Nightmare Class From hel_l

[jfchandler]

I was intrigued by Somtam's recommendations for handling class discipline... I'm not a teacher here in Thailand, but everyone in my family has worked as teachers in the U.S. for their entire lives...

So, I asked my Thai wife about her experience with discipline in government school here... She recalled, in progressing order of severity...

1. a stern talking to by the teacher in front of the class.

2. a variation on Somtam's arms raised technique... My wife recalled others in her class...not her she claims...being forced to stand on one leg, with arms held out parallel to the ground, and holding a plastic ruler in their mouth.

3, spanking with a switch either on the hands or buttocks, though she thought only in government schools, not in private ones...

4. and then the worst punishment, short of getting kicked out: she claims was the teacher forcing the errant student to stay after school for a week and clean the classroom...

For me, the spanking would have been worse. But the wife insists the class cleaning gig was the one thing everyone really wanted to avoid.

[elkangorito]

A length of bamboo seems to be the way to deal with this in Thailand.

Thankfully, this kind of thing is illegal in Thailand under the Child Protection Act.

It's a quick way to teach people how to hate others. It has never worked, it doesn't work & it will never work.

I'm glad I'm not one of your students (aka whipping posts).

[kevozman1]

A length of bamboo seems to be the way to deal with this in Thailand.

Thankfully, this kind of thing is illegal in Thailand under the Child Protection Act.

It's a quick way to teach people how to hate others. It has never worked, it doesn't work & it will never work.

I'm glad I'm not one of your students (aka whipping posts).

Hey I did not say I approved of disciplining students this way..................... jumping to

conclusions again (love this forum).

As you seem to be an expert on this subject you should also know that illegal or not

teachers in Thailand regulary discipline students physically, especailly in rural areas.

[Somtamnication]

There is a law that prohibits physical punishment but for the life of me, I cannot find it.

JFCHandler reminded me of the other one, classroom cleaning. They absolutely hate that. And I use it.

As forum is full of conclusions, I must state that what I do with them as far as punishment, is not done daily, but it is done at least once a week. They forget fast! And with other classes, none at all.

And to piss everyone else off here, I also do not allow those Bob Marley marijuana bracelets and jackets. First warning is to take them off, the second, well, the second I brake the bracelet and take the jacket. Funnily enough, not one parent has come to claim the jackets!

[Phatcharanan]

Bob Marley was amazing.

[Milo]

Impose your authority on the class with a seating plan, boy/girl/boy/girl at prathom 5 age would be good.

Start each lesson with a very, very simple independent activity. www.puzzlemaker.com has a variety of activities suitable for this, I find all kids enjoy the cryptogram (make sure they don't have to fill in too many letters!), and if they're really weak, vocab for the lesson in a wordsearch or a crossword where the clues are the answers (not too much thinking, remove some of the numbers so the kids have to think a little!)

Limit your time talking to the whole class to 5-6 minutes in the lesson, split into five 1 minute chunks, each followed by an activity.

With 43 kids, you're going to need to have most of your activities involving some sort of writing, cut and stick or drawing pictures activities.

As time goes by, you may be able to increase the difficulty of some of the activities, or give the stronger kids alternative activities to challenge them.

Any indiscipline, explain very clearly what the student has done and what the punishment is going to be.

Never raise your voice above loud talking.

Good points, though admittedly my experience was all with M4/5/6. Lots of games, get em shouting (English of course!), high energy/activity stuff (loads on Dave's ESL Cafe that can be easily adapted for large classes), wear them out with your warmer! Lesson time NEVER more than 20min, and a good 10min game (sorry, forgot the correct vernacular 'activity' lol!) to send em out smiling and looking forward to seeing you again next week.

When you've a barrage of complaints from the classes either side over noise levels; then you know you're hitting the mark and performing adequately. 50 Sts all speaking at the same time has that effect!

The 'Bamboo Cane' made me laugh, had a couple of colleagues suffering a spot of bother with their M1's/2's. Asked me to go in with said weapon, storm in, crack it on the desk to ensure complete attention, tell the class Ajarn Choon/Doc had left because they couldn't STAND their terrible behaviour for another second, and now they'd pulled the short straw...ME!! Slapping the cane on the desk once more just for good effect.

Thereafter forced to stalk menacingly around the classroom in an heroic attempt to disguise my inner mirth, flexing the cane, fielding the odd stammered question once they'd picked their agape jaws off their desks, and slapping the cane on another odd desk lid here & there just to fully ensure the fear of God was put up them, my associates would pop their heads around the door, big grins, sighs of relief all round, and much hilarity, especially when I let my own face crack a grin! Funny as hel_l, but the threat of me returning to teach them if they slumped back into old habits was always very effective I believe

Don't get me wrong, never did & never will believe in corporal punishment, had enough of that myself at school and it never made the slightest difference! Don't believe in threats & intimidation either, I was asked to do this by a couple of T's who were honestly at the end of their tethers, same situation as yourself, Thai T couldn't give a toss, usually conspicuous by their presence! My own Sts liked me because I was a bit of a clown, respected me because we had a certain amount of work to get through and we all understood that. I just made it as painless as possible for them? Still gave it up 3yrs ago though, thankless flaming task it is! My utmost respect for all of you who've made it a career/vocation, it was only ever a stop-gap for me, albeit 4yrs long :jap:

Hope you find a solution, each class with it's own personality was sometimes the trickiest part to fathom? I don't envy you!!

[elkangorito]

A length of bamboo seems to be the way to deal with this in Thailand.

Thankfully, this kind of thing is illegal in Thailand under the Child Protection Act.

It's a quick way to teach people how to hate others. It has never worked, it doesn't work & it will never work.

I'm glad I'm not one of your students (aka whipping posts).

Hey I did not say I approved of disciplining students this way..................... jumping to

conclusions again (love this forum).

As you seem to be an expert on this subject you should also know that illegal or not

teachers in Thailand regulary discipline students physically, especailly in rural areas.

And I didn't say that you approved of such things although your inference was that you did.

Edited August 16, 2010 by elkangorito

[jfk]

well guys, i just had the class yesterday. from now on its going to be games all the way. recently we were learning about rooms in school and adjectives. so i took all the flashcards i had on these subject and another 30 from other subjects and spread them out in the circle in the centre of the all weather football pitch.

i then put them into 2 teams and two at a time called out the name of the adjective or room and they would have to run from the goal to the centre looking for the relevant flashcard.

i did it for 45 minutes and they were exhausted. i just wrote down the scores and called out the names. no stress,no worries.

just have to think of another game for next week.

many thanks for the replies that were relevant to my question. for the others i,m glad my post give you another outlet to rant.

best regards. :jap:

[ScouseTommy]

Waiing is respect and manners, Scott.

The issue of being a bit of a bull in the classroom has to do with stopping them from stereotyping the falang teacher. With them watching western movies, tv and games, they assume we are all the same.

If you do not control the classroom on the first day of class, you lose them for the rest of the year.

JAIYENYEN. I will not respond to your personal attack.

This may be resolved by now, but i have had similar problems with prathom 1 and KG classes. I know Tefl is a by word here but TPR really is the way to go. I would strongly recommend re-writing your lesson plans to tailor the teaching to team events! Split the class into 2,3 even 4 teams. Make a competition out of it! Also make clear if they work hard then the last 5-10 minutes of class are their own to chat, text, whatever they want to do!! Try finding out what music they are into, what there favourite movies are at the moment, and if they are girls, who they think is 'hot' at the moment. Build these into lesson plans to get the kids attention. To be honest the home room teacher sounds like a waste of space. All you can do is try!!!

[Phatcharanan]

problems with prathom 1 and KG classes. I know Tefl is a by word here but TPR really is the way to go.

TPR may be the way to go for your particular circumstances but not for everyone. You could also say 'Montessori' is the way to go etc. Different horses for different courses.

[chuckacinco]

I really enjoyed the success story at the end. Get out of the power struggle.

For me, so much of the discomfort when I have been in a situation like this was based on the misplaced idea that my competence as a teacher was in question. I don't believe that teaching those that do not wish to be taught to be a requirement for being a good teacher. There are many books on classroom management and many teaching forums. I would recommend English Teacher Ning as one of the many quality teaching forums.

As a teacher I would resent that I would be in a position to have to enforce my subject on an unwilling audience. I have taught in Bangkok for 20 years at a wide-range of schools. I have never won a power struggle despite being physically large, stern looking, and prepared to teach a specific lesson. I have had success "calling the Thai teacher" but felt like I was copping out. In the end, the middle way of what you are doing sounds good.

In the end, my lesson was how much my ego wanted to control rather find an alternate strategy (what you have discovered). Relax and do the best you can do. I honestly feel in a very short time you will have won them over to a workable (but not perfect) solution. My discovery of finding compromise and trying something new took longer than I'd care to admit.

Please post again. I would love to hear how this works out.

chuckacinco

[nowhereman]

"If you do not control the classroom on the first day of class, you lose them for the rest of the year."

I agree with Somtamnication.

And how much respect you really earned you will see next year, when you meet your old students on Teacher's Day. If they come to pay respect, you did a great job.

Some knowledge of Thai language would be beneficial, too.

Most of all be your self, and do your job best you can. No matter what the circumastances are. Don't give up doing the best you can and Jai-Yen-Yen....be cool.

[richard10365]

Kick them out of the class before the class starts. Tell them to report to the head of the English department for disciplinary training.

[Phatcharanan]

"If you do not control the classroom on the first day of class, you lose them for the rest of the year."

I agree with Somtamnication.

And how much respect you really earned you will see next year, when you meet your old students on Teacher's Day.

Can't agree with the first statement. You could be recovering from being sick.......just have a bad day, promised resources not in place that blows your lesson plans etc.

As long as you are consistent, stick to the agreed rules.........it does not matter if takes 1 day, 1 week or even a month. Stick with it always, they will come around.

Second statement does probably not apply to most Thai schools as the students are 'instructed' to do this in any event.