Classroom Management Ideas
As the new school year approaches, I like to reflect on my previous year's experiences and ways to improve. Classroom management looks very different in the foreign language classroom than in any other content. The reason is that we need to keep the classroom in the target language 90% of the time and use comprehensible input as much as possible.
Somedays I wish I could just tell kids in plain English, don't move! or stay quiet! but instead, I have to use high-frequency classroom commands and help students understand me by using hand motions, gestures, noises, or posters.
The first year of teaching I relied only on gestures and hand motions to guide my students to understand my commands. I used to play Simmon Says and charades to practice the vocabulary and the motions and it worked but it is not only time-consuming but also tiresome.
Eleven years later, I still play games to practice and teach classroom commands but I am using more images that I point at from posters I place on the walls. The posters have been time and energy savers for me and my fellow teacher friends. If you would like to check out the posters, I am leaving a picture below.
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