It is also proven that the best way to manage the students, and to avoid problems in the EFL classroom is to have a good lesson. A good lesson will encourage the students to be active, and to participate in the classroom. Also, a student who is active will be far from boredom, because a student who is bored in the classroom usually creates problem.
If you are a teacher who is having burn-out in handling classroom discipline, then do not be discouraged. You just need to change the way you manage your students. Let me share the 10 tips that can help you manage your students, and to have a successful classroom discipline.
1. Do not start the first day of your class with a poor discipline plan.
According to the book written by Harry K. Wong, “First Day of School”, it is important for the teachers to discuss the classroom procedures at the beginning of the first day of school. Students must know what they should do, including the rules of the classroom. Rules must be explained and students must understand it.
2. Be consistent of the rules.
If you don’t want the students to lose respect in you, then be consistent with your rules. If you see a student misbehaves today, and you just ignored it, and the following day, you see another student who did the same thing, and you get angry, then you are not a consistent teacher. You cannot let your emotion dictates you in giving discipline to your students.
3. Be fair.
You must be fair to all students if you want them to follow you. Students can sense if you treat them equally. If you are not being fair, students will not follow your rules.
4. Avoid giving your students free time during class hours.
Many teachers are doing it including myself. However, I’ve noticed that this is not good, and it should be avoided. By giving your students free time will create problems like making noise, disruption of other classes, etc. You are also showing your students that you did not prepare well. In case your lesson runs short, then give them additional activities based on the lesson. Also, always include in your lesson plan extra activities, so you’ll never run out of lessons again.
5. Avoid confrontations in front of the students.
If someone misbehaves in the class, do not confront him/her in front of other students. It is very embarrassing on the part of the student to ‘lose face’. Also, it will give a bad impression for you as a teacher. It is better to talk to the students privately about the problem and deal with it.
6. Do not discipline the student while you are angry.
It is normal for a teacher to get upset or angry if a student misbehaves in the class. However, it is not good if you will discipline the students while you are angry. The best rule is to keep cool. If you are calm, you can think properly of what to do and how to deal with the student.
7. Simple actions will help you control the students.
English young learners are the most active students in the school. If you will be given a chance to teach this group of learners, you can do these simple actions to control them:
• if a student misbehave or talks, he/she can be quieted by standing next to him / her.
• a simple gentle hand placed on the shoulder will help the student to settle down.
• a smile on your face with a little humor will get things back on track if the students are noisy.
8. Prevention is the best action
If you will teach in another country, or will handle a group of students from a different culture, then it is better to get some ideas from your employer of what rules are acceptable in the classroom. Sometimes, what we might think is wrong for us is good for them.
9. Make your rules understandable.
Your classroom rules must be clear and students should understand it. They must also know what will be the consequence if someone breaks the rules. Moreover, think of rules that are acceptable if you will teach English in other countries.
10. A little knowledge of their language can be helpful.
If you are a TEFL teacher, then it is better if you know some phrases of the students’ language. One of the common reasons why there are problems in EFL /ESL classroom is because of language barriers. It doesn’t mean that you will use their language, but sometimes you need to communicate with them in simple phrases for them to understand you. This is helpful if you will teach English beginners or no knowledge of English at all. Here are the common phrases and you can speak in their own language:
• Please.
• Keep quiet.
• Sit down.
• I do not understand.
• Could you repeat it again?
• Thank you.
• etc.
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