The Compliments Project is a simple and powerful exercise that has really taken off in many classrooms! Basically, each student in class takes a turn being in what’s called the “hot seat.” So while the student sits, facing away from the board, his or her classmates take turns writing positive statements about that person on the board. When they’re finished, the student stands and reads what has been written about him or her.

Results have been nothing short of outstanding! The site recommends these basic tips in conducting this exercise in your own classroom:

• First, wait until the school year is well underway so your students know each other better.
• At the beginning, state that all comments should be positive and school appropriate.
• During the exercise, play music. Let them sit on desks and talk to one another, too. However, at the time of reveal, everyone pays attention and is respectful.
• Only allow 3-4 people at the board at a time.
• Every now and again, remind the students that the point is to connect on a deeper level; however, she noticed that the students got that.
• Have two “hot seat chairs” going at the same time if you have a class of 20 or more.
• As the teacher, don’t be afraid to sit in the “hot seat,” too!
• At the end, take a photo of the student to give to them.

To watch a video of this great exercise in action (now called “Spread the Love”) in a classroom  just click on this link!

Since the exercise, the teacher found that it created a safer classroom space. She also found that students were sharing and opening up more. She noticed more and more students reaching out to her for guidance with their everyday lives, as well. The teacher also added that even though it doesn’t show in the video, there were so many boys and girls who broke down in tears at their reveal.

The exercise developed as an off-shoot from the viral video called “People React to Being Called Beautiful.” Take a look here if you haven’t seen it before. It is indeed very beautiful to see people react to being called beautiful!

Lastly, the Compliments Project (i.e. Spread the Love) has been so popular. Take a look at this link of classrooms around the country conducting the exercise.

Being a kid is often one of our most vulnerable times, and exercises like the above can really wake an adolescent up as to what’s special and unique about him or her. Of all the children and youth, the ones who can be on the most shaky ground are English language learners (ELLs), such as Latino ELLs. Part of the reason is because too much of the time, though their numbers have been growing in recent years, often they are still the minority.

So, along with great exercises like the Compliments and the Beautiful Projects, it’s important that kids have access to books about themselves, personal stories about their culture. Lectura Books, for instance, is a terrific national book publisher that offers an array of bilingual books with fun and interesting storylines that Latino learners can connect with, improve their skills in both languages and vocabulary, too. For more information, contact Lectura Books or The Latino Family Literacy Project, a parental involvement program offered by this unique book publishing firm.