Yesterday's lesson for the primary 3s was eventful & a good learning experience for me. I learnt that sweet girls who look demure with a voice of an angel can be very fierce & violent. I'm glad that I understand some Japanese w/o the students being reminded of it. And I handled the first crying case in class. All these packed in a 45-min lesson.
There's this girl who speaks well & has a doll-like face. She's always so sweet in class, always so well-behaved. But don't push your luck too far! The troublemaker in the class (this irritating boy who's ntg but trouble) had teased her with some awful nickname which i didn't catch nor understand. I let them be since lesson hasn't start. Next moment, I saw the girl raising a chair, threatening to hit the boy. Stopped it in time with no injuries. I hoped she was just planning to scare him & not hurt him!
I gave them a worksheet to do, with plans to re-distribute out to different students to mark it. The troublemarker & his frd couldn't finish on time & refused to give me the worksheet, so I had to take it almost by force. And they started saying in Japanese "Take it! I don't want to do the worksheet anyway". That really pissed me off. One girl who knew that I understand Japanese told them (that I understand) when she saw how black my face turned. The moment she ended her sentence, I shot the 2 boys saying 'If you don't want to do the worksheet, you can sit on the floor alone.' This shut them up for a while.
After the worksheet was games. Sitting in a circle, the students had to snatch some word cards in the middle. The "angel" (the one who threatened to throw a chair) changed her seat during the game & the class terror told her off rudely. The next moment, the "angel" started crying. I had to juggle between conducting the game & consoling the girl. Finally gave up & had another student to run the game.
Quite a learning experience where i learnt to pacify the crying girl while not exactly scolding the class terror. Class terror knows she was in the wrong for scolding the girl but refused to admit it but kept her head down throughout. So I left it as it is. As long as the crying is stopped, and the bully knows her mistake, it's case closed.
And yes, class terror is a girl. Super hyperactive, lousy in studies, tries to act like big sister. She refused to let this quiet girl sit beside her because she wanted her best friend (Miss Bulliable) to sit with her yesterday. That made 3 other girls angry coz they were concerned that the quiet girl will be uncomfortable sitting with a boy. I didn't interfere in this. All seats are first come first served! hehehe...
From Day 1 I knew the P3s are a difficult lot in terms of discipline. Both class terror & troublemaker are scolded by me almost on a daily basis. For your info, we're not allowed to punish nor scold them. I wonder how on earth you can discipline a bunch of monkeys by being nice only. I speak in a stern/fierce voice to make it like I'm scolding yet not quite scolding. I isolate them in class (e.g. sit on the floor alone at corner) as punishment. That's all I can do & I know most teachers use these methods too.
How do teachers in local primary schools survive in a class of 40 kids? Likewise how do the Japanese teachers handle a class of monkeys? I only have 13 in my class & it's hell for me! Thank god there're a few little angels around to light up my day.
It's hell here but I still enjoy teaching for now (^-^)
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