How to Create a Positive Classroom Atmosphere | The top tips to help ESL teachers

Teaching an ESL/EFL classroom can seem overwhelming at first, but here are my top tips on how to create a Positive Classroom Atmosphere. The keys are to set high expectations and follow through on them, use a variety of engaging activities, pay attention to the classroom environment, and more! Check out the video to find out all the pro tips for creating and maintaining a positive classroom atmosphere. Have better classes for all ages and levels with these tips and tricks! ------------------- Check out my Tips for Teaching ESL/EFL: https://amzn.to/3Cs9fBa -------------------- Consider trying out the Test Teach Test Approach in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utzV9zAvXJk -------------------- https://www.facebook.com/eslspeaking https://www.pinterest.ca/eslspeaking/ https://www.instagram.com/jackie.bolen/ https://www.tiktok.com/@englishwithjackie?lang=en #esl #learningenglishwithjackie #teachingtips ------------------------------------------------------- Even more Ideas for the TEFL Classroom: https://eslspeaking.org/ -------------------------------------------------------- Transcript for Creating a Positive Classroom Environment: Hi everybody, so I'm going to talk about how to create a positive classroom environment. I'm an ESL teacher but these tips could apply basically to any situation in which you're teaching. And so the first one is positive reinforcement versus negative reinforcement. I try to focus on the positive things that students are doing. For example, you work so well together. The next thing is a reward system. So this is a little bit tricky. I'm like what should the motivation for students be? should it be to get a little candy at the end of class or should it be to actually learn something? However, reward systems do certainly have a place in the classroom. So I would often do this for children if I'm teaching them for example, over a summer or winter camp. And I would kind of give them little points for good behaviour for like a really good performance on a little activity that we did and even just for being like a very nice person. For example, picking up some trash without me asking them. The next one is to create interesting lessons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQtyRC5gBkg&t=1s). Choose topics that students are interested in. Of course, if you're choosing topics that students are not interested in, you will not have a positive classroom environment. People will be kind of negative and just kind of uninspired to talk about or discuss whatever the topic of the day is. The next thing to create a positive classroom environment is to make your expectations very clear. If students aren't really sure what you expect from them, how can they live up to those expectations? So set your expectations high and then enforce them. I don't mean to enforce them in kind of like a mean, angry way but just remind students of what you expect. Please put your cell phone in your pocket. Remember we don't use cell phones in our class. Or, please come on time. Remember that we start class on time. The next one is to pay attention to the physical environment in your classroom. If people are too hot or too cold or sitting next to someone they hate, they're not gonna like your class. So have a comfortable environment and do all that you can to ensure that people are interacting and talking with people that they actually like and people that they get along with because that will go a long way to creating a better environment in your class. The next tip is to enlist troublemakers. So I don't like to give the troublemakers in my class negative attention. It just kind of feeds into it a little bit I think and then they end up doing worse things in the end if I'm always paying attention to their negative behaviour. So instead, I generally will get them to sit in the front row and then I'll say, Bob, yeah please hand out these papers. And finally, ask students for feedback. So this can kind of happen throughout the semester and then I also do it at the end of the semester in order to improve my classes in the future. I will often ask students maybe just on the midterm exam or the final exam what their favourite part of the class was and what was one thing that they didn't really like about the class. So those are my top tips for creating a positive classroom environment. Timestamp: 0:00 Intro 0:14 Positive vs. negative reinforcement 0:35 Use a reward system? 1:20 Create interesting lessons 1:39 Use interesting activities 1:48 Make expectations clear 2:18 Pay attention to the physical environment 2:39 Enlist the troublemakers 3:14 Ask for feedback 4:11 Conclusion Tags: Positive Classroom Atmosphere, esl classroom environment, creating a positive classroom culture, teaching tips, esl teaching tips, classroom climate, positive climate, a positive learning environment, positive classrooms, esl teacher, esl teacher tips, how to t