Who: My nephew

When: September 9, 2016

I’ve tested two methods with my nephew who is eleven years old. I was teaching him Chinese,  I noticed he wasn’t paying attention. So I made a deal with him, if he does all the work I say and pay attention then I’ll bring him to the park. That worked for a good couple of hours.

The next day, I was testing him on what we learned the day before, he remembered some but forgot others. I gave him another chance, I said if he remembers the rest within the next five minutes I won’t make him copy each character 50 times. In the end, he couldn’t remember, he got scared and started crying.

What I realize is that a positive motivation can help a person no matter what age to have a better learning experience than a punishment method.