I love most of my kids students. The afformentioned naughty 4 year old being the exception. All of the others I can handle to varying degrees of success.
For example, I have a Jr High kids class that absolutely refuses to speak. Even in Japanese. They are fans of simply sitting in dead silence and avoiding eye contact. There has been some improvement on that front. The one boy who falls asleep in my class has been staying awake and actually answering questions. But I would like for the rest of them to make some noise. So far I've got two making shy nervous smiles. I keep terrorizing them with my energetic antics. I am at my craziest when all I get is silence.
Apparently this is the typical behavior of Japanese Jr High School kids. Which still just strikes me as bizarre because all of my others have been chatter boxes. Maybe not in English but its better than nothing.
But I did have to punish my talkative class this week. Its the 5th week in a row that all 4 boys have not had their homework for me. Not to sound strict but this really shouldn't be an issue. I mean, seriously, this is not supposed to be a problem.
Why?
Because they took the class already. And if they did their homework the last time it is as simple as copying it out of the old workbook. I've even said as much. There is no way I'll be able to tell the difference. And the exercise of copying alone will help refresh their memory, even a little.
So with this continue failure to comply, I resorted to following through on my threat. I may not have had time to finish the lesson because we wanted to chat in Japanese instead of pay attention. But I saved enough time to have everyone stay after (everyone without homework) and write me a speech.
It went something like this:
Dear Teacher,
I didn't do my homework because:
1. reason
2. reason
3. reason
I promise to do my homework by next week.
Or I will (insert punishment here - ex- will not play video games).
Sign,
signature
After they read them to me I made copies of the letter and returned them as a reminder. I'm hoping this will inspire some improvement. But if not, then we will start to write longer and longer speeches for me.
The thing about writing, is because it is still hard for them, they can't really talk and write at the same time. I will either get my homework or improve their multitasking skills by the end of the class.
Why am I so strict? Because this is the last leg of the "kids classes" before they should be able to graduate to the adult classes. In those classes, their classmates will not want to joke around in Japanese. They want English for their jobs, or to get jobs, or to get a raise or travel abroad.
Though maybe it would be a good thing for them to face scorn and disapproval from others that do not find them cute or funny. No one is fully immune to a sense of public shame, unless of course they are drunk and beyond being aware of much of anything.
