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jallore · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Thailand

I'm teaching a group of seriously behaviourly challenged Chinese kids, around 5 years old. There's only like 6-8 or them, but they're all just out of control. They're really starting to piss me off. The Chinese teacher in class does absolutely nothing about it. She's pissing me off too.
Anyone have any tips for handling demon kids?

fitzgud · Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 148 Location: Henan province

Syrup of Figs.

Mister Al · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 840 Location: In there

Okay they are just 5 year old kids so IMHO your job is to bring some joy into the classroom. Play English games and have fun.....end of story. If you really need to discipline the wee ones then use yellow and red cards as in football. Yellow is final warning. Red card means out of the class for a period of time maybe with the CTA, or to sit somewhere public, and kid to complete (reasonable) bookwork before allowed back in.

As for the CTA either she works with you or you refuse to work with her. So have a chat with her and try to work it out.

If you PM me I'll send you some ideas of games/activities.

jeffinflorida · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:36 am Post subject:

Catch their interest with something they can enjoy. i have used Pokemon and Yu Gu O cards as rewards and to try to stimulate their interest in speaking English.

But... i had the same problem with high school kids... and just gave up and taught the lesson whether they paid attention or not.

louis.p · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 107 Location: Tainan, Taiwan

Don't show them your anger. It will make things worse. But do show them that they need to behave -- unless they are spoiled, they expect discipline and control.

Kids love stickers! You can gain control over them through this "weakness".

Orrin · Joined: 02 Apr 2005 Posts: 206 Location: Zhuhai, China

Contact their parents. Through a translator, you will be able to communicate with them. You will be amazed at the results you will get.

jallore · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Thailand

Thanks for the help all.
The school has its own form of discipline. I use that and the kids mope for about 30 seconds and then start going crazy again.
The class isn't about real learning (not this particular one), so it's just full of fun and games anyway. The problem is they can't even behave well enough to do the games properly.
I've already talked to the Chinese teacher. I will do it again and again if I have to. I don't really care. I'm not going to teach the class if its that aggravating. They're just over-indulged kids. I doubt their parents would care about what I had to say.
I have to teach these demons every day. I'm already dreading class...

beck's · Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Posts: 426

Here are some suggestions that worked for me when I was teaching young kids in Korea some years ago.

1. Use candy to reward good behavior. Give them out at the end of each class to kids who demonstrated appropriate behavior.

2. I got my local MP to send me little Canada flag pins. I used these to reward excellent behavior.

3. I developed a token economy. I photocopied Canadian money and put my chop on the photocopies and superimposed my pic over the the Prime Minister's. These were Beck bucks. At the end of class I gave a $5 photocopy of a Beck buck to the kids who demonstrated super excellent behavior. If a kid earned $50 he could turn it in for a major prize.

4. I used a "baby chair" to punish negative behavior. If a kid was acting out, I put him in the "baby chair" in the corner, facing the wall. I explained how the baby chair was for little babies who did not know how to behave in a big school.

You will need your Chinese assistant to help explain how the reward and punishment system works.

Never show anger. Ultimately your behavior is the only behavior that you can control 100%.

A'Moo · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:18 am Post subject:

theincredibleegg · Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 224

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

baxbore · Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 7

Stickers work to some extent, but there are other ways to motivate them too. You could also make one or two students be monitors, police officers, or whatever you want to call them. Chinese are familiar with this concept. Since your TA seems useless, any of your students should be a better choice. You could have one of the students standing or sitting up at the front with you, and checking on other students behavior. You might be surprised how effective this is. Also, students like structure. Keep your lesson plans simple and predictable, and change the activity every 3-5 minutes (5 year-olds lack concentration for long periods). When I taught kids this age, I started with a song or story at the start of every class, then introduced only 4 - 6 new words/phrases, did repetition exercises, then played a game or sang a new song with these words, then reviewed previous learning (with songs, games, stories, etc), and concluded the class with a review/game/song of the new vocab. After a while students will be so familiar with what you'll do, they'll automatically act according to your expected behavior. Eventually, you probably won't need a monitor anymore, and then you can gradually add more dimensions to your lessons. Keeping it simple works.

baxbore · Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 7

A couple more things to add: Since you have a TA, besides translating and participating, his/her role could be to privately talk to kids who get out of control. Therefore, you can still continue your lesson without risking the rest of the class from completely losing it. You can also introduce some expectations to students. For example, once you start counting to five (loudly), you expect all students to be sitting in their chairs nicely and quietly. Also, vary activities so that they are active on their feet sometimes, and sitting down and listening other times. Be consistent with your approach and after a week or two it should start paying off.

Song&Dance · Joined: 04 Jul 2008 Posts: 176

Very naughty kids to you, but little emperors to their parents. Discipline at home is both a foreign word and a foreign concept.

I get them when they become freshmen in college and they have changed little from your description.

All of the responses sound like western solutions to a very Chinese problem.

Sit down with your Chinese TA. Discuss the expectations of a western classroom. Negotiate a compromise that you can both execute with satisfaction. Follow the lead of the TA and do not push your way.

Finally, recognize that you are just a high priced babysitter.

jallore · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Thailand

Haha, sorry everyone but the last post seems to make the most sense.

I AM a high priced babysitter. I know it, i'm fine with it, just want to have as painless a time doing it.
The funniest thing happened yesterday. I found an activity where the kids made paper airplanes and then flew them - the furthest won but had to answer some English questions, etc.
BUT - the kids didn't know how to make airplanes but were TOTALLY interested in it and asked me for help and took great joy in making them and it totally shut them up. Alas it had nothing to do with English as it was a failed activity, but I'm going to try to think of short activities like that. It was magic, those last 5 minutes of class!