Classroom Management for World Language Teachers
I’ve often wondered why classroom management is rarely discussed during teacher education courses. In fact, I did a minor in Education during my undergrad years as well as a Master of Arts in Teaching, and in neither program did I receive any formal training on classroom management! Perhaps it’s not an easy topic to teach, or perhaps there’s just so much other content that programs should include in their curricula… I don’t know. What I DO know is that I had to learn effective classroom management techniques on my own, which included a lot of outside research during my personal time and trial and error with my students.
In this blog post, I will share some common classroom management issues that are unique to us as World Language educators, along with some tips and strategies for navigating them. I’m going to try to keep the tone of this post as neutral as possible, because I understand that classroom management is NOT a one-size-fits-all topic and that it varies greatly depending on your teaching context.
The tips that I’m sharing in this post are what have worked for me based on my own teaching context, my personality and the ways in which I interact with students, and what I have observed throughout my career as a World Language teacher… but you may find that some of these ideas may not apply to you based on the age, level, or demographic of students that you teach. Nevertheless, I hope you will walk away with some tools you can add to your classroom management toolbox.
Solidify your procedures
Students, like adults, are creatures of habit. They crave routine and predictability. When you faithfully implement a routine into your daily instruction, you are able to create and maintain clear, consistent expectations for how your class will run. For example, when my students enter my room, a Bellringer is always posted on the board. My students know they are to sit down, take out their binders, open their Bellringer packet, and begin working. This minimizes disruptions, helps calm and center my students, and quells some of the anticipatory anxiety that certain students might feel, which can lead to off-task behaviors. The way we begin class is predictable, and students know what to expect. No surprises.
This also pertains to the rest of your instructional routine as well: we tend to start class off reviewing, then there’s a whole-class or small group activity, and then students get to work independently or in pairs. Think about consistency and predictability—this does NOT get boring for your students, I promise you, because even though your routines are the same every day, the content and activities you are implementing will constantly change, keeping things fresh and your students engaged.
I once had a colleague who didn’t seem to have any clear classroom routines: every day was a sort of free-for-all in their classroom, and the students really did not thrive in the chaos of that setting, and their behaviors reflected that.
If they’re talking, I’m not
There are a bunch of different strategies that you can employ to get students’ attention: you can ring a bell, you can say something like “1…2…3… all eyes on me!”, you can simply raise your hand in the air and wait for your students to quiet themselves and raise their own hands in the air. Regardless of which technique you use, ensure you do not proceed with instruction until all students are quiet.
There are a few reasons for this. First and foremost, when I am speaking, I have something valuable to communicate to my students, and I need all of them to be quiet so that they can focus and hear what I’m saying. Second, it’s just plain rude for students to be having their own little side conversations while the teacher is trying to tell them something. It’s disrespectful, and mutual respect is a critical component of effective classroom management.
It might be awkward and uncomfortable at first, but I just stand at the front of the room and wait for all of my students to be completely quiet before I begin or continue speaking. Usually, you’ll have a few students who “shhh” the class (real talk: love those students!), but learn to sit with the discomfort of silence. It’s worth it, because what you have to say matters, and you’ll only say it once.
Having hard conversations with students
Two golden rules of discipline: 1) Never have private conversations in a whole-class setting; and 2) Never have important or difficult conversations with students in the target language.
If a student has acted in a way that is disturbing or upsetting our classroom culture, we need to have a discussion about it. This conversation should take place in private, preferably in the hallway or after class, and it should take place in the L1 (most likely English). Disciplining students in front of their peers creates a level of shame and embarrassment that can lead to the student resenting you and increased negative behavior from that student, so it’s always best to have conversations with individuals or small groups of students in private.
The communicative focus of these types of difficult conversations is to
A) establish what has been said or done that is harmful to our classroom community
B) understand how or why students have acted or behaved in the way they did
C) discuss ways in which students could make better choices in the future.
This is a complex conversation even in the L1, so it is not time for you to speak to students in the target language, where important information, mutual understanding, and empathy can often get lost in translation.
Looking for a resource to help with your classroom management?
Click on the image to the left for more information about my Detention Form & Restorative Behavior Essays, which are an effective classroom management tool to help you enhance social-emotional learning and foster growth mindset learning opportunities in your classroom.
High expectations and academic rigor
Your World Language class is an academic subject. Sure, it is an elective in that students can usually choose the language they wish to study, but it is still an academic subject, just like Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. It’s important to communicate high expectations to your students and compare your class to one of their core classes, illustrating that there will be practice activities, group work, homework, quizzes, projects, presentations, and other assessments…and that they should take your course as seriously as they would take their LA or Math courses. You don’t want students to have the false perspective that their Spanish class is on the same level as their Art, Music, and Phys Ed classes, because their level of attention, work ethic, and sometimes behavior are different in those classes than they are in core academic subjects. When students respect the rigor of your class, it tends to change the ways in which they show up to your class.
Set and enforce consequences consistently
It is so important to have open, honest conversations with students about what is and is not permissible within the four walls of your French, Spanish, or Italian classroom. Students have a tendency to push boundaries, and while we would like to think that all of our middle and high school students know how to behave in a classroom, oftentimes, there are many hidden factors that contribute to negative classroom behaviors (including what’s going on at home, social factors, mental health issues, to name a few…). With that in mind, setting and enforcing classroom rules and expectations in a fair, equitable, and consistent manner is paramount to good classroom management.
If your students are not allowed on their phones, but you let a few students use their phones if they finish their work early, then you know you will have issues with students rushing through their work and whipping out their phones because Fred and Sally always finish early and are allowed on their phones! If your policy is good for the goose, it’s good for the gander—and vice versa! Apply your classroom policies and consequences evenly because your students will lose respect for you if they sense favoritism or inequitable distribution of consequences.
Relationship building
I will end with one that is an “oldie but a goodie.” We all know that establishing good rapport with our students is one of the best ways to maintain a healthy, positive classroom community and culture. I think we, as language teachers, have a bit of a disadvantage compared to our colleagues who teach in L1 (usually English). Why? Well, it’s pretty difficult to build relationships with students in a language they don’t really understand. (This is one of the reasons why I am against 90% target language use in the classroom. Read all about that in my blog post: How Much Target Language Should I Use?)
So many of our successes (and failures, honestly) in the classroom come down to the level of trust, respect, and empathy that we cultivate in our classroom communities. Relationship building, therefore, is a critical component of effective classroom management. Don’t aim to have all of your students like you; aim to have all of your students respect you - there’s a big difference!
Show up as authentically as you can. Be vulnerable. Show a true, genuine interest in your students. Be curious. Ask them questions. Get to know them as individuals. Disassociate your students’ identities from their academic performance. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Show them that you care. Be empathetic, adaptable, and flexible. Encourage them. Praise their efforts. Be honest, but keep an open mind.
It takes time for students to trust their teachers, but once you’ve developed trust and respect, it’s much more difficult for them to openly disrespect you in your class…and if they do, they’re much more likely to acknowledge their mistakes and work hard to try not to make the same mistakes in the future.
I hope this post has given you some “food for thought” with regard to classroom management. I think classroom management, like teaching in general, is both an art and a science. There are some pretty incontrovertible “rules” for how to do it, but I think it can also be rather open-ended depending on a host of factors that I mentioned in the introduction to this blog post. How is your classroom management? What are some techniques or strategies that you’ve found to be particularly useful? I’d love it if you could share your experience in the comment section below!
Happy language teaching,
~ Michael
