A better way to deal with class disruptions

What to do when students misbehave

This article is for teachers like me who don't have formal training to do what they do, but who nevertheless want to do the best that they can to enrich and improve their own lives as well as those of their students.

Thai education and TEFL class management

A look at three practical examples to use in your classroom

Class management, although employing techniques, isn't so much a process as a mind-set requiring a separate skill set from that of delivery, a point often missed in progressive education orthodoxy.

Triggers in the classroom

How to grab attention

Now classroom management is a complex thing, and identifying the reasons for the students' lack of attention is sometimes hard to do while things are descending into chaos. The real issue is what to do about it when it happens.

Why can't Thais speak English?

Some of these students have had over 2,000 hours of English.

Considering that English has been the international language of tourism and commerce for I don't know how many decades now, and there are I don't know how many thousands of English teachers all over the country, why is the general level of English so poor?

Useful classroom management techniques

These ideas have all worked for me!

If you have something the students want then you have a big asset in keeping your class under control. I have developed a few games and props that the kids love and I will use them when they start to tire or lose focus on a more testing part of the curriculum.

Getting the kids hooked young!

My goal is to not frighten the lives out of my students

I'm stepping back from the serious, academic approach and working on making my classes something that kids look forward to - even if they aren't learning as much.

The first days of the new school year

A new term usually means meeting new students

As you move into a new year with new classes, you may be considering what sort of impression you want to make on the students when you have your first lesson. What exactly should a teacher do in the first few lessons considering that these first impressions are so important?

Food and the classroom

Language teachers need nutrition expertise too!

Our students eat. That's a good thing, except that after sweet snacks things can get complicated. This is most noticeable (for me, anyway) with kindergarten children who can't inhibit their impulses. The cause?

More adventures in rural Thailand

My first semester at a Thai government school

I've now worked at a rural government school for a whole semester. I thought I might share with you my account so far, with some practical advice that may help ease your transition to teaching in Thailand.