worksheet

Kids’CornerBody mattersJohn BattyOne of the most difficult aspectsof teaching English is disciplineand classroom control. Theyhave an important effect on motivation andthe amount of learning that goes on in theclassroom.The most effective learning environment isnormally found in a classroom where a teacher isfirm but kind and encouraging. The teacher shouldbe consistent in his/her way of maintainingdiscipline as children notice inconsistency quickly.Using humiliation or bullying is not advised as itcould result in the inhibition of the students,making teaching a second language more difficult,especially when we consider that we want thechildren to use English freely and actively. Theteacher should set an example so we shouldbehave as we want them to behave.Getting the children’s attention•Hold your hand up in the air, or clap, or blow awhistle. Do not speak until you have theirattention. Then one or two of the children willnotice you and begin to tell their classmates tobe quiet.•Give a series of instructions, i.e. put your pensdown and close your books, or Simon says typeinstructions, for example, touch your mouth andyour ear, good. Now touch your knee and yourhead.•Make eye contact with the noisier children andsay their name in a normal voice or possiblytouch them lightly on the head or shoulder.Maintaining a fairly low noise level•Make silence flashcards with either a picture orthe word silence or both, which can be used bythe teacher. The students can also use them whenthey feel that the noise level is too high.•Don’t shout above the noise of the class; this willjust add to the noise level and also harm yourvoice.•Make eye contact with the noisier students andmake calming down actions with arms andhands.Calming a class down•When planing the lesson, the teacher shouldthink about the rhythm of the lesson and when touse stirring activities and when to use settlingones.•Have a “time out” chair where the students cango and take time out for a couple of minutes orbe sent so that they can calm down or thinkabout why they have misbehaved. While on thischair the students can’t talk to classmates or takepart in the activity.•Play background music. A collection of CDs ofrelaxing music (classical, ethnic, etc.) could bebuilt up and played at a low volume whilestudents are working. This is not only good forrelaxation but also good for concentration.•Use “settling” activities such as Simon says, 1-2-3 Freeze, Dead soldiers, etc.Developing responsible behaviour•The students and teacher make and sign a classcontract.•The students make illustrated classroom ruleswhich can be displayed around the classroomand then referred to when they are broken.Organisation of learning activitiesSometimes the class becomes disruptive and hardto handle as a result of inappropriate tasks that theteacher might have chosen while planning thelesson. Here are some questions that the teachercan ask him/herself to see if the students’disruptiveness is due to the teacher’s lessonplanning.9