This is an excellent tip for teachers concerned about classroom discipline. It is best for Day 1 of your new class.
With slightly noisy classes it’s often a good idea to move the disruptive students away from each other or to the front of the class. However, if you try this in middle of term then it’s likely to lead to more noise and possibly downright refusal from the students.
To prevent this, it’s a useful idea to start moving students around on the very first lesson at the beginning of term when they are unlikely to complain or refuse, especially if you are a new teacher. Then let it get into a habit so that at the beginning of every lesson you might move one or two students to a different place.
Thus the students get used to swapping places. It will also help the students themselves as they get to work with different partners for some exercises and can exchange help on different topics.
Ideally, on Day 1, move a few students about in a lighthearted manner, mix things up – you could even turn it into a game. Then do it every ten minutes during the lesson. This gets the students used to the idea so that later in term when you need to move a couple of disruptive students you’ll find they’re much more amenable to the idea and it doesn’t end up a battle of wills in the classroom.
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IWeb TEFL Team