Classroom Management with Young Children

It can be difficult to manage a classroom of children, even if they are only three !
Here is a question from a teacher on managing her classroom of mixed ages - not an easy task...

QUESTION

"In one class I have  8 children. 6 of age 5 and  2 of  age 3.
The 3 years old are distracting the rest of the class, meaning they scream, throw the animals toys around the class ,turn over the small chairs etc etc.  I was running after them trying to involve them in  the game activities.

Yesterday I  was exhausted at the end of the lesson.
I gave the 5 years old animals coloring page and told them to cut and glue it at the board.
Then I took the two 3 years old and I played, or rather tried to play on the floor with the animals.
They started screaming, running and bothering the others 

Any suggestions on how to handle  them and the lesson?"

ANSWER

To manage this classroom well you cannot abandon the majority of the class to colouring.

As you have the majority of the class aged five and only two 3 year olds I would do the opposite of what you are doing currently.  That is to say instead of abandoning the five year olds to colouring, where they won't be learning English and devoting yourself to the two brats (!) I would ignore the brats and focus on teaching the five year olds.

The three year olds cannot learn at the same pace as the five year olds (unique exceptions aside).  If you go at the pace of the three year olds the five year olds will be bored out of their minds.  Focus on the older ones and let the three year olds absorb what they can as sponges.  Ideally you might even drop them from the class since they are a total nuisance.

You'll have to crack down on those three year olds so that you can get on with giving a proper English lesson to the others.  If you don't eventually the parents will notice that no-one is learning anything !  Everyone loses with the current set up:
1. Five year olds are not learning and will be dissatisfied
2. Three year olds are being rewarded with your full attention for behaving badly
3. You are exhausted
4. Parents will be dissatisfied with the results

So you have to change things radically and I would do it by:

1. Drop the three year olds from the class if you can, they are a nuisance in this context.
2. Tell them off if they scream and throw things, let them play QUIETLY in the room while you are teaching.  From time to time encourage them to join in but give them easy tasks, things they know, things you know they can do.  They will absorb the English slowly and it's still good for them to be in the room hearing English spoken around them.

Classroom management is as vital as the subject being taught.  With an badly managed classroom no one can learn anything and the teachers gets exhausted.

For more classroom management tips please see these two articles:
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Classroom_Management.htm
and
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Classroom_Discipline.htm

All the best
Shelley

How to deal with mixed age-groups among children

Hello my dear Blog readers,

This post concerns a lady teaching a mixed age group of children from three to seven, in small groups, the problems she is having and my suggestions to her.

If you are also teaching children in a mixed age group then you might like this post.

FIRST THE TEACHER'S BACKGROUND

> Hi Shelley,
>
> How are you? I don't know if you respond to queries but in case you do, I
> thought I'd write to you. I have bought lots of your e- books on teaching
> English through games. Previously I have used them intermittently with
> texts books as I have been working in fairly traditional academies and the
> children have enjoyed the games immensely.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PUPILS

> This year I have the amazing opportunity to create my own syllabus in a centre
> which supports teaching through play, I have no desks, no chairs and no books,
> just 10 children between 3 and 7 years of age. Most of the children are about 5
> and there is the odd 7 year old and three year old. I have them once a week for
< one hour.

NOW FOR THE PROBLEM

The problem is I am finding it very difficult to control them, I
> can´t get all their attention at the same time and I can't get the games up and
> running effectively. I am finding that they get over excited and chaos
> reigns in the classroom. I am beginning to get angry, which doesn't work
> either. I find it easier getting them doing some arty/crafty exercise even
> though I don't feel that it is hugely beneficial to their English. HMMMPH!
> Would you have any helpful tips by any chance?
>
> I would greatly appreciate any advice you have, however I'd understand if
> you get inundated with questions like this one.

AND MY SUGGESTIONS

Thanks for your email. I do indeed respond to all queries.

I'm glad you have had good use out of the resources so far. They should
be absolutely IDEAL for your small group teaching situation.

The major challenge that you have is having a three year old in there with
the other children - I mean is that MAD or what!

I would see if you can have the three year olds separately, or not at all.
They just do not function at the same pace as the others. Still if you
have to keep them there then I would more or less not worry about teaching
them anything - let them absorb what they can, ask them simple vocab
questions when it's their turn (such as always asking them "blue" while
the others are on silver, gold and purple.

Don't IGNORE the three year olds but don't hold back the class to teach
them. Just tell them how well they are doing, smile, encouragement, and
ask them v. easy stuff that they know. Then they will at least feel part
of the team.

I would aim to go at the pace of the five year olds and try to give the
seven year olds (who presumably can learn faster) some jobs like leading
games. For example if you play All Change, at first you call out the
words/sentences. Then give the seven year olds a turn at that, so they
feel special, they are being stretched beyond the others, and they are not
bored by the class.

With small groups it really is possible to quite a bit of tailoring like
that.

An ideal thing for that is my plays and skits because you can give the
bigger roles to the older ones. The three year old can be paired up with
an older child and be given the same lines, and it really does not matter
if they say them or not - I mean don't worry - those kids will pick
something up whatever - but you cannot go at their pace or you will lose
the rest of the class.

There is a free play in the Food lesson plans called The Best Restaurant
and all the flashcards you need including the worm paté and the fly soup.
Try that out. If you like it there's another one on the plays page called
Ready Steady Go. One of the seven year olds could be the driver for
example, that part has the most lines.

I do think that when you only have them once a week for an hour it is a
bit of a cop-out to do arts and crafts! Take a look in the primary games
book detailed index for games that are described as calm. There are
plenty of nice calm games like the Find the Pairs Memory game. It's v.
possible to play games like All Change calmly too.

I used to say things like "Would you like me to speak to your father when
he comes to collect you?" I never made threats that I did not carry out.

Check out on my articles page - there are two or three articles on
classroom dicipline / management - quite a few ideas there though I think
I put them all in the introduction of the primary games book.

I hope some of you reading this post found it useful!

Kind regards
Shelley