I've written before about how I reward my students with "alligator bucks" sometimes – a kind of point system or in-class currency. I also have a rare, special "Lucky Seven" bill, denominated at 7 alligator bucks. If you possess one of these "Lucky Sevens," you can use it as a homework pass, to get out of a zero point result for undone homework.
Yesterday, my student Sophia came to me right before our listening class. She brandished her "Lucky Seven" and I thought she was going to confess to not doing homework. Instead, she wanted to know if it also could be counted as a normal seven dollars, in our economy system. She was really hungry, she said. I sometimes have snacks on hand that I "sell" to my students. She wanted to buy some chips that she knew I had in my "snack drawer."
I shrugged, and said sure, if she wanted to spend her seven dollars on a snack, that was fine. "Are you sure you don't want to save it in case you don't do your homework, sometime?"
She grinned. "I always do my homework!"
"I seem to remember a few times when you didn't do homework," I observed.
She was adamant that she would never need the lucky seven. "I will always do my homework in the future," she promised.
We went into our listening class. "OK, let me see your homework," I began.
"We had homework?!" Sophia said, with a dismayed look on her face and a handful of chips paused, halfway to her mouth.
[daily log: walking: 6km]