Disciplining Bad Students

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

I work at a cram school where a fourth of the students just make me wish they would get hit by a car the next time they cross the street. Now I think I have a pretty high tolerance for misbehavior; after all, we’re more like entertainers than teachers at a cram school. I can play and goof off with the kids if they’re not really interested in learning, but there’s a line between messing around and just plain pissing the teacher off.

One specific problem I have is with students stealing my things. I have a small laundry basket that contains all my teaching materials and aids for each class. Markers, cards, sticky balls, plastic hammers, etc. I keep it at the front of the room next to the board. Some of the students in my classes think it’s funny to steal things from my basket when I’m not looking, pass it around the room, and refuse to give it back to me no matter what I say. I’ve had to yell at those kids one or two times just to make them give it back, and they all just thought that it was funny to piss me off.

The Chinese teacher, on the hand, just sits in the back of the room with her head down grading homework and pretends to be oblivious to everything that’s happening in the room. She just flat out doesn’t care. The only times she’s ever looked up and said something was when I lost it and screamed at the kids. And even then she doesn’t do much.

These bad students are too old to care about me deducting points from their card books. And making them sit in the back corner of the room or making them go outside doesn’t really work either because most of them will just tell me straight up that they don’t want to. So short of physically moving them, there’s really not much I can do, especially when the Chinese teacher doesn’t help me in the least bit.

As far as the school goes, it’s a cram school, so at the end of the day all they really care about is making money. They’ll never kick these kids out. The most they’ll do is call their parents, and even then it’s a half-assed effort that’s only done to appease me, the foreigner who can’t go with the flow and causes unnecessary inconveniences for everyone.

So what’s a foreigner teacher to do? I don’t want to be yelling at these kids all the time because that’ll put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day and make me hate work, which isn’t fair to the rest of my students, the majority of which are quite good. The school doesn’t do anything about the Chinese teacher because she’s been there for years, and awhile everyone knows that all her classes are bad, no one seems to want to do anything about it.

Seems like I’m screwed either way. Thoughts?

2

There are posters here who are much more experienced at teaching kids than I am, so I’ll leave the general advice to them - make the lessons relevant to the students, create a list of class rules - stuff like that.

All I will say is it’s very difficult to control classes when you don’t have the support of the school management. If it really is 25% of the students then I think your position is nigh on hopeless because the school clearly doesn’t care. Typically, only one or two kids at most in a class behave like this, although in my opinion the standards of behaviour among Taiwanese children are definitely getting worse.

One piece of specific advice I do have is: are the teaching aids the kids are stealing yours or the schools? If they are the schools then my advice would be to let the kids steal them and don’t bother trying to collect them after class. You’ll soon find the manager stepping in to stop the kids taking the stuff then, especially if they break any of it. No sticky balls etc also means no games in the lesson - make that clear to the kids when they steal stuff. Other than that, try not to yell or lose your temper and get on the good side of your Taiwanese co-teacher. Do this gig until you can find a position in a decent, professional educational establishment.

3

In my early years, when I was part-timing in a couple different cram schools, the rule was generally to let the Taiwanese staff do the disciplining. Send the kid to the office. I used to try, but got in trouble once for scolding a 5th grader who intentionally threw a ball at me and nearly missed my face. After that, washed my hands of any discipline and sent the trouble makers to the office.

At the junior/senior high, rarely had serious behavioral problems. In one class where things were a little off the hook, the homeroom teacher sat in the back of the class and the boys were terrified of her, so were very well behaved when she was there.

My adult students don’t misbehave… :smiley:

4

I would explicitly ask your CT to discipline these students or take care of the problem. Actually I would walk out the door, but I understand that’s probably not an option for you or you would have already done it. Maybe tell your boss you can’t control 25% of the class and sincerely ask for help and advice. I would complain about the CT. If he/she just brushes it off then you know they don’t care and the school doesn’t really deserve your hard work.

5

okay, if you don’t want to quit then this is what you do…
you mentioned your kids are too old for the points thing, so why do you have so many toys/props in there???..take that basket out of the classroom. you don’t need that shit if kids are above grade 2 in elementary school. did you like that shit when you were 9 years old?
Next, this one takes patience, for a class or two, blantently ignore everything they do in class, and just keep on teaching. either they will realize and start to listen or the CT will notice.
finally, they are testing you, they know your boiling point. guess what, they do that with the CT in their elementary schools as well. Why? because they are kids. every kid in every country is the same. they always want to get a rise out of the teacher. Are they afraid? fuck no. Were you afraid before? hell no. think about it. they will try to test your buttons a few times and then they realize you don’t flinch. presto.
this is your parents revenge on you when you were a bastard kid. what goes around comes around. it happens to the best of us.
lastly, don’t yell at them, just stop and stare at the kid. he will look into your eyes as well. hold steady. look at him deep in the eye. when you see his eye turn to one side you know you have him, and then continue on.

6

Raise your voice and get angry. You are their teacher, they need to show you a little respect. You are there to teach them. First year I went in wanting all the kids to like me and made all those newbie mistakes. By my second year I knew better, when I started at my new school I was strict! You have to be a nazi the first few weeks, don’t be scared to raise your voice if they are getting out of hand. If a student is particularly bad, take him outside of class and let him have it! The other kids will hear the yelling and it’ll scare them straight. I don’t need a CT to discipline the kids for me, I can chew gum and walk at the same time. Trust me, even the worst kids can be tamed. I had a junior high class with a self proclaimed bad ass, and I broke him down in less than 4 classes, even made him cry and look like a chump in front of all his friends. After that he never gave me trouble, and even turned out to be kinda smart.

After awhile you can ease up a lot and the kids will meet you half way and everyone will get along great. From my experience, most parents were happy that I was strict and demanded a lot from their kids. They were more than happy to work with me. After their kids got an earful from me, they went home and got the belt from dad. Of course my way is not perfect, but it worked for me. Most of the loser hippies in Taiwan want to just let the kids do whatever they want, even if that includes letting the kids walk all over them. How can people live like that, have some respect for yourselves!

Of course yelling and being a nazi alone isn’t going to do it. You need to keep class moving at a quick pace, you cannot have any downtime. Take an interest in your students, and take a few mins to talk with them before/after class to find out what they are into/like. It’s only a few mins of your time and it pays off, trust me. What also worked for those bad classes were competitions between boys and girls. The girls were usually better and after the guys got their asses handed to them a few times they started to step up their game and the slackers would get scolded by their friends for losing points for the team.

7

It’s been a long time since I worked at a cram school but I feel like there’s a fundamental problem with your relationship with the students as you describe the situation here. As Tomthorne says, your options may be limited if you don’t have support from management, but Valor gets it right when he says you have to establish from the get go that you are the teacher and demand respect. You need to do this to some degree. Not that you can’t be entertaining, but you can’t do it by being an entertainer.

[quote]One specific problem I have is with students stealing my things. I have a small laundry basket that contains all my teaching materials and aids for each class. Markers, cards, sticky balls, plastic hammers, etc. I keep it at the front of the room next to the board. Some of the students in my classes think it’s funny to steal things from my basket when I’m not looking, pass it around the room, and refuse to give it back to me no matter what I say. I’ve had to yell at those kids one or two times just to make them give it back, and they all just thought that it was funny to piss me off.
[/quote]

This is really just a logical extension of the situation you describe in your opening. Hell, it sounds pretty funny to me. It’s up to you to find a way to make it clearly, 100% unambiguously unfunny. That could be as simple as losing the stuff as Valor suggests, or more creative.

8

I have no advice for you. I just want to express my sincere sympathy.

(Okay wait here’s advice, look for a new job. You sound reasonably intelligent so you may be able to find something better. Worst case scenario you start over in an equally shitty school, but start strict as people have advised here. I agree that starting strict makes a world of difference.)

9

Speak for yourself please. YOU may be an entertainer, but there are plenty of teachers working at buxibans. So you don’t take your position seriously, not surprising that the students don’t either. Stop being an entertainer and become a teacher. You can still keep it entertaining, interesting and stimulating.

I was surprised to hear so many people agree with the notion that it is the job of the local teaching assistant to punish/discipline the kids. I don’t have an assistant, wouldn’t have it any other way. Controlling the class is just part of the job and the only way it works.

Good luck, hope you can enjoy your work again soon

10

The question you asked about has a simple solution. Do not bring the laundry basket to class. Bring up your white board markers, hold on to them, and only use that for now. Explain to them that until they can respect your materials, there will be no sticky balls, broken hammers, or other cheap sh*t they love here.

Do you have a class after that? If not, perfect! At the last 2 minutes of class, explain they have to still get through the material. Still teach it until you are done. Nothing wakes kids up more to reality than having to spend an extra 15 minutes working through a workbook.

Go over the rules at the beginning of every class. Rules such as “raise your hand to talk” are crucial. Notice it’s not, “Shout ‘teacher’ to talk.” It also isn’t “Raise your hand and scream, ‘ME!!!’” Sitting in their chair and not running around the room, not taking your things, and listening when others are talking are ALL rules you may need to go over several times EVERY class. Spend a lot of time every day reminding them. Be careful you do not respond to someone yelling, “Teacher.” Be careful not to let “just one” child run up and start drawing on the board without asking first. Until they know when things are acceptable, you will have to be very clear on the rules and expectations and follow them EVERY time.

Try to remember to not show frustration. You might get frustrated at some point and do it, but realize it sets you back a few steps.

Never be afraid to take one student outside the classroom door and, without yelling, very strictly tell him, “You may NOT _____.” Make sure he understands perfectly before going back in.

If you rely on a CT to do the discipline, that undermines your authority. The CT is hiding her face in a book because she feels it is your job to manage the class. Thing is, she is correct.

11

Isn’t advocating leaving the country a little over the top? :smiley: