I would like to share with other teachers a system that I used successfully last year to help organise and discipline my pupils aged ten to twelve years old.

In the first lesson divide the class into four or six groups or teams. Divide them at random making sure that there is a balance of boys and girls in each group. Explain that you might move people from one group to another for various reasons but that in principle the group should stay the same for the year (or semester). Give each group a colour name, for example Red, Blue, Yellow, Green.

Explain to your pupils that the groups belong to the League of Good Behaviour and Achievement. Every lesson each group gets a star as long as their behaviour has been satisfactory. This means that the bad behaviour of one member of the group can cause the loss of the star. You can use the Red Card / Yellow Card system that is used in football. Three yellow cards or one red card result in the loss of the star.

Extra stars can also be awarded for exceptionally good homework, the best mark in a test, winning class games and competitions, quizzes etc or for successfully carrying out classroom duties over a period of time.

Draw up a chart with the names of the groups at the top and a box for each week of the semester/year. For example:

The chart is pinned up on the noticeboard in the classroom. If you think people might deface it, you can keep it in the class register.

Normally when the class does group work, they will work in their own group and more able pupils are encouraged to help the less able. They will also compete in class quizzes, competitions etc in their own group. If the class is doing an oral activity in which you do not want them to use their own language, you can put a 'spy' from each group in another group and they can monitor the use of English. At the beginning, award each group a star and if any group uses their own language the star will be taken away.

At the end of the semester or year each member of the winning group is presented with a 'cup' (on a sheet of paper with the names of the members of the group and the teacher's signature) which they can take home and show to their families.

Conclusions
I was amazed at how willingly the children accepted this idea and at how seriously they took it. Every week they wanted to know how many stars their group had got and if I was pushed for time and in danger of forgetting to award the stars, they soon reminded me!

They were very fair when deciding which group deserved a star and although at the beginning I made the decisions, by the end of the year I was accepting their decisions.
I found that peer pressure was more successful at making them toe the line than me shouting at them and they were able to gain a solidarity within their grouping which led to co-operation and mutual help.

Now that most of them have read about Harry Potter or seen the film, they will soon recognise the 'house' system in this idea. Personally, I would avoid using the names of the houses from the book because they might all want to be in Slytherin!

Acknowledgment
I would like to thank my colleague Adrienne Thomas for the colour grouping idea.

Sheila Margaret Ward
Teacher at the British Council, Lisbon.