Class Management

aprilmagic · Post by **aprilmagic** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:59 am

Do you have any techniques that will stop students from using their primary language in the classroom?

pbear8 · Post by **pbear8** » Sun May 01, 2005 6:53 pm

Just bumping this up for you.

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Sun May 01, 2005 7:43 pm

When teaching Spanish teenagers, I found one useful approach was that whenever the students played any kind of competitive game, speaking their own language was instantly penalised. For example, if they played a boardgame, anyone who spoke Spanish had to go back two spaces. They were so keen to win that they policed each other.

It's called "divide and rule"

Tara B · Post by **Tara B** » Mon May 02, 2005 4:31 pm

Participation points are the most effective thing I've seen (or tried). You can give positive points for speaking English, negative points for speaking their native language. I like this because you don't have to ruin the affective filter with it--you don't have to get grumpy about Spanish (or whatever) --you can do it with a smile!

You can start everybody with a certain number of points at the beginning of each week if you want. Then they lose points for speaking their native language (OR anytime they break any class rule. . .) and get extra credit for participating in English.

The only downside is you have to walk around with a clipboard.

Showem · Post by **Showem** » Tue May 10, 2005 2:25 pm

One thing I tried one class was to tick each time someone said a sentence in English and each time they said a sentence in German. This was for an adult class and for a little while it was quite effective when I showed them that they had said 14 sentences in English and 32 in German. The effect wore off unfortunately, I may do it again.

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Tue May 10, 2005 8:26 pm

I used to go to the back of the classroom where they kept their schedule and show them that this was English period. I got blue and red M & M's (candy) and asked them to choose which pill they would take - to keep speaking their own language or to try to speak English as they had seen in the movie, the Matrix. I pretended that I was Agent Smith and zapped them with English. I translated when I could when they spoke their own language or got some of better students to translate. I taped what they said in their own language and asked my colleagues to translate at breaks and then played the tape back and said the translation in the next period. But I also emphasized over and over that their language was the best for them for most occassions and that it was powerful and positive and that I was learning it and they could teach me and that I was impressed that they knew three languages and so on. I do think that you need to do everything you do with a sense of humour or a smile as mentioned above and never give the impression that English is "better". It is just the subject of that period and might be useful for some of them.

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Tue May 10, 2005 10:17 pm

Having proposed a way, I have to say that I don't agree with the mantra "use only English in class". In a monolingual class I think there are times when it's quite legitimate to explain in L1, especially when time is short. Paradoxically, translating expressions (not word for word translations) into L1 can be a big help as it actually drives home the point that students can't just think in L1 and transpose.

If students are talking about the subject in L1, I don't see a problem either. Sometimes a quick L1 explanation from a helpful classmate saves a long explanation in English which you may not be sure has been understood. Not only is getting students to explain something a great way of helping them retain it, they sometimes explain things to each other better than I can, especially when there's a generational gap in addition to the linguistic and cultural ones.

Of course, if they say something in L1 which they really should know how to say in English, insist on the latter.