Hello Uddab,

Hello everyone!

Thank you for raising the issue of learners' misbehaviours in ELT classrooms. In fact, it is happening in all

schools all over the world regardless to ethical, religious, social or even economical backgrounds. The problem

 is that only teachers feel that because they face  it very frequently. Here, in Tunisia, there are no exceptions.

 Here are some examples of what happened to mention but a few.

  1) A group of pupils stabbed their mate to death in the school yard. No one could interfere to save the victim

          until the police arrival (in Gafsa, Tunisia).

  2) A pupil phoned a school girl and threatened to kill her brother if she would not join him in an appionted place

       and if she would inform the police. The girl submitted to her colleague's threat and he raped her (in Sfax).

  3) A pupil slapped his teacher because, he said, she embarrassed him in front of his colleagues (in Kairouan).

  4) A teacher lost his two front teeth because his pupil "gave him a head" on the face! (in Kairouan).

  5)  A pupil knocked his teacher out because he didn't get a good mark (in Bizerte).

 6) Two drunk pupils attacked an English teacher, poured alcohol on his head in an attempt to set him on fire but

      didn't find a lighter. Had they looked into his own pockets they would have found a lighter and there would

      have been a disaster (in Ouled Haffouz- my home town).

I mentioned these cases that were published via the national newspapers and were brought to Courts. However,

thousands of other misbehaviours are taking place everyday in schools where  they were solved either through

School "Rules" or through "Special", willy-nilly, pardon and excuses.

I mention this to support my idea that any disruptions or misbehaviours MUST be dealt with immediately

and very strictly in order to uproot School Violence. I don't hate pupils at all. On the contrary I do love them

but I am FIRM and STRICT that's why, thank God, I have no disruptions within my classrooms because all the

pupils know my character and they never dare misbehave deliberately. They do that not out of fear but of

respect. I concluded that when I met a pupil, whom I taught (08) years ago, who happily invited me to a cup of

coffee and a hubble-bubble (hookah). He is studying in the university now and within two years he will be an

 Arabic teacher. We gossiped about teaching. He, openly and honestly told me: " We respect you because you

were very democratic with us." I wondered and asked him humorously: " But I slapped you on the face one

day!". He replied: " But you didn't favour girls to boys." At that time I remembered how I had been feeling when

I was a pupil in the 1980s when my Geography teacher was favouring girls to boys. He used to ask the girls very

 easy questions but ask boys very difficult questions. He asked a girl: " The earth is round. Yes?" She said:

"Yes". He added: " And the earth is turning anti-clockwise. Yes?" She smiled and said : " Yes". He looked into her

 eyes and said: "Beautiful answers, beautiful handwriting, and beautiful eyes!" I offended him because the girl

was my First  Love. Henceforth, He started firing me out of the classroom in every session pretending that I was

disruptive. On that day I swore to God that I would never favour girls to boys when I would be a teacher. Now I

am an English teacher and I treat both sexes democratically. If a boy or a girl misbehave he / she is punished

fairly.

    To sum up, here are some tips that help a teacher run a normal class

  + From the beginning of the School Year TALK TO YOUR PUPILS and konw everything about them in order

      to be able to behave in the right way and take the right decisions whenever disruptions take place.

  + DO NOT FAVOUR GIRLS at the expense of boys and vice versa.

  + DO NOT EMBARRASS A PUPIL IN FRONT OF HIS CLASSMATES. He / She may accept even a fist  

      alone, from you, but not in front of his colleagues.

  + Never say to a disruptive pupil: "I will do this or that to you." You may face a challenge from him and

      things may get worse, and you may even "lose you face". Just do it silently and out of the pupils sight.

   + HELP YOUR STUDENTS whenever they ask you. Why not financially if they are in need. They will not  

       forget that for you.

   + KEEP YOUR OWN PROBLEMS OUT OF THE CLASSROOM. Do not get your students involved.

   + DO NOT REVEAL YOUR OWN SECRETS TO THE LEARNERS. You are a TEACHER and they are

       LEARNERS. 

   + PUT YOURSELF IN YOUR PUPILS PLACE. What would you expect from your teacher? Just do for your

       students what you ask your teacher to do for you.