Classroom discipline

It is important to establish your classroom rules at the very beginning of the school year.

Keep the rules simple and clear, for example:

• Raise your hand if you want to ask a question.
• Always ask if you don't understand.
• Don't shout or talk over your classmates.
• Listen to your classmates' opinions.
• Take turns when playing games.
• Help your classmates if they find something difficult.
• Always ask if you want to borrow something.

If you want behavior to be counted in the final grade, it is better to reserve some points from the total rather than adjusting grades for objective assessments (tests, exams, homework). For example, if you are grading out of 100, you can reserve 10 points for behavior. Students who get a perfect score on an exam but whose conduct has not been very good would obtain a maximun of 90 points. Students who have been cooperative and well-behaved but who are not especially bright or good at exams have the possibility of obtaining 10 extra points for conduct.

Game: Ball dictation

Throw a ball to a student. The student with the ball dictates a word or short phrase to the rest of the class. Students write down the word or phrase in their notebooks.
The student with the ball throws it to another student, who dictates a new word or phrase. Continue until 10 students have participated.
Ask students to dictate the words or phrses back to you and write them on the board.
Students correct their work.

Social studies: Who does the chores?

Materials:
Paper, string, stapler.
Preparation:
Cut paper into strips (several per student).
Directions:
Review family members and chores vocabulary.Point out that all the members of the family do the chores at home, not just the women.
Ask students if their moms work harder at home than any other member of the family.
Have students make a list of the chores that they and other members of their family could do to share the chores more equally.
Students write sentences explaining how they can help at home: I can make my bed. My dad can take out the garbage.
Staple all the pieces of paper to a string to make a banner.
Hang the banner across the classroom.

Science: Making a compass

Materials:

Per pair of students: a magnet, a cup of water, a cork, a needle.

Directions:

Write the following instructions on the board:

1. Rub a magnet 50 times across a needle, always in the same direction.

2. Cut a piece of cork, so you can have a small circle.

3. Push the needle through the cork, from one end of the circle to the other. Label the cork N, S, E and W (the needle should go from S to N)

4. Put the cork and needle in a cup of water.

5. Place the compass on the table and watch what happens!

(The needle should move and point to the nearest magnetic pole-either north or south.)

Divide the class into pairs and distribute materials.

Read the instructions with the class. Demonstrate each step. Students follow the instructions and make the compass.

Pairs write a route in their notebooks to follow: Walk five steps north and then 20 steps east.

Two pairs exchange routes and use their compasses to follow them.

Chain games

Chain games are good for consolidating sintax patterns, lexical sets and vocabulary. It is easy to adapt the games to the grammar structure and the vocabulary taught in the lesson.
Basic procedure.
. Show the students how to play the game using, for example, animal lexis. Choose two confident students to help you.
. Say "I have a dog". Ask student A to repeat what you said and to say another animal, e.g. "I have a dog and a cat".
. Ask student B to repeat what student A said and to add another animal, "I have a dog, a cat and a mouse:"
. Check that students have understood what they have to do, then play the game with the whole class.See how many words the students can remember. When the chain breaks down, because somebody cannot remember the sentence, the whole class count to five and the chain starts again.

Preparing class materials.

For each lesson, students are expected to have the following materials: scissors, colored pencils, a glue stick, a pencil, an eraser and a notebook.
Preparing and storing student cutouts
At the beginning of the school year, collect students' cutouts and keep each set in a separate folder with the student's name. When cutouts are required for an activity, distribute folders. Make sure students return all unused cutouts to the folders upon completing the activity.
Info-gap cutouts
Some student cutouts are to be used for info-gap activities. In these type of activities, students should work in pairs. One student has the information that the other needs to complete the activity. Remind students that they cannot show each other their cutouts and encourage them to use English throughout the activity. Explain that it does not matter at this stage if they make mistakes, that the objective is to communicate in English.
While students are working, walk around the classroom monitoring the activity.