In preschool English class we have a lot of great tools for getting good behavior from our students. We can build strong relationships and rapport with them. We can support their intrinsic motivation. We’re also able to create clear rules and routines to guide them. And, of course, providing engaging and effective lessons for them is very important. But sometimes we still need a little something extra get our students to do their best. That’s where the preschool EFL behavior management system comes in. In this article and video, I’m going to show you my favorite system for managing preschool English as a Foreign Language classes. It’s the Marble Jar. I love it because it’s super simple and quick to use. So, if you want to help your students to behave better in your classes, check out the video or keep reading.
What is a Preschool EFL Behavior Management System?
Sometimes our students need a visual reminder of how well they’re doing to keep them on track. This is a behavior management system. It can really help kids understand how the lesson is going and how well they’re behaving. It can also provide a little boost of external motivation when you offer small rewards such as singing fun songs, playing a special game, stamps, or stickers.
A behavior management system can also help us as teachers, too. We can look at it and quickly see how much feedback we’ve been giving to our students. If we look over and see that the class hasn’t made much progress, but they’ve been doing well, then that signals to us to make changes.
Two Types
There are two basic kinds of behavior management systems; individual systems and group or class systems.
Individual Systems
These track each student’s performance on their own. Some popular examples are the Star Chart and Class Dojo.
Personally, I don’t like individual systems – especially for my large class teaching context.
First, I find they can get really inefficient, especially if you have classes of 15 or more students. It takes up a lot of class time to give checks, stars or whatever to each student multiple times per lesson.
And, if you only give each student one star at the end of every lesson it can become really vague and unclear what you’re actually rewarding.
Second, I find individual systems often become quite negative. This happens when some students fall behind their stronger classmates. Many times its not even their own fault. Some students just don’t stand out. Instead, the strongest and most eager students get most of the praise. But they’re actually the ones who need the least encouragement.
It’s the average and struggling students who need encouragement the most but often get it the least. This just leads them to getting further discouraged. This isn’t always what happens, but I’m familiar with plenty of cases to be skeptical.
Whole Class or Group Systems
These track groups of students or even the whole class together. Because there are fewer things to track they are much quicker to manage.
And, in these systems everyone sinks or swims together. That means many times students will remind their classmates about rules and routines so the class can succeed. This does mean that some students’ performance might slip among the crowd and go unremarked, but the same can happen in individual systems that take a lot more time to manage.
Now, there are a lot of options out there for preschool EFL behavior management systems, but my favorite is the Marble Jar.
Related Post: This Behavior Management System Will Rescue Your ESL Classes
The Marble Jar Preschool EFL Behavior Management System
So, here’s how the marble jar works.
At the Start of the Lesson
At the start of each course, and even each lesson, I explain how the marble jar works to my students during the opening routine.
I start by showing them the jar. I tell them that when they follow the rules and my instructions then I will be happy. I’ll then color in a marble. I also sometimes explain that when they don’t follow the rules and I’m sad then I won’t color in a marble.
Then I explain that when all the marbles are colored in everyone will get a small reward at the end of the lesson. I show them the reward and even put it up on the wall so everyone can get excited.
We then all count the marbles in the jar together and choose a crayon color for the day.
I go through this routine every lesson with my students, even when they’re already familiar with my marble jar. I do this because you can’t explain things to preschoolers just once and expect them to either understand or remember in the long term.
First, a lot of the explanation language is beyond their abilities. They have to see the marble jar in action to start understanding it.
Second, it takes them a while to figure out all the ins and outs of the system and my presentation. The more opportunities they get to hear the explanation then the more they’ll understand. It’s like listening to a challenging story over and over. They won’t understand everything in the first reading, but they’ll gradually decode each part over time.
Third, especially in large mixed-level classes, I’m always aware that some students aren’t as capable as others. While many stronger students might already understand what’s going on, I want to give my weaker students a chance to catch up.
Finally, even if students understood my explanation in the first lesson that doesn’t mean they’ll remember it in the next week or next month. Children at this age learn really quickly but they also can forget really quickly, too. It’s best to give them many opportunities to review important information until it really sinks in.
During the Lesson
I usually refer back to the marble jar after every stage or activity in the lesson. This works out to about once every 5 to 7 minutes on average. That said, a lot of activities are quite short so sometimes I refer to the marble jar after just 3 minutes or so.
This means that in a 30 minute lesson that is going well I usually give 6 or 7 marbles. In some lessons where the students are having a challenging day they might only earn 4 or 5.
Also, each time I refer to the marble jar I make sure to get everyone’s attention and give them clear feedback about what specific things they did well. I tell them about how they made me happy, too.
I don’t recommend giving marbles for correct answers. This is a behavior management system. It’s for encouraging students to behave well. Once you start rewarding correct answers with marbles things will get complicated. For example, weaker students may avoid participating because they don’t want to hurt the class with a wrong answer.
Finally, at the end of the lesson during the closing routine it’s time to check back on the marble jar. I count up all the marbles with my students. If the marble jar is full, then it’s time to celebrate. I give them all praise and then distribute their reward.
If the students haven’t done well then I give them feedback and remind them how to do better in the future.
The rewards at the end of class don’t have to be big. In fact, I think it’s better that they be small and inconsequential. They shouldn’t be a major motivation to behave well. They’re just a little something nice. You don’t want to have any tears at the end of class because the students didn’t get a big prize.
I like to give small stickers, ink stamps in their books, high fives, or even just sing a silly song with everyone. If there are many students in the class, I always try to use a helper like a TA to distribute stickers or stamps.
Organizing the Marble Jar
Generally, I arrange it so each marble jar takes either one lesson or one week to complete.
If my students are really young or new, then completing a marble jar each lesson really reinforces their behavior. It’s just a lot easier for them to understand. This means I use a mini-marble jar with just 6 marbles in it.
If I’ve got a class with older or more experienced students, then I use a larger jar. I might use a jar with 15 or even 20 marbles depending on if I see them twice or three times a week for 30 minute lessons.
Sometimes I also arrange larger jars for a class so I don’t have to give rewards out too frequently.
If a class doesn’t complete their jar by the end of the lesson or the end of the week then I discard it and start over.
I don’t recommend stretching a jar into two weeks or longer. It becomes really hard for students to understand and find meaningful. For us as adults, two weeks is an easily comprehensible amount of time, but that’s not true for a 3 or 5 year-old child.
Last, I use paper copies and color them in with crayons. Other teachers like to laminate their jars so they can reuse them with dry-erase markers. You can download my marble jars here.
Click to download pdf: 6 Marble Jar / 12 Marble Jar / 15 Marble Jar / 20 Marble Jar
Making you Marble Jar Super Effective
Finally, There are a couple critical things to keep in mind so your marble jar preschool EFL behavior management system is really effective.
Have Their Attention & Be Clear
First, when you give feedback and a marble make sure to have your students’ attention and be clear.
They really need to see you giving the feedback and marble. Otherwise it won’t register in their minds that they did well (or not). If they don’t see it, it doesn’t count.
Also, tell them what actions they did well. That way they know what to do again in the future. If you just say “good job” or “great!” that doesn’t communicate much. They’re not able to read your mind – or know what actually made you happy.
But if you give them specific, clear feedback like “Everyone, I saw you playing and taking turns nicely. That makes me so happy. Great job!” then they will know exactly what you like. And, because they want to make you happy and get more marbles they’re more likely to do that again in the future.
Likewise, if they didn’t meet your expectations and you won’t give them a marble…that’s okay! Just tell them in a calm voice what they did, how that made you feel, and what they should do instead.
So, for example; “I saw many students were not sitting nicely with their hands in their laps. That makes me sad. I can’t give you a marble. Remember, sit with you hands in your laps.”
This helps students understand what you actually want. It’s also as important to tell them what not to do as it is to tell them what to do instead. This is because very young children haven’t developed solid logical abilities yet. If you tell them, “Don’t run!” that doesn’t mean they’ll make the logical leap to “Oh! I need to walk.” You need to lead them there.
The 90% Rule
Next, you want to remember the 90% Rule. That is, if the vast, vast majority of your students are behaving well, then give the class a marble.
Don’t let one or two students’ misbehavior stop everyone else from getting a marble. That would give those students way too much power and control in your class. They’ll then often abuse their power and your preschool EFL behavior management system. Don’t let them do it.
Instead, point out some of the students in class who did well and praise their actions. You can even wave your arms and say “I saw all the students over here singing the song and dancing nicely. That makes me so happy!” Then, look over at the students who misbehaved and tell them you saw their misbehavior.
You can then try talking to them off to the side during or after class and try to figure out what the source of their misbehavior is. You can then try to correct for that in the next lesson.
Good to Great Classes
The marble jar preschool EFL behavior management system is a super simple, effective tool for encouraging students to behave better in class. It’s helpful for turning a good class into a great class, or bringing some order to a chaotic one. However, it won’t turn a bad class into a great or sometimes even a good class.
When large numbers of students are behaving poorly in class week after week it’s a sign of a serious issue or two. In those cases, you want to closely look at your lessons and your students’ 5 Basic Needs. More likely than not your students have some unmet need that’s leading them to misbehave. In those cases you’ll need to make much bigger changes such as reworking your lesson plans, checking your instructions and teacher talk, or adding elements like movement or imagination.
