Un cent for your thoughts

In my Grade 1–2 split French immersion class, I use a reward system to encourage students to speak French. I have a set of pretend Canadian money and keep pennies with me at all times. Any time a student speaks French, I pay them a penny. When they get to five pennies, they can exchange it for a nickel, and so on. 

At the end of the month, I set up a market where students can buy dollar-​store items like mini squishmallows, rings, stickers, etc., all at different prices. The students walk around and pick up the things that they want and check if they have enough money or decide if they want to save their money and get a bigger item next month. 

Over the course of my career, I’ve tried different methods to encourage immersion students to speak French. This method has been the most effective. It keeps the kids engaged and now everybody wants to raise their hand and say something. It even works for the kids that are more introverted or afraid to speak. They’re really trying more than with past methods. 

It’s not a perfect system, but it has improved my students’ French a lot, with the side benefit of practicing math and learning about money without even realizing it. I feel it’s important to use replica money that represents real Canadian coins and notes to teach financial literacy, but it also helps students understand decimals, percentages, etc. in higher grades.