What's in your teacher box?

A grubby Totoro beanbag is in my teacher box. He's grubby because he generally ends up on the floor at some point during each lesson, and the Cambodian dust is inescapable. I run him through the washing machine once a week, but as soon as he falls on the floor he is instantly grubby again.

Totoro has the wide-eyed stare of a beleaguered class hamster who never really gets any rest. I bought him for 1000 riel from the Japanese second-hand store in Siem Reap and he's been chucked around the classroom in almost every one of my lessons since then.

"Teacher, I didn't realise we had to do OCFB in every lesson."

The idea to use a beanbag for feedback sessions was inspired by my secondary school French lessons. The teacher had a little purple beanbag that was supposed to be a blackcurrant character, and we would throw it around the class to practise questions and responses, or check answers to activities. And I just remember for some reason we loved it. Flinging a cute beanbag character around the class provides some light relief after a tricky grammar point or a less-than-exciting gapfill. Using a beanbag as opposed to a ball means that it won't ping off into the corner of the classroom when someone misses a catch. From the teacher's perspective, you get a self-managing randomised open-class feedback session. Everyone's a winner!