little 5 year old monsters!!!

[megz]

okay i am teaching 10 kids who really dont understand anything i am saying they are really hyper and like to run around. i have tried to play games and cant explain the games to them so they really dont work. i have even tried doing actions for them too.

when they are being bad i want them to stop. But i dont really know how to punish them.. or get their attention to let them know that they are being bad.. does anyone have any ideas of how to get them to stop being little monsters???

i would really appreciate the help

[Sivagami Muthusamy]

You sound so frustrated and tired. Don't worry, help is on the way. Young students can be a hand full but with the right approach and techniques, you could definitely overcome your problem. You should try implementing more hands on activities which involves maximum student participation in the teaching and learning process which in turn would increase feelings of appreaciation among the students.You should also try being a friend to them as in listening to what they have to say and participating in their games. Maybe they would warm up to you and start responding to your instructions. I have tried this approach with my six year olds and found it very effective. You should try avoiding punishment and shouting at them as this would further worsen the situation as they would feel threatened. Good luck in handeling your students and don't give up, they would defenitely start resonding to you sooner or latter.

[Samahah]

Hi meqz! i am sorry to hear your experience with your students. First of all you must consider that they are still too young to comprehend everything you said. The trick is to be patient in most of the time. I do understand that it is not easy to do such thing but it is worth more than shouting and scolding them every time. As a teacher, I had faced such experience like you before. I do agree with sivagami's suggestion to you. Here are my suggestion that you can consider to try.

1) Get their hands busy with materials like clay. Ask them to creat something according to your topic of the day. Put them away from each other so that they can have their own pace of working .

2) Ask them to justify their creation in front of the class so as to give them more responsibility to finish their task.

3) Make sure you give clear instruction on what they have to do each time. It is too important after all.

4) Be friend with them.

5) Draw their attention with topics that suit to their interest.

Hope you get some ideas to handle your students. Good luck.

[shannonsensei]

i understand how frustrating this can be. here are some things that have worked for me:
1. you probably have some sort of set structure for your lesson. try switching up the order of things. for example, if you usually end the class with singing and dancing, try starting the class with singing and dancing. if they can't anticipate what's coming next, then they're more likely to pay (at least a little) attention.
2. ignore the bad kids while praising the good kids. kids often act out when they want attention from the teacher. they don't always care whether it's good or bad attention. they have learned that by acting out they get the attention of the teacher. so if lil billy is running around the classroom, he often gets the teacher's attention, even though lil johnny is paying attention and wants to learn. try to ignore billy and start praising johnny for his good behavior. billy will start to realize that he needs to be good to get the teachers attention.
i remember one time, i was having a hard time getting this boy riki to help cleaning up. i kept yelling at him to clean up, but he wouldn't do it. suddenly i remembered the advice i just gave you and i started praising other kids for doing such a great job cleaning. immediately, riki started cleaning so that he could get my praise too.
3. give a reward at the end of class for all those who behaved well. i use "smiles" (just a smiley face drawn on a piece of paper), but stickers work well too. this works better if there is someone to explain in the native language why the child did not receive a sticker.
4. talk to the parents and find out what sort of disciplining methods they use at home. use the same ones at school. (within reason. i had one mother say "well, if she bits someone, you should bite her back.")
5. play a game that involves chasing and tickling them. for example, have all students touch a part of the teacher's arms. when you shout "red" they must run around the room and find something red to touch. if they are not touching red, you can tickle them.

mmmm....that's all i can think of for now.
love,
shannon

[EFLwithlittleones]

For my kindergarten class I have certain structured routines, like the 5 minute yoga session at the beginning of each day followed by 'alphasheets' (in the Cookbook on this site under 'Peter's Kindy ABCs'). I keep games to a minimum and for short periods to add rhythm to a lesson. Kindergarten children will cut and stick all day so use tasks which involve making little A4 friezes with captions (on particular themes) using scissors, glue and feltips to absorb their attention. Create group listening by electing a scribe and assistants who search the classroom for words and 'report' them back to be written down. Think of a lesson like a piece of music with slow and quick, loud and quiet movements. Let the children be noisy at your command only. I lead the yoga sessions partly to remind the children of who is in charge. Use a puppet to help with grammar points (in the cookbook on this site under 'Peter's Puppet Playmate'). Don't force the children to speak. In fact don't force them to do anything. As children are working, walk about the classroom and use commentary to give comprehensible input, eg. 'Niko is colouring his sheep green'. Apply praise sparingly and appropriately and ignore bad behaviour. If a child is really out of control deal with it through the parents or the school.

For ideas and worries watch and post on the new Preschool Forum on this website.

Peter H.