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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Classroom Management for Teenagers
Classroom Management for Teenagers
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ironik
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Classroom Management for Teenagers
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hello everyone, this year I �m teaching 7 year-olds and 12 year-olds. classroom management is not a big deal for my little ones, rewarding them with certificates and stickers mostly work, and they are very eager to learn, always want to learn some more.
however, I cannot say the same thing for my 12 year-olds. They are at the beginning of adolescence, I can understand that. Still, sometimes there seems nothing I could do to make the lesson interesting. And unlike the little ones, they are very eager to keep me away from the lesson. They always talk in mother tongue and claim they don �t understand if I speak in English. I call the ones who don �t do their homeworks to a detention session in the lunch time as a school policy, but it doesn �t seem to work either. Any ideas about what I could do about keeping their interest and making them follow the lesson? |
15 Dec 2010
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Fragrant.Perfume
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am facing the same problem !! that �s really embarassing, I sometimes find myself unable to think or make things clear . I get really lost, feel am gonna fail .. pupils are very agitated at that age !! I �ll be hapy if someone here would help .. thanks in advance .. and the best of luck for everyone.. |
15 Dec 2010
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ueslteacher
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Hello, Pelin, There �s one thing that I �ve been trying lately with my teens I call it Assessment Chart and here �s how it goes: I write my ss � names on the board (can be a small white board but I use a part of my "green" board) and I put + or - next to the ss names as they answer or participate in activities, the more pluses they get the more active they seem to be as the s with the most pluses gets the highest mark, you could also think of the rating system. But there �s one disadvantage though: ss can get overly competitive and the ones who can not compete (e. g. weaker, shier ones) tend to loose interest. So to avoid that you should devote part of your time to cooperative/group learning where there �s place to peer evaluation or self assessment. I �m not that experienced but there are tons of articles, books and videos on cooperative learning. And here are some tips you may find useful. I guess I can relate to where you �re coming from  I too have these problems with teens. Wishing you all the best, Sophia
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15 Dec 2010
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Fragrant.Perfume
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thanks, that seems awesome and very useful, I �ve already perpared a homework chart either, I �ll use both charts, I do believe they �ll help !! you �re great, thanks a lot Sophia :))) |
15 Dec 2010
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ironik
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thanks a lot, your ideas are really useful. and my students are really competitive, however there is this thing going on: I �m teaching in a private school and in Turkey the students should get the highest marks to get into a proper high school. so the school is blowing the grades and everyone gets 100 for all their lessons. so they aren �t afraid of grades, pluses or minuses at all. that really makes everything harder :( still i will try some of them, thanks again for sharing!
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15 Dec 2010
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MoodyMoody
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I teach adults who are very motivated to learn, so I don �t have that problem. One thing I notice when looking at new worksheets is that many of them include pop songs in English. Could you incorporate pop songs into your lessons? Maybe if the class as a whole has a certain number of plusses, some of the last class of the week could be devoted to a pop song in English. I imagine You Tube and other video sites have tons of things you could use, and maybe another teacher here has done some of the work for you, too. |
15 Dec 2010
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clpycoc
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I teach Grades 1 through 6, so I have the same ages as you. I recently took over the class the beginning of November from their previous teacher and I decided to go in there larger than life and do something they would be interested in. We explored the history of Remembrance Day (November 11)through a powerpoint and photos with some history of the 1st World War. They had to fill in a listening sheet and later make a triptych illustrating their knowledge. They also had to memorize the poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. Now we are doing activities around a film (Free Willy) about a 12 year old boy and a captive orca whale. Because the boy is 12, the kids can really relate to it. I will be posting these things soon on eslprintables. All kids love films, and a really good site is www.teachwithmovies.org. In order to get cooperation from students, you really need the support of the administration otherwise teachers are powerless. It is unfortunate that there is no consequence for doing no work. Am I right in thinking that the school does not allow students to fail? This is teaching them that there are no consequences for their actions. (Really bad!) Their high school will be in for a shock when they realize that their incoming students � grades have absolutely nothing to do with the reality of their knowledge! Good luck! |
15 Dec 2010
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reeta1
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I �m Tribes Trained, which is activity-based and focuses on team-building skills. It �s the best workshop I ever took, and I use the activities constantly, and with a little thought, they fit right into your lessons. PM me for more info.
As for detention, a while ago I read that detention doesn �t change the behavior, so I stopped giving it. Why send a student to sit in a room at recess for the fourth time to think about his behaviour? He didn �t think about it the first three times, and this time isn �t going to be any different. I would inform the parents that their child isn �t doing any work, then if you keep them in, tell them it �s until the work is done, it �s not a detention. Give them a couple of chances to complete the work, then if it still isn �t finished, send it home and tell the parents to make sure their child finishes it by this date. Then again, it depends on the expectations of your school. |
16 Dec 2010
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Errie
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I do the same thing as Sophia already has mentioned. I do this for about 7 years now and it works well. I write down all the students names at the beginning of the lesson and write down a plus or minus behind the names. The students who don �t have a minus at the end of the month, will get a little present. This can be a pencil, eraser or something else cheap.
All my students know that if they have more than 10 times a minus I �ll inform the parents about it. If nothing is changing I �ll let the parents (or one of them) come to my school to have a talk. This has never happend in all those 7 years that I �m teaching here in Japan.
Good luck and don �t forget......they �re just kids and they still have a lot to learn.
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16 Dec 2010
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