Leading the sixth grade class wasn't going well even with a Thai teacher, though not the sixth grade teacher, in the room. I wrote on the board "If you do not behave I'm leaving." The teacher translated my message so everyone understood. About three minutes later no student was paying attention so I walked out and went to the office and sat down.
About ten minutes later the class came to me with a written statement which they read "Please come back. We are sorry we will behave." I went back and finished the hour with no more problems.
When I saw the sixth grade teacher later she said "You should hit them." "No, I said, I won't do that." The other teachers said that they have similar problems with lack of respect.
My analysis is that they use too much verbal and physical force with meager results. If I were to hit someone I would have had to hit every student in the room because none of them were paying attention. Long, loud lectures don't change student behavior. I'm very interested in helping these students learn English but I'm not interested in forcing them to do it against their will.
It was interesting that this hour followed a very productive one with the 4th grade.
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