10 Successful ESL Tips for Behavioural Management in the Classroom
Introduction
Behavioural management is a crucial aspect of any classroom, but it is particularly important in an ESL setting. Since we only have students for a short period of time, effective behaviour management is important for these diverse learners to thrive in a positive learning environment. In this article, you’ll explore my top ten tips for behavioural management as well as classroom displays to help you.
Whether it’s the start of the school year/term, you’ve just taken over a class or it’s a random Thursday, there are plenty of ideas below for you to try out!
Top Ten Tips
1. Set Clear Rules
Creating clear classroom rules is an essential aspect of behavioural management in the ESL classroom. It helps to establish expectations and boundaries for students, which can lead to a more positive and productive learning environment. For example, setting the rule to “put your hand up and say Can I have a pencil please?” allows students to know that they shouldn’t shout out or speak over other people. Additionally, they’ll also learn a polite way to ask for something.
However, setting these clear rules is not enough for students to follow them. You need to make sure you are consistent in enforcing them. If rules are not insisted on, students may feel that they are unimportant and be more likely to break them. Like the previous example, not enforcing students to put their hand up and ask questions can lead to a whole class of students either shouting out for a pencil or walking around the classroom looking for one.
2. Routines
Establish routines in your ESL classroom for successful starts and consistent behaviour. First, you don’t want to include too many aspects to your routine – keep it simple. Another key point is to try plan routines in advance for a seamless start to the year. But don’t worry if it’s the middle of January, it’s never too late to introduce a routine to your students. Your routine may include putting bags under chairs, writing the date on the board, and/or going through the class plan.
Routines are often spoken of a lot with classes with young children, but don’t be mistaken – teens and adults need these routines too.
3. Seating Plan
Seating plans can significantly impact classroom management. When arranging seating, consider individual student needs, for example, students who struggle with focus might benefit from sitting near the front. Students with hearing impairments will also appreciate being closer to the front. You can also group students based on their abilities or interests, which can encourage collaboration and engagement.
There are several ways to enforce a seating plan. A lottery system, where students draw numbers to assign seats, is a good option for new classes. Alternatively, you can randomly assign seats by calling names or using online tools. Be prepared to address any initial disappointment with assigned seats, perhaps by allowing quiet seat swaps with permission or revisiting the plan after a short period. If you choose to pre-prepare a seating plan, it’s a good idea to display it on the wall.
When deciding how often to change the seating plan, consider factors like student behaviour, common disruptions, and activities. Frequent changes might disrupt routines, while overly static plans could lead to boredom.
4. Lesson pacing
Lesson pacing is also important for student engagement. You should aim to keep the lesson moving at a steady pace, without moving too quickly or too slowly. A lesson that moves too quickly can leave students feeling overwhelmed and confused, while a lesson that moves too slowly can lead to boredom and disengagement.
To keep the lesson moving at an appropriate pace, ensure you are using a variety of activities. For example, use games and speaking activities which aren’t part of the textbook so as students don’t get bored. Don’t be afraid to let students move chairs into small circles or facing each other. Have easy games or activities as a back ups. This allows you to change the pace of the classroom quickly if needed, for example, when students struggle with vocabulary more than you anticipated.
Check out my article with over ten low-prep ESL games here.
5. Rewards
Reward systems are an effective way to motivate students to behave well in the classroom. You can create a reward system for good behaviour, such as participating in class, or helping their classmates. Rewards can include stickers or small prizes.
A points system is another type of reward system that can be used in the ESL classroom. Students can earn points for positive behaviour, and these points can be accumulated over time. Either students receive a reward when they (or the team) reach a certain amount of points. See my 10+ ESL Games article for incorporating team points.
6. Praise Good Behaviour
Praising good behaviour is another positive reinforcement strategy that can be used in the ESL classroom. Praise students for their positive behaviour, such as asking questions, helping their classmates, or participating in class discussions. Praising students for their positive behaviour can help to reinforce that behaviour and motivate students to continue to behave well.
It is also important to be specific when praising students. Instead of saying “good job”, try saying something like “great question and good use of the present simple”. This type of specific praise can help reinforce positive behaviour and encourage students to continue behaving well in the classroom.
7. Get to Know your students
Getting to know who your students are will build a rapport with them which contributes to managing their behaviour. Adapting lesson plans to include the interests of your students is possible when you know your students better. In turn, this makes them more interested in the lesson and less likely to exhibit bad behaviour. In addition to this, you become more understanding about stressful points in the students’ life. For example, when exams hit and student’s behaviour can be impacted by this.
8. Arranging the Classroom
Arranging your classroom is an essential aspect of behaviour management for the ESL classroom. Before the class begins, be sure that everything in the classroom is set up to benefit your class. This includes ensuring chair positions correspond with your seating plan and the amount of students you have in the class. Additionally, make sure that you have all the resources you need for the class ready to go, including textbooks, worksheets and any online material. Doing all this means you are able to monitor the class at all times and not spend time searching for something and taking your attention off the class.
9. Monitoring
Monitoring is a key element to ensuring positive behaviour throughout your ESL classes. This means that at all points during the class, students are aware of your presence so that they don’t feel they have room to be able to act out. However, you don’t want to hover over them as you want to give them space to be able to be comfortable making mistakes and not stress about always being correct.
When students are working in groups or pairs, it can seem easy to go to your computer to complete some admin tasks or send a quick email but refrain from doing this. Even if it is just you standing at the board observing the whole class, ensure students know you are there for not only behavioural management but also for if they have any questions
10. Remain calm and confident
Remaining calm and confident is a must when dealing with behaviour management in the ESL classroom. We’ve all had that class that just know how to push our buttons, however it’s crucial to remain calm and confident and not show the students how frustrated you really are. Students need to know you’re in charge at all times so remain clam when students misbehave and when they question the rules explain confidently why it is a rule.
Displays
In addition to the top tips above, there are many ways you can utilize your classroom to help with behaviour management. Below are four classroom displays which you can either put around or on the board. The key is to ensure that they are easily seen by all students.
Noise Level Chart
This easy to use noise level chart signals to students the noise level they are expected to be at. Telling students to “be quiet” can sometimes be confusing for them as they may believe that they are being quiet (especially within different cultures). Having this chart at the front of the classroom allows students to know exactly what noise level they should be at. Then when someone (or everyone) is getting too loud, you can point to the chart to bring the students’ attention to the fact that they are being too loud.
If you fancy having the same noise level chart as in the picture, you can find it here.
English O’metre
An “English O’Metre” can be used in a similar way to the Noise Level Chart. There are two ways to start the meter: at the bottom (encouraging students to improve their behavior) or at the top (expecting good behavior from the start). This has been particularly useful for me when I’ve had very noisy classes where they spoke very little English in the classroom. Having it clearly displayed, allows you to move the arrow up and down the o’metre without needing to announce it to the class which also makes them pay attention to you more.
Using this, you need a reward system in place – whether it’s getting to play a special game at the end (e.g. Kahoot!) or getting a sticker if they are in the green area. Students need to know what they are aiming for with the O’metre.
You can also use this style of “o’metre” for any behavioural issues and not just the amount of English which is spoken.
Using Game Words
Using game words is particularly useful for classes where there is more than one behavioural issue across the majority (if not all) of the class. At the beginning of the lesson, write the name of the game you plan to play with them on the board (or have as a back-up for good behaviour) – for example, Kahoot!. Whenever the class break the rules or misbehave, you remove a letter. If there are no letters left by the end of the class then they don’t get to play the game.
Throughout the class you can also add letters for good behaviour which is a good idea to show students that there is always a possibility of playing the game, even if there are no letters left.
Using Points
Using points is a classic way of managing behaviour and like the “English O’metre” it relies on ensuring you have a reward system in place. It may be easier to use points with teams rather than individual students as you don’t want to waste time throughout your lesson giving and removing points. Similar to the “game words” above, adding points also shows students that good behviour is rewarded but you must ensure consistency with the rule of giving and removing points.
The point system doesn’t need to be used in only one class, you can also prolong it to continue over two classes which gives students more time to reflect on behaviour and try to gain more points. Although, doing it over two classes does mean that you need to check that you write the points down correctly and remember who is in each team (which means a lottery seating plan wouldn’t be useful in this case).
Interested in finding out how you can introduce points with games? Check out my article about 10+ Easy Low-Prep adaptable ESL Games!
Conclusion
There are many tips and tricks of the trade when it comes to behavioural management which are always developing with new challenges students bring to the classroom. I hope the above tips and classroom displays help you with your classes!
Thanks for reading!
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