Teachers' questions: How can I cope with hyperactive students?

Dear Nancy,

In general, students will focus on what is of interest to them. As you say, pupils at Primary One are hyperactive and tend to have different interests to older as well as younger children. One of the best ways to get and keep their attention is by using their hyperactivity to your advantage. For example, try starting the lesson with a short physical exercise to use up some of their energy as well as get blood flowing to their brains. This should be followed by some calming down task. This can be as simple as you changing or lowering your voice. Learners get used to their teacher's system quite quickly and so your students will learn that the calming down task precedes work.

This age group has a concentration span of about 10 to 15 minutes so it is vital that activities are changed accordingly in order to maintain your pupils' attention.

Fun and stimulating activities can be found in Cambridge University Press' Primary Activity Box which has various photocopiable tasks for this age group. This title is part of a series of photocopiable books for Young Learners, which includes such titles as Primary Grammar Box, Primary Pronunciation Box and Primary Communication Box.

 

Picture of Primary Activity Box
Primary Grammar Box picture
Primary Pronunciation Box picture
Primary Communication Box image

                                                          

                                                             Regards,

                                                                     Amy

 

Amy Sarkiss is a Teacher Trainer and Editorial Consultant for Cambridge University Press in the Middle East and North Africa. Amy holds a BA in English and Comparative Literature from the American University in Cairo and the RSA CTEFLA and DTEFLA from Cambridge University. She was an EFL teacher for 14 years, the last 9 of which were at the British Council in Cairo.

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