Help pupils get a wriggle on

5th June 2009, 1:00am

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Help pupils get a wriggle on

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/help-pupils-get-wriggle

How far would you go to get your pupils studying for their exams? Handing out Mars bars in revision lessons? Organising head massages? Offering treats if they do well?

Whatever you do, the chances are it’s got nothing on the tactic adopted by one teacher in the American Deep South.

According to reports in the US press, Alison Gros has promised that for every member of her class who passes this year’s state-wide exams, she will eat a worm.

Ms Gros, who teaches at Andrew Jackson Elementary in Louisiana, made the pledge after reading the children’s book How to Eat Fried Worms. The book, which was made into a film in 2006 (pictured), tells of a 10-year-old boy who makes a bet that he can eat 15 worms in 15 days.

Its unsavoury content has put it into a list drawn up by the American Library Association of most commonly challenged books.

But the signs are that Ms Gros is going to go one better than her fictional predecessor. Predicted results for her class suggest she will have to eat at least 16 worms.

What isn’t yet known is how she plans to eat them - raw, grilled or still wriggling.

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