WEBVTT

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Hi teachers,

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Eric here.

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Tomorrow is the first day for public schools

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and universities,

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which means that a lot of teachers are worried

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about how they should start their first class.

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Today,

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I will show you how to create the perfect first impression

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and

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how to prepare the students for

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a successful year of learning.

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First impressions count.

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The students are nervous and they're coming into the class

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and you want to make them feel comfortable,

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but this is also your only chance

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to set your expectations

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for what they have to do for the rest of the year.

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So, it's very important to start well.

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Okay.

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First,

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mindset.

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Many teachers want to be the fun teacher,

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the cool teacher.

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They want students to interact and laugh and

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be one happy family.

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When, in fact,

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they should start thinking of it as what is the

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best possible way for these students to learn and in

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in an environment that's controlled.

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There's a difference between having an entertaining class

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and being entertainment.

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You can have fun activities,

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you can do fun things,

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you can have interesting content,

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but you shouldn't be the focus of that.

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You shouldn't be the clown dancing around making kids laugh,

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making jokes,

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trying to get a rise out of them.

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That's not your job.

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You can have a fun personality.

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I'm not saying be boring,

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but don't make that,

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the,

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the,

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base of where you're working from.

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Okay,

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so I like to start my class off by telling the students exactly what will happen in

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each class and then it helps them to mentally prepare for each stage of the lesson.

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So, for example,

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if it's my first class of the day,

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I will say,

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OK,

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"Hello everyone,

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my name is Eric."

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First,

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I will introduce myself,

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I will talk about the subject,

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I will tell you the classroom management strategy,

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what routines and rules we have,

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and then we will do a fun activity.

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Tell the students to think of any question they want to ask you.

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But tell them to keep that question until later,

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where you'll give them an opportunity to ask it and you will also ask them a question.

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That way you are conditioning the students

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to

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wait

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to ask questions.

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This is a big problem I see in many classrooms.

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The teacher gets bombarded by questions and they're trying to answer each student,

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but by telling them there's a time and a place for everything,

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you are training them

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to be good students.

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Very important.

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You're also showing them that I'm the leader,

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I will decide when we do what

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and they will fall in line.

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So, this is your very first way of

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actually conditioning the students for good 

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behavior.

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Introduce 

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yourself.

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I

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tell them what my experience is.

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I've got 10 years of experience,

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I've taught this,

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this and this.

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I've trained that,

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but I don't give them any

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personal information.

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I'll leave that to later so that they can actually ask me those questions,

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you know the questions,

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how old are you?

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Do you have a girlfriend?

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Are you married?

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How many kids do you have?

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Where you from?

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Many teachers

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greet the students at the door individually and that's fine.

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It's you're basically telling the students,

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this is my space and you have to respect it.

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I

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prefer standing in the middle of the class waiting for the students to come in

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as soon as they're in.

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I wait for them and I give them the instruction to sit

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down or wait till they're quiet and then I speak.

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It depends where you're teaching and what the standards are at the school.

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Stand up straight obviously,

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eye contact,

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eye contact,

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eye contact.

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Make eye contact with your students,

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each student for a couple of seconds while you're talking.

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And 

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I think one of the mistakes many teachers make

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is that once they make eye contact with the student,

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they don't want the student to be

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scared or nervous,

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so they make eye contact and then they move on.

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They

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kind of avert their eyes

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so that the student doesn't feel uncomfortable.

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Why is that a mistake?

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Because you think,

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"Oh,

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I don't want the student to be uncomfortable."

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But

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how does the student actually see it?

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It's like,

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"Oh,

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is this teacher afraid of even making eye contact with me?"

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By establishing your base and making eye contact,

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keep it,

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until the student looks away.

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It shows that

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I'm,

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the leader in this classroom

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and

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I'm not scared to look into your eyes.

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I'm not afraid to make eye contact with you.

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This is my space.

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And you know what?

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The students

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pick up on these signals,

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these leadership signals.

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And a lot of people say,

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"Well, it comes down to experience."

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You just have more experience with students,

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which is true.

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But if you can learn these leadership qualities or these

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small adjustments you can make,

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they

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will see you as a stronger leader and also a teacher that they respect.

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So, maintain eye contact until they look away and keep a strong body position,

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feet apart. Next.

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Let the students know what your expectations are.

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Tell them,

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I'm a teacher,

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I expect you to do this.

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And how do you do that?

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You tell them what routines you will follow it in class and what rules you have.

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What routines?

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Every classroom should have routines.

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What do you do when they walk in,

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when you want to start

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class?

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If

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they're doing an activity and you want them to stop,

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you can say,

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OK,

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everyone,

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I will count down 3, 2, 1,

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and then once I do that,

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I expect you

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to be quiet.

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So, set those expectations clear and early.

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It's very difficult

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to start routines halfway through the year.

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Start it from 

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the beginning,

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the first day of class,

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set your expectations high

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and you can always lower it later.

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That's one thing

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I

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really want 

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to talk about is 

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don't be afraid to be stricter

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than you would normally be.

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So, set the rules

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and if the students don't obey the rules,

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these are the consequences.

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Don't get emotional about rules.

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It's just the students know,

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well,

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they 

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did this wrong,

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so this is what will happen.

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In 

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my 

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class,

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I

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teach university,

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so the students are adults.

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I only have 3 rules.

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Rule number one,

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don't be shy.

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I expect them to come into class and be a conversation machine.

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I want them to talk and be open,

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especially in Korea where a lot of students are very nervous.

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I come in and I say listen,

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remember the rule of the classes you can't be shy.

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So,

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that's the first one,

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second one,

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respect everyone around you.

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And

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then third one,

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if someone else is talking,

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let's listen.

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OK,

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very easy.

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So, if somebody does something wrong,

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I can just say,

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"Listen,

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you're supposed to respect your friend,

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remember that's the rule."

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Or

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if I'm speaking and someone else speaks at the same time,

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I say,

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"Listen,

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rule number 3,

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remember?

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We

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agreed to it

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when one person is speaking,

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you have to listen."

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What I would do is

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I would immediately point at students and ask

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them to repeat the rules or the routines.

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Asking them,

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so 

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what is rule number 1?

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What is rule number 2?

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What is rule number 3?

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Why do I do this?

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Once again I'm reinforcing the behavior I want to see.

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I'm showing them that I'm the one in charge,

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I'm going to ask them questions and immediately I want them

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to give me answers.

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You're establishing your leadership in the classroom.

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You say

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this is what happens.

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What is the answer?

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What is the answer?

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And if they do make a mistake,

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you're like,

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OK,

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who can help them?

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By doing that,

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you will start feeling more powerful and they will also follow what you're saying.

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Okay,

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then

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game 

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or activity.

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In the past,

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I used to play the M&M game on my first day of school,

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I would buy a pack of M&M's, and I would 

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give them to a group of 3 or 4 students and then I would say,

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OK,

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well,

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pick 

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an M&M.

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And if it's blue,

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talk about family.

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If it's red,

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talk about your favorite food.

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If it's yellow,

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talk about your favorite 

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place.

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Whatever it may be,

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and then they have to talk about it for 30 seconds or minutes

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and then they can eat the M&M and then it's the next person.

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But

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this year I want to try something else and M&M's are getting very expensive.

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So, I'm going to do

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peer interviews.

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So,

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student interviews their partner,

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they write down all their answers,

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interesting things about them,

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their hobbies,

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whatever it may be,

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and then

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they have to introduce their partner to the class,

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almost like a hype man,

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you know.

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And

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you'll find the students always try and

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find something interesting to say about their partner.

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Once they introduce their partner,

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I will ask the students a follow-up question.

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After the follow-up question,

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I will say,

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OK,

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your turn,

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ask me a question,

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what's your question?

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They asked me a personal question,

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I answer it.

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That way I get to know my students and they get

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to know me too and everybody can practice interviewing each other.

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OK,

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everyone,

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that's 

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it for today,

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so let's do a quick recap.

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First,

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remember,

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be the teacher,

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don't be a clown.

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There's a difference between having

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an entertaining class and being entertainment

00:10:09.469 --> 00:10:10.580
for the class.

00:10:10.869 --> 00:10:11.429
Number 2.

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Tell them what will happen today.

00:10:16.229 --> 00:10:16.440
Explain 

00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:17.140
the schedule,

00:10:17.229 --> 00:10:18.510
what you'll do so that they know

00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:18.789
are

00:10:18.830 --> 00:10:19.789
this is where we're at,

00:10:19.869 --> 00:10:21.070
this is what we're doing next,

00:10:21.099 --> 00:10:21.109
next,

00:10:21.130 --> 00:10:21.710
next and next.

00:10:22.729 --> 00:10:23.940
Introduce yourself.

00:10:24.109 --> 00:10:26.619
You can just tell them your experience,

00:10:26.830 --> 00:10:27.539
what you're doing.

00:10:27.789 --> 00:10:28.619
Body language,

00:10:28.789 --> 00:10:30.099
have strong body language.

00:10:30.349 --> 00:10:33.710
Don't be afraid to make eye contact and maintain it.

00:10:33.950 --> 00:10:34.979
Take up space.

00:10:35.109 --> 00:10:36.979
This is your area.

00:10:37.469 --> 00:10:38.909
They are our visitors.

00:10:40.130 --> 00:10:40.559
Five:

00:10:41.770 --> 00:10:44.520
Set your expectations clearly.

00:10:44.770 --> 00:10:46.650
Tell the students what the routines are,

00:10:46.849 --> 00:10:48.469
what are your class rules?

00:10:48.809 --> 00:10:49.219
Six:

00:10:49.409 --> 00:10:50.489
activity,

00:10:50.530 --> 00:10:51.880
it could be anything you want to do,

00:10:51.929 --> 00:10:54.010
any type of icebreaker to get to know them.

00:10:54.169 --> 00:10:54.369
OK,

00:10:54.640 --> 00:10:55.059
everyone,

00:10:55.409 --> 00:10:58.159
so how do you start your first day of class?

00:10:58.830 --> 00:11:01.250
And I want to finish with one last thing.

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Remember,

00:11:03.849 --> 00:11:05.280
hope for the best

00:11:05.609 --> 00:11:07.380
but prepare for the worst.