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Ask for help > Discipline in kindergarten
Discipline in kindergarten
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yasminchy
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Discipline in kindergarten
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Hi guys!
I hope you all had a nice weekend! :)
Here is my question for you - I recently started to teach English in kindergarten. I had no experience however in teaching younger learners before since our uni programme was based only on learners 10+. I was basically thrown into the water with no knowledge about teaching young children at all!
So, here is my problem. I basically read and read for 2,3 weeks, tones of material, how to prepare an interesting lessons, how to approach them, what motivates them, watched youtube videos, printed out dozens of flascards and worksheets. I got it all perfectly planned.
And yes, I know that in classroom nothing usually goes by your perfect plan unless you children are angels :)
The thing is, the children I teach are like little devils. Whenever we have English lesson (1 time per week, 45 min), they start running around, yelling etc. There is no way I can motivate them, not even with puppets, dressing up, brining in real fruits (we had a fruit lesson). Whenever they can, they start to run around. And I have no idea what to do. Some of them roll on the floor and disturbe my lesson and make others distracted too.
How do you manage your discipline in your lessons? I have to add that this lessons take place at 15:00 Fridays and Tuesdays. I know hildren are tired and some of them even hungry. Some of them are also there since 7:00 and it is hard to keep concentrated and learn something new. And by the end of this, parents will have unrealistic expectations and what can I show/tell them?
There is also no possibility to have another teacher in my class to deal with discipline while I teach. I have to do everything on my own. And since I am a beginner teacher, I have no idea what else to do to keep them interested.
Do I have to put on cartoons? Just leave them to colour various worksheets?
Please help :)
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26 Jan 2014
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cukurova
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Well,I taught children for almost a year.I was luckier than you bc my lessons didn �t last for 45 minutes:) By the way,I don �t know how productive it can be to teach children for 45 minutes as we know that even an adult �s attention-span is limited to 20 minutes.Anyways,I think that best way to teach children is to enjoy yourself as well!:) I am hundred percent sure that if you enjoy presenting your material or lesson,they get caught up however if you don �t,even the most enjoyable,fun material can be dull.Somehow children sense it.If the children enjoy learning,you won �t have many disipline issues. When I had a disruptive child,I tried to join him in the activity or gave him some little responsibilty(anything to get his attention and made him focus on something else.)And finally I think that videos are life saving materials! My students loved watching videos.(song videos,short educational videos about ESl etc.)After the video,we sang the song together and sometimes danced.Then I handed out the worksheets about the video(about the topic). Hope this helps and good luck!:)
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26 Jan 2014
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edrodmedina
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Cukurova has the right idea. You have to get their interest right away and you have to at leats appear to be enjoying what you are doing. Once you have their attention remember that it is fleeting. At that age at first they might stay attentive for 10 minutes if you are lucky. So whatever material you are presenting has to be in small bites and you have to recatch their attention every time. As time goes by they will gain stamina and will be able to attend for longer periods of time. Cartoons and videos keep the children �s attention because they are colorful and are constantly changing. Ed |
26 Jan 2014
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dutchboydvh
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My rule of thumb with kids is keep it short and sweet. Games, activities... keep them about 5-6 minutes in time. Get them up and moving every other activity/game.
If you keep switching it up, you keep their attention. But that being said, kids will be kids. Reward them with stamps on a bookmark, or ticks on a board. Six ticks/stamps and give them a sticker. It �s amazing what kids will do for stickers. If they don �t behave, take a tick away. They pout, but then allow them to make up what they lost with good behavior.
Remember, sticks and carrots. I try to use more carrots.
Best of luck, D
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26 Jan 2014
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dmharg
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http://youtu.be/vwCwj21MdlY
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27 Jan 2014
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yasminchy
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Thank you guys for all your wonderful ideas.
But the thing is, this English class is not something obligatory, it is only for those whose parents think that their child might learn some English and they don �t have to pick children up from kindergarten until 4 pm (lesson starts late - at 3 pm and kindergarten is opened until 4 pm). And those children are not all happy to learn something new, they just come there to run around and be wild.
While all your ideas are great - and let me tell you, I have spent hours on planning lessons, bought books about games etc. They all turned into disaster because they became even more wild and was no way to calm them down and make them listen. All ideas about repeating with flashcards, useless. They just go running around the class, poking each other and screaming. Learning new songs, useless. Only 3 will repeat, 3 won �t even know why they have to be there, 3 will be hiding, 3 will be screaming.
No stickers helped either. If I give stickers to those who behave well and the other don �t get stickers, they don �t care. Or they become angry and start acting even crazier. Even during the cartoon they started to push each other around and again - yelling.
What it would really help here is to have another teacher in the class with me -their teacher to help with discipline. (like in all youtube videos I watched).
It is hard to handle 13 children on your own and teach them something, if in kindergarten the max of one group is 13. And they have 2 teachers in each classroom. But for me that is not an option.
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28 Jan 2014
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