If your students have the same mother tongue, it is sometimes difficult to encourage them to speak English in English lessons. They usually prefer using their mother tongue even for asking for a spare pencil instead of using the simple English words and structures they know very well.

Instead of saying “Don’t speak Turkish!” all the time, I introduced a friend of mine to my students. Here is what I told them:

“This is my friend Max. I can understand you when you speak Turkish but he can’t. He can’t speak or understand Turkish. Whenever someone speaks Turkish, Max is going to sit on this person’s desk until someone else says something in Turkish. The person who has Max when the bell rings is going to be given an extra assignment for the weekend. You shouldn’t play with him, you shouldn’t throw or drop him.” After setting a few more rules, I started the lesson.

It’s been two weeks since Max started travelling around the classroom. My students surprised me. They are very self-controlled. Whenever someone says something in Turkish, this person or his/her partner silently goes and gets Max and the lesson goes on peacefully. The best things are there is no more unnecessary talk in Turkish during the lesson and they force themselves to speak English. Even if the assignment sounds like a punishment to them, I think the outcomes are worth seeing.

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