ESL Classroom Management Strategies for Teachers
Posted by UNI-Prep Institute - 11 Sep. 2017 - Teaching Articles

It does not matter where or who you are teaching, being able to manage your class is an important skill. It contributes to being a successful ESL teacher. As an ESL teacher you will be faced with language barriers that can cause problems in the class. If you have good classroom management skills you can avoid disasters. There are many different ways to manage a classroom successfully. 

Below are some strategies for managing an ESL classroom 

1. Have a lesson plan that is well planned 

Students can tell if you are nervous or anxious during a lesson. To stop these feelings you should plan your lessons with a lot of detail to start. This will help you combat any anxious or nervous feelings about teaching. Planning your lessons will make you feel confident about what you are teaching. 


2. Feel calm and confident

When you first begin teaching it is normal to have some nervous moments teaching. However you should never let the students know that you are nervous. You should be confident and present yourself in a confident way. Do things to make you feel calmer and more confident. Choose a topic that you really enjoy to discuss in your class, wear your favourite sweater, there are just two of many examples. 


3. Stop problems as soon as they start 

It does not matter how prepared you are, you will come across difficult students. There is no amount of lesson planning that can help you with this. Students might not be interested in learning English or they might think the lesson is boring or too easy. When this happens these students can become a distraction to the rest of the class. Therefore it is important to not ignore these problems. Let the student know as soon as they are disruptive that this is a problem. Do not wait until they have done it a couple of times to tell them it is disruptive. 


4. Ask for help 

If you are still having trouble with disruptive students you should always are for help. You can ask other teachers for strategies or your schools administration for advice. You should first try to fix the situation yourself. If the problem continues then it is a good idea to ask for help and to take the advice.  


5. Prevent problems before they happen 

The best way to manage your classroom is to prevent problems before they happen. If you can spot the distracted students at the beginning of your classes then you can give them extra attention if they need it. 

Managing an ESL classroom is no easy task. You might have a very calm class or sometimes a very energetic class. You need to get to know each of your classes and students. If you do so you will be better able to deal with any classroom issues that arise. You can only be prepared for so much. Sometimes things will happen that you are not prepared for and it is in these times where you can measure how prepared you are. 



Beginner, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-intermediate, Advanced,
Young learners (ages 1-4), Primary school (ages 5-10), Middle school (ages 11-14), High school (ages 15-18), Adult (18+),
General English,

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