[chokosaki]

Quote confusionisben

Hi.

I am a new ESL teacher, and new to the board. This topic has proved especially helpful as i am coming to grips with good classroom management. I just have one problem, a private student, age 5, who is completely uncontrollable. The first lesson i had he was shy, and would barely participate, but not a problem. Now he just runs around. I've tried a points system, "no sticker", and stopping and waiting crossed arms, and using the "activity every 5 minutes" in case it was boredom, as of yet no yelling, but he still runs around, jumps on tables, wiggles his bum at me. I'm not sure what i can do. Being a private student i think makes it even worse, because i can't do the 'exclusion from activity' idea that many recommend.
Any help would be very well received. I am new to this, so i understand i have a lot to learn, and this child will be good for me in the long run if i can just get him to learn and behave.

Make it interesting. Get into the kids head. Find out what he likes. I know in China the kids around here absolutely love Ultraman/Power Rangers. So to make things more interesting when learning colors I made a set of different colored Power Ranger-like heroes. The kids were infinitely more interested in that than plain ol' color splotches or colored shapes.

You can also find a fun game that's suitable for 2 people. A simple board game like snakes and ladders would work. Check out a site Dave's ESL Cafe It's chock full of great information and games. I hope any of this has been of some use to you.

I had a similar issue with one student. At my school, classes meet twice a week. This particular student could only make it to one. So, to compromise with a distraught parent, we gave the child 1 private 15 minute lesson a week. It was rough at first. Having a review game ready really helped out tho. Kids love to play games and really try hard to win. Good luck!

[Menna Marzouk]

i read most of your tips.. they are really useful.. thank you so much.. i've been teaching for 3 years 4-year-old kids, but this year i'll be teaching grade 3.. 9 or 10-year-old kids.. may God help me with that .. i think i have a problem.. i believe sometimes i get really friendly with the kids.. and that made them sometimes overstep the limits.. i don't want to do that with my new students.. how can i be not that friendly and not that tough at the same time???

[abarboza]

Quote Menna Marzouk

i read most of your tips.. they are really useful.. thank you so much.. i've been teaching for 3 years 4-year-old kids, but this year i'll be teaching grade 3.. 9 or 10-year-old kids.. may God help me with that .. i think i have a problem.. i believe sometimes i get really friendly with the kids.. and that made them sometimes overstep the limits.. i don't want to do that with my new students.. how can i be not that friendly and not that tough at the same time???

I don't think being friendly is a problem. You just have to set classroom rules since the beginning and place them in a wall in the classroom. They should be visible all the time.

[The cat]

Hello everyone,
I have read all the posts in this particular thread as I'm in need of some assistance. While there are many excellent ideas here I still have not found a solution to my problem. Although, my issue is more to do with what happens outside the classroom. I have been teaching and living in China for over a year now and I have found that behaviour issues are directly related to a lack of discipline in the home. Culturally it is quite normal for the grandparents to raise the child whilst the parents are busy working and paying for everything. The problem here is that the grandparents don't punish or instil any discipline and the parents simply don't see enough of their child to want to waste time on mini battles when they can just give them what they want and everyone is happy. Hence, I have to deal with spoilt children who are used to getting what they want when they ask for it. And, have been conditioned to believe that kicking and screaming is perfectly acceptable behaviour to get what they want. Please, understand that I don't mean to make a massive generalisation here. I do have a lot of super cool, well-behaved students. But the naughty ones are predominantly from this kind of family structure. My question is, how do I instil discipline when it is something totally alien to them outside of my classroom?

[khadija zainab]

i am new in this field. So i am facing some problems regarding class managment and time. I am teaching nursery class. I use All of above mentioned teqniques but when it comes to written work.. sometimes i become helpless.. beacause.. every child has a different mental level.. some of them are intelligentsome ara averege and some of them are totally dull.. they take a plenty of time.. n it becomes the very difficult task to manage class,time n work at the same time.. i usually use reinforcment to motivate the children .help me please...

[little sage]

Quote khadija zainab

i am new in this field. So i am facing some problems regarding class managment and time. I am teaching nursery class. I use All of above mentioned teqniques but when it comes to written work.. sometimes i become helpless.. beacause.. every child has a different mental level.. some of them are intelligentsome ara averege and some of them are totally dull.. they take a plenty of time.. n it becomes the very difficult task to manage class,time n work at the same time.. i usually use reinforcment to motivate the children .help me please...

When a preschooler does not complete an activity in the time you allot, it does not make them "dull". I would be more likely to think that you had not selected an appropriate activity.

Prepare extra materials for the students who complete tasks more quickly. You may need a teaching assistant to help mind the children who finish early.

[khadija zainab]

Quote little sage

When a preschooler does not complete an activity in the time you allot, it does not make them "dull". I would be more likely to think that you had not selected an appropriate activity.

Prepare extra materials for the students who complete tasks more quickly. You may need a teaching assistant to help mind the children who finish early.

thank you so much little sage for you assistance..it was helpful.. i ll try to select appropriate activities.