The Book Cafe

This past summer vacation my classroom underwent a dramatic renovation.  It went from a classroom which looked like it belonged in a museum to a classroom that feels and operates like on in the 2st century.  Part of this renovation also included setting up a book cafe (library) at the back of my classroom for students to be able to use and enjoy.  The cafe is an offshoot of our school library and is stocked entirely of English books, DVDs and books on cd.  The awesome thing is that these books are registered as part of the school library and the students can check them out like a regular book at the library.

Today was the first day that we officially allowed for students to take books out.  Two of my better students were up here before I even knew the cafe was open for business looking for books to take out.  I hope that the cafe will serve two purposes.  The first is to provide an place for my students to be able to find and to read English books.  My school right now might have the largest collection of English books in the city.  I have no facts to back this up but I know that you cannot find English books for sale in this city.  The second is to possibly inspire students to achieve higher.  Simply put I'm going to start using the movies as rewards for students who achieve above and beyond.  We have 4 DVD players and I think I will start using coupons that allow the students to go to cafe and to either read a book, or watch a movie.  I may even allow them to do this during certain classes due to the fact that they probably already know what I'm teaching them. 

All in all I am excited to see how the cafe works.  Simply put I think that exposing my students to these materials will help those students who want to study at their own pace or want to come here and learn on there free time.  This also gives us a tool to use for motivation.  Some students will want to come here and spend time, if they do, I can use access as a motivation tool in class.  Already today I have one of my students who has trouble focusing in class watching a DVD.  If I don't sit him up front he can't pay attention, yet here he is quietly watching a DVD in English.