My class situation..

[the_p0et]

I've been teaching English here in Taiwan for 7 months now and know this is definately not the profession for me!

I'm having problems in my cram school with two certain classes in particular. Class A is in Grade 4 i think and Class B is in grade 5. The older class has that "i'm too cool to be here attitude" and won't stop swearing. I think that's all the English they know of. They're saying F*** you, teacher and so on if they're team doesn't win. At least they can say "teacher". What do I do about this swearing? I've just been saying "don't say those words, they're very bad" and give them an "X" by their name.

The younger class has 2 or 3 boys who are so loud (in Chinese) and won't stay in their seats for more then a few minutes at a time. (1hr class) 1 boy always runs up to the board to draw some rather disturbing parts of the body while writing bad words (in Chinese) on the board then runs around the class. The other 1 or 2 boys are always just running up (in the middle of a lesson) to punch/kick me. What is this? How do I handle them? All I do is give them checks if they're good or Xs if they're bad. If they get 3 Xs, then I take them to see the principal or the principal comes to see them. This doesn't solve anything though, since both the principal and kid are smiling and laughing.

Thanks for any help!

[fluffyhamster]

I suppose it's too late for you to act real cool and poker-faced (psychotic teacher, this guy?). If that doesn't work you could perhaps mention that people who say things like that in western countries generally "get their heads kicked in" if it's a stranger they were swearing at...and even friends would soon tire of that.

Personally, I don't know if I'd've been able to suppress a smile at their behaviour intially...but I would be showing signs that I was finding it wearing, the joke stale by now. Can I ask, were you shocked (visibly, to them), and did you overreact at first? They could be playing on that still, if you had.

Hmm as for the graffiti, make sure there aren't any board markers lying around (prise them from their lifeless fingers if necessary if you forgot to clear any extra markers away, and keep the ONE marker in your hand - better, trouser pocket - at all times. Hopefully they won't start shoving their hands into your trousers, but hey, that could be fun maybe! ).

As for the punching, are you black and blue or are they just playful taps? I've found footsweeps (ashi barai) soon cure students of the temptation to run at me (as does being pinned to the floor by my dirty shoes, or bodily thrown/dumped back into their seats I know that sounds violent but usually it is more "playful parent" kind of stuff, to begin with at least). I'm not saying beat the little darlings up severely or leave marks, or cause an accident where they bash their head open and sawdust spills onto a sharp desk edge, just show them who's boss and that you are not a defenceless dweeb. I doubt if even your jolly laidback principal expects you to stand there all lesson with "Punchbag" tatooed on whatever part of your anatomy. (BTW I'm presuming you're male, I'd be surprised if boy students took to hitting female teachers quite so freely). Above all, use force but not excessive force or anger - proportional response, calm and collected.

Sorry that I can't give you many more pointers, but as long as the whole class is misbehaved at least you don't have the sort of problem where e.g. two girls who really don't want to be there and would rather die than smile let alone study English start complaining (the cheek!) about not "being able to study" when Damien 666 starts playing up (yes, he was the little sod who'd lay into me every class).

[Sally Olsen]

I always sighed in relief when the students swore because you can teach a lot from the base of those words and at least they were willing to say something in English. Of course, I told them through translation if necessay, that those words are not appropriate to say to a teacher or stranger and were only used with other friends who spoke that way too. That they had to be careful of who they used them with, etc. But I found that most of the students heard them regularly in American movies, music and TV shows and so they really believed that all students talked like that. We then studied words that were acceptable to express dissatisfaction or frustration and put them up on our Wall of Words. When someone swore, I pointed to some alternatives and they tried them out. I also put up as many positive words as I could find so they could use them more often.
I always put up a sign in my classes "Be nice, work hard" and when someone climbed up on the rafters or hit another students or teased, I would say in a kind of chant, "Don't pinch, poke, push, swear, steal, sleep," etc. I would add the current misdemenor at the end. I often had the teacher before me translate before they left the class that this was the English class and part of learning English was allowing others to study. Then I would point to the sign and we would all chant it together. It usually took about three weeks until they learn the two chants by heart and will start saying them to each other. You will be thorougly sick of it eventually but hey! it is all English.
If a student approached me to give me something other than a hug, I just left the room and told the other students to talk to the offender. When they were ready they would come and get me as I was just standing outside the room. At first it took a long time for them to calm the offender but these children are usually not really the true leaders and the others will get them in line if they really like your lessons.
I found that some younger children in Japan and Mongolia regularly hit their parents and had been taught that this was funny and that it didn't really hurt, especially their fathers. You can show them that it really does hurt and is not acceptable. All these lessons are as important as learning English in my mind and they do learn, "No. Sit down. Be Nice and Work Hard."
What could be a better job than helping to shape these young people into civilized human beings? Kids are such a nice way to start people. It is too bad that someone lead them in the wrong direction but you will get an enormous amount of satisfaction on putting them back on the right track.

[extreme_esl]

I empathise with your classroom situation. While our situation is not as drastic, we have found our best behaviour management strategy is the DVD (if you have one). We end each class with 5-10 minutes of a DVD, which we pause to ask questions. When trouble brews, we throw the DVD in the bin, causing panic in the ranks. The kids usually then berate the troublemakers. We keep chalk away from kids, and we have taken a student (who belted a girl in class) to the principal and made it known he is not to come back for the time being. Surprisingly, this worked.
We have also taken to not allowing the kids into the room until they line up (as they do for all their local classes) and enter the room individually and slowly. We've had to do this because it seems "Oral English Class" is considered 'fun time', and kids running around has driven us insane, particularly when the same kids then march to lunch in ordered lines, chanting.
We have no qualms sending kids out, and usually have to once or twice per class. A lot of ideas such as Total Physical Response which we initially tried were chaotic and dangerous, and so against the students understanding of classroom behaviour that they didn't work, and the objective was lost. We endeavour to strike a balance between our classes being fun and maintaining control. Forget writing ticks and crosses on the board and do not tolerate being hit. Best wishes, hope things improve.

[Miz]

Hello there.

Wow, this kind of situation in class is really frustrating. Especially when you have planned something thinking it would work like a charm and they don't even seem to listen to you. It drives me mad! But one thing I have learned is that there's no good plan until you have tested it on your particular group of students. I have some really loud and lazy students, but what worries me the most is that my fifth graders have no respect for each other. They seem to hate each other and say things really offensive to each other. I get so upset, because I really want to do something about it. I've tried to work with poetry and had them write messages to each other but it didn't work at all, it felt as if I was trying to force the situation. I felt awful. I get along with them and they respect me, but it's just so difficult to develop group and pair work and create interaction.

At the language institute it's completely different. No serious problems with indiscipline, only a bit much of Portuguese talking in some classes. But there's this class I started work with two years ago that made me cry at home so many times. However, another interesting thing is that things can turn out completely different once you deepen your affective bonds with your studets. This group doesn't talk less, but I've established rapport and I have things under control most of the time now. I feel much more at ease when I'm with them. That's because I've really gotten to know these students and be aware of their abilities and personal preferences.

Personally, I believe there's no recipe for dealing with indiscipline. Each class has its peculiar characteristics. Try to work on them. And, also, it also affects us as human beings that have their own unique personalities. I feel really worn out when I have to talk louder to my students. It affects the way I teach, because I have to be okay and do it cheerfully in order to really be effective. I hate it when I lose it, because all I wanna do then is leave. I love my job and believe that being in classroom with them is such a good opportunity for sharing and learning from them. So it's a drag when I see they're not giving me anything.

Sheesh! Lol

Regards!
Milena

[Sally Olsen]

Good for you for sticking at it and getting to know your students better. That is the key. Strangers are treated differently in most cultures and being cool or even hostile is something that they learn at an early age. Of course, it is a good survival instinct if there is a possibility that strangers could be dangerous and so you are just experiencing the effect of this when you come to a new place. Many foreign teachers give up easily and don't encourage the children to respect them and some even use punishment and force to get a false respect. All these things end up influencing how the students treat a new teacher. Itr is not just a matter of one or two months but they will probably continue to test you for the whole year in one way or the other. I don't think it is a terrible thing to lose your cool over the situation once in awhile as long as you tell the students why you are angry and reassure them that you still like them as individuals. Working in a class is a skill and needs to be taught. We expect students to be able to come from a situation where they are the only child or at least the only one their age and suddenly be able to work with 20 - 80 other children of the same age. Many adults don't know the skills of working together, how to take a turn, alllow others to contribute and value their contributions, how to share materials and the teacher, and so on. I really believe that this is part of our job and I spend a lot of time working on these skills in the class. It has been called regulative instruction. Until the students have these regulative skills it is hard to give them academic instruction. It might be interesting with your grade 5 class to show them a movie where the young people are in cliques and treating one another badly and how that affects the person being picked on and then discuss what happened. They will be learning English during these discussions and they don't have to involve a lot of words - Be nice. Work hard. I learn the translation in their own language if that is appropriate.