[lancemotown]

Hi everybody!

This is my first post here, although I've been a regular visitor over the last while. I'm an Irish guy, I taught for the summer in Ireland, and now I've just moved to Barcelona where I'm starting my job this day next week.

I just have a quick question for all of you regarding teaching teenagers. You see, in my old school, it was generally the case that students had come of their own free will and paid a not-insignificant amount of money to be there, and thus had a pretty clear motivation to be 'good' students. The vast majority were fully grown adults.

In my new school, however, some of my classes will invovle teaching teenagers, around intermediate level, who have not yet done their 1st certificate. I'm told by my boss that at times they can be lethargic/troublesome and whatnot, and that I've to be 'strict' to a certain extent and 'put my foot down' in order to prevent them from screwing with me.

Now, this is a dynamic I'm not used to, and one which makes me a little uneasy. I'd really appreciate any advice those of you with experience can give me. How do you go about it? How do you deal with them 'misbehaving'? Is the 'I'm-in-charge' attitude an absolute necessity and if so, how do you get it across to them? I mean, I want everyone to enjoy my classes, but I'm told that being their 'friend' (which was always the case in my old school) is a bad idea.

Any and all help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!