🪨 We’ve got a new system in class: The Spanish Rock
Anyone who has worked in international schools knows that, in many cases, the student context isn’t truly international. Often, most students are local and share a common language different from the language of instruction. That makes it hard to build a real culture around using the target language — especially outside the classroom.
🎒 I experienced the opposite back at ILG School (International Learning Group School), where most students came from different nationalities and English was the common ground.
That made it much easier to build a school culture where English was the norm across all spaces.
This year, even though my students speak and interact in Spanish during our subject time, they still tend to speak English among themselves during class discussions, games, and recess.
🧠 One of our class moms gave me a brilliant idea… That’s how the Spanish Rock was born.
No, it’s not a rock we throw 😂
It’s a small stone that two students painted and decorated. It starts the day in my hands, and if I hear someone speaking English during Spanish class, I give it to them. Then that student has to keep an ear out and pass it to someone else who speaks English during class.
📜 These are the rules — all created by the students:
You can only pass the rock if you personally hear someone speak English.
Whoever has the rock at the end of the day must bring a Spanish poem with at least 4 stanzas.
If you argue or fight about the rock… you also bring a poem!
If you lose the rock, it’s poem time every day for a week 😅
Two more rules we realized we needed:
✅ Don’t take it personally.
✅ Pass the rock by hand, never throw it!
📚 The best part? It works.
Students are excited to write their poems and share them in the morning before class. They’re using Spanish more and more, and they feel ownership over the whole process.
We’re still refining the system — but it’s already making a real impact.
💬 What strategies do you use to support the target language in multilingual classrooms?