Managing very young learners
Materials you can use
Teddy bears or pupets
Red and yellow card
Music
Board pens
Tips for the beginning of the course
When they come into the classroom be there to welcome them and use their names as much as possible
Have three or four teddy bears lined up on your table and ask the tearful looking children to look after ‘Snoopy’ as he is very shy. They will love the responsibility and this will act as a distraction.
You should always have the same teddies, or puppets at every lesson as they can serve to introduce new language or explain rules to games, etc.
Have some quiet children’s music playing while they come into the classroom to make the environment more welcoming.
Practicalities
You should establish toilet or drinking water rules in the first few lessons
You should organise a toilet run with either of you taking a handful of children at a time until everyone has been
If your lesson is shorter than an hour it might be more practical to arrange a toilet run before the class starts
Have some tissue in the classroom for blowing noses
Routines
At the beginning of your lesson you may have to take a register
this will...
Provide you with a perfect opportunity to install calm before starting the lesson
You could have a ‘hello song’ which the teddies sing to the children and then the children sing it to the teddies
Ask everyone to get their books and a pen out and to put their bags under the table before you start the lesson
Make sure all your papers are ready before the children come into the classroom so you can properly give them your undivided attention
At the end of the lesson you could have a ‘goodbye song’ or simply a mini-conversation
Thank you
See you next week
Have a good week
Discipline
You can draw two faces in the corner of the board at the start of each lesson
One smiley
One sad
You can distribute yellow cards for minor naughtiness and red cards for mores serious misbehaviour
Seating arrangements are key to a well-managed class
Make sure you have eye contact with everyone
Make sure they only have the bare minimum on their desks
Ban the use of pencil sharpeners if possible
In the first lesson you should establish a handful of memorable class rules
This could include...
No shouting
No going under or over tables
Always listen to the teacher and your classmates
No throwing pencils
Large classes and mixed abilities
They should always have something to do
They should always be challenged
Help the children who don’t understand
Use the stronger pupils as resources
Have a reserve of extra activities for those who finish very quickly
Try to limit activities that are solely teacher-centred