Hi; I am new to teaching English after qualifying last spring. My first job includes a one hour lesson for young 5- 7 year old ones, very unruly (some disturbed we think) kids. I can't get them to listen, to play well or imitate me. ALl they are happy to do is colouring and even then the trouble makers start causing problems. I get them to watch a bit of a video at the end of a hectic lesson. But that is about all. It is not just me, the last teacher gave up because of them and I get help from a French teacher. Any ideas? I am due to teach again in four hours.!
Get them to Shake Their Sillies Out. It's a song. You can download it free. Go online and look for other children's songs that have movement; e.g., Going on a Bear Hunt; Ring-Around-the-Roses, B-I-N-G-O, and so on. There are a ton available. Learn chants and fingerplays. Especially the latter. They can calm the most monstrous crowd of 5 year olds. One that worked for me was 'Grandmother's Glasses'.
The Wiggles are a godsend. Its universal and they are a big hit in Japan. I have been teaching for over 20 years and just completed 2 years in Tokyo. Every morning we danced/sang to 2 wiggles songs and then down to some work.
Young learners have a short attention span so after the 2 songs we all sat down for alphabet/numbers time. I try for 20-30 minutes but doesnt always work out that way. When they are tired of sitting we did exercises to a song or 2 and then back to work again. I had the same group from 9 - 2, five days a week. I usually prepare 15-20 activities for each day and if one fails then I have backups. Over all I would say on a good day they would work for 20-30 minutes then some song fun and back to work. One never knows what will work and fail, just hope for the best. If its a bad day then the afternoon will be a childrens music video or disney movie for an hour. Just have to go with the flow.
Teaching English to a real young ones 
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