Classroom Management Strategies in the Language Classroom

I am José Martínez, a supervisor at LLN. I have been teaching Spanish in New Jersey schools for over twenty years. I am also a native speaker who studied the Spanish language in my original country Cuba with the purpose to become an editor and literary critic. With all this knowledge of the target language, I had originally thought teaching would be easy and would merely consist of standing in front of the children in the classroom and delivering course content. This was obviously not the case. I soon discovered that the students were disengaged, which opened up our classroom environment to rude and disrespectful behavior.

In order for me to survive my first year of teaching, I needed help. My goal was to discover and use some strategies that would work for my classes. I approached a few experienced teachers and told them my situation. They were very receptive and invited me to their classroom. Watching these instructors teach made me realize the importance of good classroom management. While these men and women had different styles of teaching, they did share one commonality, which was total control of their classes.

I made my best effort to pick and choose the strategies that I had observed that best aligned with my personality and teaching style. I noticed an immediate and positive difference when I applied these strategies in my classes. I have listed three of the strategies below that gave me the confidence in teaching needed to stay fresh and maintain longevity in this profession.

1. Set clear expectations: Teachers can choose to write their own classroom expectations or to include the students and work together in the process. Whatever procedures are put in place should try to focus on encouraging good behavior, as opposed to penalizing problematic behavior. It is important to reinforce these expectations consistently in class so students know them by heart. With this approach, instructors will have a better chance of creating an environment conducive to learning, where situations involving problematic behavior can be easily diffused.
2. Create and build relationships: This is one of my favorite things to do as a teacher. It is no secret that children work harder for their teacher when there is a connection between them. Instructors should greet the students at the door as they are entering the classroom, attend some of their school activities when possible, and make an honest effort to learn more about them by asking them what they did over the weekend or who their friends are. One of my most powerful strategies that I use to connect with my students is telling them my stories about growing up in Cuba (make sure what you say in class is appropriate). These personal anecdotes allowed me to transition multiple times to the real lesson on days when students were less interested in learning Spanish.
3. Make use of technology. In our modern times this strategy is going to tremendously help both teachers and students alike. There are several suitable online and digital games that can be used in the classroom in all different levels of the target language. Teachers also can and should use videos that complement and support whatever content is being covered at the moment. A quick Internet search will provide articles and activities that enrich the learning experience of each child.

There are of course several more strategies for classroom management in the language classroom. However, my purpose in sharing this information is to discuss the ones that have worked best for me over the past several decades. In closing this article, I want to give new teachers some very important suggestions.

• Do not take challenges at your job personally. This will allow you to continuously grow and excel as an educator. If a student is acting up or is being disruptive, remember you are the adult in the room. Be patient and you might see the very same student apologizing to you several minutes or even several days later.
• Be compassionate. One of my worst-behaved students wrote me a letter a while ago saying how much of a positive impact I made in his life for not giving up on him. It is for reasons such as this that I am grateful to be a Spanish teacher.
• Be consistent. Every assertive teacher follows a routine on each lesson and uses procedures that the students are familiar with to communicate the content. These types of classes run like a well-oiled machine in which the students help each other and likewise help the teacher ensure that learning is taking place.

I hope that you find value in what I have shared from years of experience in the classroom. I welcome you to reach out should you find yourself in need of classroom management support.