so elaborate (Korean, Chinese, English) and take so much time for teachers to fill that the school administration thinks doing this like three weeks to the end of the semester is the best way to ensure that teachers all fill in their grades.
Yet there is more to the problem, it is at this same period that all the classes have their field trips in different turns. When the 6graders are on trip to Disneyland in Hongkong, how do you control the 5th graders who will be taking their turn in may be 2days time? Not to talk of the 6graders when they come back. We try to make them talk and write about their trip experiences but they find that very boring although talking about the trip all the time in their native tongue. They are all in such a dream world. I don't understand why we have to teach during these weeks.
Thanks Hue for your idea. It is good but I am wondering whether it could work with my students. They come from such rich families that they look down on such things. You know what I mean? When a 9 year old kid walks up to you and tells you that the Nike shirt you are putting on is fake and that he has the real one, then you know what to expect if you were to offer them some shirts to make them work. Pizza parties seem to capture them though.

[susan53]

It seems that China is no longer the egalitarian system it was cracked up to be ...

[michèle 2]

When a 9 year old kid walks up to you and tells you that the Nike shirt you are putting on is fake and that he has the real one, then you know what to expect if you were to offer them some shirts to make them work. Pizza parties seem to capture them though.[/quote]

Even in china?

[Denis DNT]

They are catching up fast folks.
You need to be in one of Asian capitals(Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, etc) to get a taste of the Asian upperclass.

[mesmark]

This won't help for this year, but is it possible to cover that extra material before grades are given out? Try to speed through the necessary points and then spend the last weeks playing games (learning activities in disguise.)

If it's fun, they'll do it but if it's worksheets, I'm not sure if there is any help out there.

It sounds like a tough system.

[HUE]

Yeah, in a situation where the kids have a ridiculous amount of money, earning photocopied dollars to buy some T-shirts likely would go over well.

I like Mark's idea to spend the last few weeks playing games. It's a good way to review and practice the language they learned during the term... learning cleverly disguised as fun.