I teach ESL to grades K-6, and I've got most of my teaching experience with younger grades. I've got a group of 7 pretty advanced fifth graders for 30 minutes a day. I see these kids the last 30 minutes of the day, which is NOT a good time, and they only want to talk about who is "going out" with whom. I probably have the two cutest boys in 5th grade, and the 5 girls (who are all very insecure) all try to get their attention. They are absolutely not interested in anything school-related. When I give them something to do, they rush through it just to get it done, and actually, they usually they get most of it correct. I'm trying to find something, ANYTHING, that interests them, but I haven't been successful. One thing that kind of works is literature studies, but we have to do short, very funny books to keep them interested. I did The Twits, and that worked pretty well for them. Now I'm starting Lawn Boy, which seems to be okay, so far. But I can't spend the entire 30 minutes reading. I need to add more activities than just reading, and I'd love to get some of your ideas.

I also need suggestions to get them to turn off their hormones and just listen to me. I've tried some of the WBT techniques with them, but nothing's really worked with them. They don't care! They started out the year with super negative attitudes. Now they are much more positive, but will not stop talking! If I tried to get them to be quiet and not say a word for even 1 minute, one girl would burst out laughing. (She's insecure, and she laughs and says inappropriate things all the time to look cool in front of the others.) I can't put just her in the independent group, because the rest of them would all be in there as well. They are this way with the other teachers in the school, too, but I still have hopes for them!

I know you are working on Industrial Strength Power Teaching... is this the class?

I used to teach with a Whole Brain Teacher who also taught ESL to some very difficult students. He worked a lot with music, they would watch clips from musicals, and read and analyze the lyrics. He also used a lot of new and old songs, printed the lyrics and created different assignments based on the music, the kids loved it! I know you could not do it everyday, but at least it would be a different spin on what you are already doing.

Yes, I have tried industrial strength. But it doesn't work with these kids. Because they just don't care. They want to talk, and they don't care if they get rewards or consequences. I think the only thing that will work is if I yell at them, because they like me, and I think they would be pretty upset if I got upset with them. Even so, I'm not going to yell. However, this question isn't really about how to use WBT with them, because you guys have helped me a lot with that. It's more about lesson ideas that engage the older students. I think if I have short, fast-paced, interesting lessons, they'll come around. I like the idea of the music lessons. I'll do mind soccer with them, too.