#1 SPEAK ENGLISH ONLY
How did I start making my students speak English only in class?
This is something that every teacher deals with.I, have had my fair share of kids who refuse to speak English only in class.
Many kids will speak in the native language a lot when they first start taking English lessons. They do this because they cannot understand what you are saying to them and they feel bored and resentful that they had to spend time in a non understandable situation.But,as time goes on, they should start speaking more English.
There are a few times when I will allow our native language,Bahasa Melayu to be spoken in my classes. First, when the kids honestly don't know how to say something in English and want to know how to say it. Second, when there is an emergency (the child is sick or hurt). And last, when a child doesn't understand a particular concept or game idea and other students want to explain in Bahasa.
One of the best ways to combat native language speaking is to give them the situation , a very interesting one and the one that they would have loved and able to participate actively and benefit from it.This will allow them to be see the positive parts later after they had finished practising and enjoying themselves.
Students want and love to communicate with you and their friends in English, but they don't always know how. For example, in my classes sometimes a new student would come in and say "Cikgu, saya nak pergi tandas!" Because I could understand what they were saying, I could say back to them "Oh, you want to go to the toilet?" Do this enough times and they will be able to say it in English.
If you're talking about just general goofing off, however, I've found that there are two ways of dealing with this...rewards or punishment.
You can offer some sort of reward, such as a sticker, to students who speak English only throughout the lesson. This can work out to your advantage though, because then the class has to work together as a whole to speak English only in order to get their stickers. They will put a group pressure on other students to not speak in the native language. You can give them a certain number of "accidents" where they can still get stickers. For example, as long as the native language is spoken less than 10 times, everyone gets a sticker.
We'd all prefer to use rewards, but I've had some students who will only respond to punishment. In those cases, I've always had to lay down the law as soon as the students entered the classroom. I'd explain the they had three strikes. The third time that they speak Bahasa Melayu, they'd have to go to the corner. If they spoke in the native language a fourth time, after being in the corner, then they'd have to apologize from everybody in the class for not being a cooperative member in the class.
Also, if you're playing a game which has points, you can take away points if someone speaks in the native language. This can be a very effective way to get your students to speak English only.
