Dealing with unruly behaviour - part 1

Disruptive behaviour - senior high school and university students

Today I'll talk about dealing with this issue with older students. Tomorrow I'll follow on with younger learners as the approach is quite different.

Seriously bad behaviour is probably rare in most classes in Vietnam. However, some of you may be finding some student behaviour disruptive, annoying or downright rude - notably - speaking when you are speaking, speaking Vietnamese when you've asked students to speak English, arriving to class late, not doing the task you've assigned and looking at a laptop as opposed to listening to you / doing a task.

Why is it happening?
It's helpful to firstly think about WHY this behaviour might be happening. What does it tell you?

• Maybe the student does not understand what to do. Rather than losing face by saying he/she hasn't understood he/she may carry on with something else, avoid eye contact with you, glue his/her gaze to a laptop.
• Maybe he/she is worried that his/her English isn't good enough, that he/she won't be able to do the task and will be embarrassed in front of peers?
• Maybe he/she doesn't understand you very well but doesn't want to ask for repetition or clarification.
• Maybe English is an area of weaknesses for a student who is otherwise strong in his/her field. He/She may be using bravado to cover this up with peers.

If you suspect that any of these things could be the case, then be subtle about how you offer support.

• You could approach the student once others have started and ensure he/she knows what to do. 
• You can hold off on error correction with the student but provide ample praise instead.  
• You could grade your language down when you speak 1:1 with this student to make him/her feel positive about the exchange with you. 
• You could ask the student to attend a tutorial to find out in what areas he/she needs some additional help.  
• When eliciting from the student, try asking this student questions you know he/she is likely to be able to answer. 

Lateness
Lateness to class is disruptive for you and the other students. Let the students know that you expect them to be on time. If a student is late, acknowledge their late arrival, asking them why (but don't chat to them for too long as this is distracting for the rest of the class and actually benefits the latecomer who gets 1:1 conversation!). Take the register at the start of the lesson and make it clear that anyone who arrives late will not be marked in the register. If a student is consistently late find out why. Maybe they have to come from another campus.

Testing the new teacher
Of course, some students may be trying to test out how far they can push the new foreign teacher - to see how you'll react. Some may be indicating to you that they believe you don't have authority at the university so they don't have to do as you ask. With older students who are behaving like this discipline rarely works and everyone loses face. If you shout at them or give a punishment you will lose face which could be exactly what they were trying to achieve! So, if you are unhappy with student behaviour then it's important to stay calm. Don't let students see that you are getting angry.

Talk to them 
Once you are calm (which might be the next lesson) sit down with the class as a whole or just with the problematic student(s) and chat to them as adults. Explain how their behaviour affects you and also how it has a negative effect on the progress that the rest of the class can make. Ask them to explain to you why they are behaving this way. Explain what behaviour comes across as rude to a foreigner. They may be really surprised to hear that they are upsetting you!

Some things to explain:

• If they speak in Vietnamese then you can't help them with their English
• If they don't speak in English then they won't improve
• If they don't understand how to do something then it's fine to tell you
• If they are finding something difficult then it's fine to tell you

You could draw up a classroom agreement (code of conduct) for the class that you discuss together and agree on. Some things you might include are:

1. What should the students call you?
2. When is it OK to use Vietnamese?
3. When must they speak English?
4. Are laptops OK in class? Are there are restrictions on this?
5. Are mobiles OK in class?
6. What should they do if they have questions?
7. Do they want correction? When? How?
8. What about arriving late? What's your policy on this?
9. What do you expect them to write down?
10. What do they expect you to write down?
11. When do they expect you to set and return homework?
12. If students break anything in the classroom agreement, what should happen?

Once you have agreed upon it then type it up and give a copy to all students and also put it on the wall of your classroom(s).

Your teaching
Some other things to consider are:

• Are the students bored? Some students are just easily distracted or find it hard to concentrate for long. Ensure that you don't have long periods of teacher-talking time. Mix up your activity-types. Have a balance of teacher and student-centred tasks. 
• Do the students see the point of what you are doing? Sometimes students might not know where the lesson is going. Make sure that you have clear lesson aims and that you share these with the class at the start. What do you intend to achieve this lesson? Why are you asking them to do this task?
• How do you come across to students?  It's important to appear calm, confident and purposeful in your teaching. Your lessons should be well-prepared and you should appear organised. You should also make sure you manage the class effectively using clear instructions and signals. Showing that you care about their progress by listening carefully to them and responding naturally lets you build rapport. You can do all this and earn the students' respect, despite the fact that you may still be polishing your techniques and deepening your grammatical know-how. 

If you are experiencing some of these issues in any of your classes, take a lesson or two to think about the causes of the behaviour. Then, try one of more of these strategies. 

If there is no improvement then you may wish to discuss the situation with a Vietnamese colleague and find out the school / university policy on this.  You may be relieved to know that the student behaves this way with other teachers and that it's not only with you! 

Above all - stay calm and enjoy your lessons - don't let one or two people spoil it for you and the other students.