Grabbing the bull by its horns

Classroom management is an essential part of teaching young learners. Teachers of YLs need to develop a plan for managing their classrooms that will keep YLs engaged and on task, so that the process of teaching and learning can take place. The aim is to create a positive and productive atmosphere for that process to occur.

Effective teachers need to be good managers of time and activities. They need to move quickly from activity to activity because YLs have short attention spans. Managing the pace of the class also includes using fun activities, planning the materials and instructions for the activities or games before hand, and using attention getters and brain breaks.

One of the main ways to manage a class of YLs is to develop classroom routines and rules. As regards routines, Brewster, Ellis, and Girard (2002) explain: “Young children gradually become familiar with established routines that help them feel confident”. Using routines in class make children to know what is going to happen next. Apart from that, children like working within a framework of rules, i.e. boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. But we need to take into account that different classroom management approaches that teacher use can depend on their country and culture. As a consequence of this, appropriate classroom rules depend on the school culture and can defer from country to country, from region to region, and even from school to school: rules and the consequences of breaking them need to be established in accordance with the school policy. Teachers must know what the school rules are and incorporate them into their classroom, enforcing them consistently and fairly. Then, good behavior could be rewarded, but the appropriate reward will also depend on the school culture.

One of the biggest challenges that teachers have to face is the managing of classroom climate, which includes physical and emotional atmosphere. Physical environment refers to the room and seating arrangement. Teachers should create an arrangement in such a way that they can see all students from the front of the room, walk through the room easily, and seats can be move to work in pairs or groups. However, teachers do not always have the freedom to arrange the room. However, sometimes the arrangement does not depend on the teachers, but it is something that is out of their control. Emotional atmosphere should be positive and comfortable for learners to speak out and participate actively in class. The key is to build good relationships with students, but the way in which those relationships are developed will also be culturally based.

To conclude, despite the fact that there are different classroom management approaches that teachers can apply to their classrooms, their choice will be conditioned by the country in which they live, the region in which the school is located, and the school culture itself, i.e. the school rules and beliefs.