I'm a recently graduated English teacher in Tucuman, Argentina. The ages of the students in my class range from 17 to 50. They have English classes as part of their accelerated Secondary School studies. Their interests and motivations are different. The youngest don't like the subject, never pay attention to what is taught and prevent the rest of the class from doing so, appart from being aggressive. The oldest are more respectful and they listen to me because they want to learn and understand. They are more responsible and committed to the subject. The problem is that they are more anxious to learn and demand more information, while the rest of the class does not advance because they don't pay attention.
My first problem is that, as this is my first experience as a teacher, I don't know how to catch the attention of the youngest students who don't like the subject and how to deal with their aggressive behaviour. The second problem is how to deal with their different levels of English, since the adults learn eveything more easily and quickly and demand more information.
If anyone could give me some advice, I would be very thankful.
Conflictive classroom
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
Hi Connie
ELT Notebook has some very good articles on classroom management which may hep you:
http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/search/ ... 0Variables
Keith
http://www.eslbase.com/
ELT Notebook has some very good articles on classroom management which may hep you:
http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/search/ ... 0Variables
Keith
http://www.eslbase.com/
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Sally Olsen
- Posts: 1322
- Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:24 pm
- Location: Canada,France, Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, Greenland, Canada, Mongolia, Ethiopia next
I am not quite sure about the suggestions in the former link.
I agree that you have to have confidence in yourself but to think of yourself as the boss of the classroom is a bit outdated in my view. I think of myself as a facilitator and try to give as much responsibility as I can to the students. To be the boss means that you have the responsibility so you have to control their behaviour. It is much better to let them learn to control their own behaviour.
To give consequences like staying 5 minutes after class causes you to lose your break as well and I always found I needed my break for more important matters like getting materials, going to the washroom or just chilling out to get mentally ready for the next class.
In some places, the classroom belongs to the students and the teachers are just visitors so you can't keep them outside in lines waiting for them to behave or solve disputes.
I spend quite a bit of time at the beginning of the year in regulative matters and take time in the class to discuss disruptive behaviours as they happen and the reasons for the students to be co-operative with the group. Many students now are only children and haven't learned the skills of working in groups. They need instruction in this, not someone yelling at them to be good.
I spend more time talking to individuals in the breaks to find out why they are disrputing the groups and even more time getting to know these students personally after school - finding out their strengths and responsibilities after school - watching them at sports or dancing at the cafe or working in the local stores.
Once you have established yourself as a caring person, you can spend more time in the lessons on instructional matters.
You are who you are, so you can't be boss if you are not a bossy person but the students will respect you if they think you are trying to do the best for them and can show them how your course effects them in the larger scheme of things.
I always give them an outline of the course and show them how far they are along in their learning so they have a goal to work towards and try never to give them busy work to just keep them occupied. If they need to review, they should do it for a reason, not to just keep them busy for the first ten minutes.
If they are to be quiet for instructions, then they have to be quiet while other students are talking as well or be quiet while they are writing something that requires individual projects such as practicing for the exam where they must work for themselves.
I never take the register in class and think that is such a waste of time for everyone. I usually have a student mark it for me at the beginning until I know all their names and then just mark the students who are away - it is such a waste of everyone's time iin my opinion and tasks like that do undermine the student's respect because you are wasting their time.
I can't see giving some students less work and it being possible that the rest of the students wouldn't notice. I can't imagine anything more embarrassing for the slower students because everyone will know.
I would rather put students into groups where the brighter students helped the slower ones to complete the task.
Giving students 10 minutes for anything never works and no one believes in these times because teachers go over all the time. The task should be relevant so it takes whatever time necessary to finish it and learn it. Those finished should have something else to do that is also relevant or be able to enjoy a little free time doing something non-interrputive to the others.
I agree that you have to have confidence in yourself but to think of yourself as the boss of the classroom is a bit outdated in my view. I think of myself as a facilitator and try to give as much responsibility as I can to the students. To be the boss means that you have the responsibility so you have to control their behaviour. It is much better to let them learn to control their own behaviour.
To give consequences like staying 5 minutes after class causes you to lose your break as well and I always found I needed my break for more important matters like getting materials, going to the washroom or just chilling out to get mentally ready for the next class.
In some places, the classroom belongs to the students and the teachers are just visitors so you can't keep them outside in lines waiting for them to behave or solve disputes.
I spend quite a bit of time at the beginning of the year in regulative matters and take time in the class to discuss disruptive behaviours as they happen and the reasons for the students to be co-operative with the group. Many students now are only children and haven't learned the skills of working in groups. They need instruction in this, not someone yelling at them to be good.
I spend more time talking to individuals in the breaks to find out why they are disrputing the groups and even more time getting to know these students personally after school - finding out their strengths and responsibilities after school - watching them at sports or dancing at the cafe or working in the local stores.
Once you have established yourself as a caring person, you can spend more time in the lessons on instructional matters.
You are who you are, so you can't be boss if you are not a bossy person but the students will respect you if they think you are trying to do the best for them and can show them how your course effects them in the larger scheme of things.
I always give them an outline of the course and show them how far they are along in their learning so they have a goal to work towards and try never to give them busy work to just keep them occupied. If they need to review, they should do it for a reason, not to just keep them busy for the first ten minutes.
If they are to be quiet for instructions, then they have to be quiet while other students are talking as well or be quiet while they are writing something that requires individual projects such as practicing for the exam where they must work for themselves.
I never take the register in class and think that is such a waste of time for everyone. I usually have a student mark it for me at the beginning until I know all their names and then just mark the students who are away - it is such a waste of everyone's time iin my opinion and tasks like that do undermine the student's respect because you are wasting their time.
I can't see giving some students less work and it being possible that the rest of the students wouldn't notice. I can't imagine anything more embarrassing for the slower students because everyone will know.
I would rather put students into groups where the brighter students helped the slower ones to complete the task.
Giving students 10 minutes for anything never works and no one believes in these times because teachers go over all the time. The task should be relevant so it takes whatever time necessary to finish it and learn it. Those finished should have something else to do that is also relevant or be able to enjoy a little free time doing something non-interrputive to the others.
Hello connie, and welcome to the cafe!
I think Sally has given some good advice (as always!). In fact, there are many experienced teachers who have visited this forum in the past, you will find a lot of ideas by using the 'search' function (at the top of the screen). Try searching for key words like 'mixed levels' or 'disruptive students'.
If I can add a point of my own, I think it's interesting to learn about how people learn. Some people (often older students) like to know the theory, they like to ask questions, they are really happy when they discover rules or mnemonics. Others (often younger learners) want, even need, to be challenged - competitions, trying to beat their friends, who is the first to finish this exercise, etc. Younger students are often more tactile - they like to write on the board, rearrange cut up lists into the right order, they like video, they want to express their opinions, they like to move around, etc.
In your post you don't say how many students you have but it may be possible to do group work, using different exercises with different groups. Alternatively, it's sometimes interesting to mix things up completely, will the young ones be so disruptive if they are paired with an older student?
This is all part of your career development as a trainer - don't give up! The situation will improve as you gain more experience.
I think Sally has given some good advice (as always!). In fact, there are many experienced teachers who have visited this forum in the past, you will find a lot of ideas by using the 'search' function (at the top of the screen). Try searching for key words like 'mixed levels' or 'disruptive students'.
If I can add a point of my own, I think it's interesting to learn about how people learn. Some people (often older students) like to know the theory, they like to ask questions, they are really happy when they discover rules or mnemonics. Others (often younger learners) want, even need, to be challenged - competitions, trying to beat their friends, who is the first to finish this exercise, etc. Younger students are often more tactile - they like to write on the board, rearrange cut up lists into the right order, they like video, they want to express their opinions, they like to move around, etc.
In your post you don't say how many students you have but it may be possible to do group work, using different exercises with different groups. Alternatively, it's sometimes interesting to mix things up completely, will the young ones be so disruptive if they are paired with an older student?
This is all part of your career development as a trainer - don't give up! The situation will improve as you gain more experience.