My highly disobedient, uneducated first grade classes.

[john madden]

Yes, indeed.

Here is but one example.



Having clear lines and boundaries is another.

But you are not really interested in that, are you ?

As a first time father with a child aged two I am indeed interested in good advice that might inform my own efforts with her and for the future when she is in school.

[GuruT]

I have to say, the children not having "a grasp of English" is perhaps a little unfair. You are there for that exact reason. If they don't understand you, then it's up to you to go back to basics - classroom language and, unfortunately, you're going to have to use Indonesian.

How much teaching experience do you have? It sounds to me as though it may be helpful if you could have a classroom assistant/a local teacher to help with classroom management and, if needs be, translation.

Have you spoken with other teachers and/or the School Principal about your problems?

I can't go back to basics for the benefit of 25% of the class and deprive the others that actually want to learn and progress. That's why there are private tutors/classes.

I have a couple years of experience, but obviously, this class has been difficult. I prefer the older classes, but I do have my hands full with grades 1-9. It's not a bad idea to require a local teacher to assist in the classroom, I will check into that one. The other local teachers also agree that this class is more difficult that previous grade 1 classes, and as a result, it seems they are disciplining them fairly regularly, but without much affect I can speak Indo a bit but I am not supposed to, at least according to "the boss" that has little actual involvement with the school other than to collect his $$$.

[Bandong]

I can't go back to basics for the benefit of 25% of the class and deprive the others that actually want to learn and progress. That's why there are private tutors/classes.

I have a couple years of experience, but obviously, this class has been difficult. I prefer the older classes, but I do have my hands full with grades 1-9. It's not a bad idea to require a local teacher to assist in the classroom, I will check into that one. The other local teachers also agree that this class is more difficult that previous grade 1 classes, and as a result, it seems they are disciplining them fairly regularly, but without much affect I can speak Indo a bit but I am not supposed to, at least according to "the boss" that has little actual involvement with the school other than to collect his $$$.

But you said 80% (in your original post) weren't to a good standard and the other 20% don't listen anyway. My other post might be more useful than the original one you just quoted. Good luck.

[nd_eric_77]

This thread title makes me do a double-take each time I read it. I keep wanting to ask, "Just how 'educated' do you expect 6-year-olds to be?"

[Hombre de Maiz]

Twice as 'educated' as a three-year old?

[GuruT]

I haven't taught in the States, but many of these kids have just been thrown into this school with no former English lessons, and if they had them in kg, it doesn't show. Parents don't seem to care so much. I don't know if it's because they are shy, but over the past year only a few parents have actually come to my office to discuss concerns about their child's English grades.

So what if they don't know English, I can teach them English, but they have no discipline. I see each class just once a week and now I am tasked with teaching them discipline and English, I've got my hands full. I just wanted some suggestions to do the best I can. It's not like I am their class teacher, just once per week. So my time is limited and I really want to figure out a way to throw some English their way without always getting hung up their behavior.

[snowbeavers]

I don't think there's any quick fix here. I've had this problem before - you give them an inch in the first few weeks and they ... well you know the saying. I'm a relatively strict teacher as well. I've learnt from my earlier mistakes and new classes feel my wrath very early on in the semester if they misbehave. You may need to ride the wave until next year and start afresh with some very strict boundaries but here are a few ideas from my experience:

1. Good old faithful lines to be done outside the classroom for those who are naughty. The lines should cover off any vocab or grammar to make sure you're still achieving the target for the lesson (admittedly limited as this may actually be).
2. Lines for homework for work not done during class time.
3. Class punishments for individual behaviour. Peer pressure to behave can work wonders.
4. Individual rewards for good students. This may result in bad students wanting to perform.

I have to say, the children not having "a grasp of English" is perhaps a little unfair. You are there for that exact reason. If they don't understand you, then it's up to you to go back to basics - classroom language and, unfortunately, you're going to have to use Indonesian.

How much teaching experience do you have? It sounds to me as though it may be helpful if you could have a classroom assistant/a local teacher to help with classroom management and, if needs be, translation.

Have you spoken with other teachers and/or the School Principal about your problems?




PS I love how this forum tells me how to misspell my own ENGLISH English language! There's no such thing as American English so bug*** off :-)

How much teaching experience do you have?! Wow, it is scary the advice you can get from people on this forum. Lines? Group punishments for individuals?! Yikes...

[snowbeavers]

With the new school year came a whole new problem. My two first grade classes. These are kids from our KG and a bunch from other schools. I teach English speaking and listening. Even my 1st grade classes last year were bad, but not quite this bad.

They don't listen, only 3 or 4 out of almost 20 in each class have a decent grasp on English. Even the ones that have the grasp don't listen and/or understand the words "be quite please." They listen slightly more to Indonesian commands, but even the local teachers who are with them a bulk of the time get stressed out, and that is a teacher with plenty more experience than me.

I tried to administer reading tests today, one at a time, and I couldn't get them quiet while I called them to my desk one at a time. I know it's not the best solution, but the first couple times that I hit my tipping point, I had them put everything in their desks and sit perfectly quiet for the remainder of class. I know rewarding is better than punishing, but I don't even know how to approach these kids since the gap is so far from the ones who know things to the ones that know nothing.

If anyone has encountered something like this and has some proven techniques or advice to help me out...I'd be greatly appreciative and let you know the results of such techniques.

Thanks in advance!

Classroom management is a tricky thing but I have been teaching at various top tier international schools for 14 years and have taught every grade in elementary so will try to help you out. There are a couple of issues here to address so will do my best.

For starters, you should not be administering reading tests while being responsible for the whole class instruction. You should have a substitute there to do a whole-class activity while you do a 1:1 student assessment (outside the class). School admin should be supporting this decision. It might work better with upper elementary but would never do this for lower elementary. You should never expect a room full of students to "sit quietly at their desks". I wouldn't expect a room full of adults to be able to do this either.


My approach to classroom management is a very "firm but kind" approach that involves a lot of positive classroom community building to create an atmosphere of caring and collaborative learners. In 14 years, I have never raised my voice once in a classroom. To do this, you need to develop a system of clear routines and it takes a lot of praise and positive reinforcement. Have rules created in conjunction with students where they develop classroom agreements where it is modelled and continually reinforced. Give time where students get a chance to share and listen to others everyday so that they have a sense of belonging (one of Maslow's hierarchy of needs) and it will go along way with classroom management. Have fun, laugh and develop your own personal style.

The second thing is to come up with an easy signal to get the class's attention (a secret clap, chimes, etc) and practice that. Practice this constantly until students respond well. Constantly praise students who respond well and eventually this will help with 95% of the rest of you class.

If you do ever have to talk to students who do misbehave, do it privately, without emotion and make sure it is a natural consequence to the behavior. Try other strategies before this like moving them to a new location (near you).

The majority of the behavior management is coming from a lack of english and this is perfectly normal. Imagine if you were put in a classroom where they only language that is spoken is russian (assuming you don't speak it) and imagine how you would do!

Finally, I would do some professional reading. There are tons of great books on positive classroom management strategies, try doing some reading or try and observe some other teachers in action.

Sorry, the best I can do over an internet forum. Good luck.

One more thing, there is a rule out there that for every one piece of negative feedback, you need to give 7 instances of positive reinforcement (praise) to counteract that. Something to remember...

[GuruT]

now that is a quality reply, thanks so much snowbeavers!