How to deal with moody students in a classroom?

[Diannita]

Hello there! I have been teaching for only 2 years and i haven't had problems with my students so far, but now I've got a group that is VERY moody, they don't want to do ANYTHING, they are always complaining 'bout everything, they are around 12 to 15 years old and i don't know what to do with them, any suggestions? I really need help, i like them, but not the way they act when it's about English. Tips, ideas, suggestions..... WELCOME!

My email: diannita86@gmail.com

[Torsten]

Hi Diannita,

You are working with a group of teenagers who are trying to gauge their ability to influence adults. It's a bit like educating puppies - they are cute, you like them but they don't always follow your instructions. There a number of things you can do to regain control. First of all you should try to identify the leader/leaders. In any group there is one person who leads the others and if you win his or her as your friend it will be much easier to deal with the entire group. Once you know who is in charge of the group you should speak to them in privately. Start by asking them why they think it is important to speak English. They do want to learn English, what they don't want to do is being told what to do. So, you have to 'trick' them into thinking they are making their own decisions rather than following your instructions. If they tell you that English is not important to them and ask them what they think is important. They will come up with suggestions because they want to seem clever and grown-up. So, whatever they tell you is important in their lives - ask them how they are planning to achieve it. Once you get them to think about their situation they will eventually realize that being 'cool' might also mean to have a certain amount of self-discipline and character. When the leader/leaders tell you what they are interested in, ask them where they get information about their favourite subject. Teenagers tend to have 'heros', popular figures such as pop singers, actors, athletes etc. they look up to. Ask your students to tell you more about those people. Ask them if they are sure they know everything about their idols. Tell them if they can show you articles about those people. Do it in a sublte way: On the one hand you are showing interest in the person they admire, on the other hand you seem to question the authenticity of your students' information. They will want to prove that what they are saying is the truth. Tell them you want to see facts. I once had a student who didn't show much interest in my lessons but it turned out that he was a huge fan of EMINEM. He sometimes would put his earphones on and listen to EMINEM's rap songs. So I went to the Internet and read as much about Marshall Mathers as possible and then I started quizzing my student about EMINEM. First he was reluctant to answer any of my questions but then he realized that the group was paying attention. They wanted to see how much a fan he really was. Some of his fellow students even said he was only listening to the music without understanding the lyrics. That was really too much for him, he started explaining why EMINEM was the coolest guy on earth and he liked about him etc. etc. We ended up having an interesting discussion about various questions and we even listened to some songs by EMINEM and read the lyrics.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Sitting by the pond