The Language Teacher
August 2002
Pera-Pera Points
Nick Mieuli
Umi Town Board of Education
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words:Student motivation, point system
Learner English Level: Any
Learner Maturity Level: Junior high school
Preparation Time: Once the chart has been prepared, none
Activity Time: Varies. Can be integrated into any speaking activity
Materials: The Pera-Pera chart below
Materials:
Pera-pera is a great Japanese word that means fluent or talkative. Encourage your students to speak English in class by giving them Pera-Pera Points. Students keep track of their points on the chart and watch their pera-pera level increase over the term.*
Pera-pera points are good because:
It teaches that speaking English leads to increasing fluency.
It motivates learners without threatening them with consequences to their grade or bribing them with prizes. Being pera-pera is the reward.
Forty points to reach Super Pera-Pera may not seem like a lot, but in large junior high classes, students really need to work hard to get a chance to speak. Anyway, you can always make additional sheets such as: Hyper Pera-Pera, Ultra Pera-Pera, Unbelievably Pera-Pera etc. Be sure to email me a copy.
*Note: At the Very Pera-Pera level it says “You can travel to America by yourself.” This refers to survival English such as asking for prices in a shop or ordering from a menu.
All materials on this site are copyright © by JALT and their respective authors.
For more information on JALT, visit the JALT National Website