[MelissaC]

Hey!
Everything that Chris listed was spot on!
The biggest thing you have to keep in mind is the age of the student. Chris had mentioned stating your authority in a class by kicking the student out. I agree with that if the student is a child, but I would chooses a different tactic if the student is an adult.

"Tap into the interests of your students. You can do this with each activity or assignment."
A VERY good point if you have adult students. If they constantly get off topic then I've found that getting off topic before them still enables you to keep control of where the class is going. An example of this could be if you have a grammar goal of learning, say, Future Progressive, bring in a small newspaper article that you've scanned ahead of time, give it to the student to read and have them find the future progressive sentences. This way you could be tapping into their interest by bringing in an article discussing something they like AND you're able to keep control of where the class goes.

REMEMBER: Students HATE teachers who stick ONLY to the book, so branch off!

Hope this helps!
Melissa