Discipline involves no more than engaging all the kids in interesting dialogue in class. That’s how simple it is. But that is also how difficult it is.
During PQA and in stories we cannot afford to let those kids who want to draw attention to themselves do so. Why? Because when ONE KID can pull attention away from the L2 communication, it is the effect of a house of cards falling under the weight of one card.
I identify and then work with such kids much more than I used to. Actually, nothing is more important to me. Some of these kids are just below the line of passive aggressive, and some are above it.
I know that is a serious term, but when a kid stands up and strolls to the door to “go to the bathroom” or “get a drink”, they can do so in a disruptive way or in a respectful way. They know what they are doing.
Since over 90% of human interaction is visual, the walking to the door, usually in a way that pulls a lot of students’ attention away from L2, is MUCH MORE DISRUPTIVE than the teacher may think. Why?
Because language is so delicate. It is SOUND. It is fragile. In order to keep the CI going, there can be NO DISTRACTIONS. To me, that means that I simply cannot allow any kid to draw the slightest attention to themselves during the CI.
TPRS is supposed to be like a game, and teachers who have discipline issues clearly have not spelled out the rules. They have let maybe even ONE KID have too much of a voice in the class. I will not let some kid who doesn’t understand when they are being rude reduce my ability to generate interesting and meaningful CI.
So if a kid wants to use the bathroom, they can go quietly. After two kids have gone, however, nobody can go, unless it is a clear emergency. This strange bathroom rule works for me to keep those kinds of disruptions to a minimum. The language is that delicate!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Jennifer 06.19.08 at 1:17 PM
So, by this I assume that you don’t have students interrupt the flow of language by asking, even in the target language, to use the facilities?
Ben Slavic 06.19.08 at 3:34 PM
No they just slide out the door, and when two have gone (I count and they count), then they can only go in an emergency.
There is a kid in every class who just wants to “take a break” and let everybody know he or she is in the room. But with this sytem, when the kid gets up to go for the seventh class in a month, the class “calls” that kid on what they are doing, because they don’t want to lose the chance to go for someone else. Otherwise, going to the bathroom becomes a form of control from certain kids, and they are not in control of the room, I am.
And yes I don’t want them to interrupt me with that question. They will never need to ask it in a French speaking country.