If you’ve ever taught Kindergarten EFL (or worked as an undercover cop in a Kindergarten) you will probably agree – ‘Kindergarten Cop’ was based on a very true story. For some of you, watching Kindergarten Cop is less ‘delightfully comical action flick’ and more ‘CCTV footage’ from your classroom. As a teacher of small creatures – I mean children, I’ve seen it all: cuts, bruises, kicking, screaming, bathroom accidents, unstable scaffolding made from tiny chairs, and even the old ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ card.

With little to no reserves left in my ‘love and patients’ box, I decided to go out and get some solutions. After many a lunch date probing my co-teachers for their secrets, professional development workshops/observations/videos/seminars, classroom experimentations, and more Google searches than a middle school kid cutting corners during study hall, I finally found means to an efficient learning environment. Here are 3 of my most effective solutions-

1/ Get their attention.

Pulling a Schwarzenegger and yelling ‘SHUT UP!! Shut up, shut up, shut UP!’ is not, and never will be, an appropriate teaching approach. You gotta get tricky, get into their little minds and appeal to what they want.

- Quiet talk: Speak in a very soft tone, crouched over as if you have a secret. The ones paying attention will act as if they are the lucky recipients of classified information. Instruct them to sit down, be vewy vewy quiet, and they will get the chance to sing, dance, and play in the most exciting class they’ll ever have! The ones running around kicking random objects will soon realize they are missing all the fun and might even come to investigate.

- Finger play: Softly sing a song with finger motions i.e. ‘Eensy Weensy Spider’ or ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ (your teachers will have an arsenal of these right up their sleeve). When their little bodies are involved in an activity, it’s much harder for them to get distracted. Sing the song a number of times, in a variety of ways. Surprise them by singing the second verse really loud and the third really fast. They will be so intrigued by what comes next that they will hang on your every word.

Tip: If you end with a very quiet verse, they will be more open to receive instructions for their next activity.

2/ Expectations

From the very first class, you need to lay down the law. And when I say ‘lay down the law’, I mean ‘make rules fun!’ Make rules into movement activities and have the students chant or sing the rules:

a) quiet – sssssh (finger in front of lips and turn around in a circle reminding everyone to be quiet)

b) sit down (students stand up and sit down as fast as they can)

c) be kind to friends (choose a friend to hug)

d) be kind to your teacher (make a heart with your hands for your teacher)

3/ Have a management strategy

Putting a kid in the corner or yelling at them will only produce short term results. If a child is disrupting the class, this behavior needs to be dealt with quickly and efficiently. You should speak with a co-teacher or your Principal about the schools management strategies and how you can adopt these into your classroom. Here is an example of a highly effective strategy:

Move the student: If they are talking with other students, separate them. If they are playing with a toy, move them away from that area.

Ask the student to stop: Stop the class and quickly ask the student to stop what they are doing. If this fails, ask the student to stand up and stop what they are doing.

Exclude the student: Move the student away from the other students. They can watch the class from a short distance but they cannot participate. This works especially well if you are doing something exciting and the students wants to join in.

Ask the student to leave: If the student is still disruptive, it’s time for a Korean teacher to talk through the problem at depth. Have the student taken away by a teacher or supervisor.

Try these tricks out in your own classroom. Experiment with them, change them, appropriate them to the needs of your students. When your class is running as smoothly as possible, you will realize you have one of the most enjoyable jobs in the world!

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