How to deal with the horror students?

Hi guys, sorry I'm totally new to this site and I wanted some advice.

Recently I moved to Japan and got a pretty nice job as a cram school teacher for kindergarten and primary-aged kids.

I've only taught a few lessons so far and it's my first time both teaching in a classroom and teaching young children. They are so cute! And when they're good, they're so sweet!

BUT today I had a substitute class where about 3 out of 5 kids who were noisy and rowdy. One of them doesn't listen AT ALL unless I step in very firmly, which I don't like to do because I only have an hour and he is distracting from the class. I have a Japanese assistant who is supposed to help out but they don't really listen to her.

I figured, okay fine, I'm just a substitute, put up with it for an hour and I don't have to worry about it again. All my other classes the kids have been sooo sweet and obedient so this one really threw me for a loop.

When the class ended the assistant actually told me they had been way more obedient than usual (coulda fooled me) and that they liked me. I think this is just because I'm a new teacher.

When I got home, I received an email saying that I was now permanently assigned to that class!! (and a few others that aren't so bad).

I want to be good at my job and I want these kids to respect me. They are about 7 years old and there are around 5 of them. I also want to work on positive reinforcement. I was thinking that maybe next week I bring some cute stationary and toys into the class and tell them that if they don't interrupt, sit and listen, and follow my instructions, that they can choose something at the end of the hour.

I also want to talk to the assistant and get her to work with me on these ideas. At the end of my hour she scolded them for being bad in front of a new teacher, well I think if they were behaving better than usual she should have praised them. But I don't have much experience so I am not sure that any of these things will work.

By the way, I am generally fantastic with kids, they like me and I have a lot of fun... but usually I don't have to enforce discipline, so it's a different scenario.

Do any teachers have any ideas? Please let me know!

Watch Super Nanny.
There is a lot you can learn from the show about teaching and the behaviour of your kids in class.

All teachers/tutors experience the same situation. There is no clue to solve the problem.
Japanese teachers don't help each other to solve problems, They are tend to be isolated.
Some kids are suffered from mental disorder. But their parents don't tell the truth because of their reputation.
I think you better to treat them like a solders and you are a sergeant, which often Japanese teachers do. If kids don't do things teachers say, they will get physical punishment.

To tokyo friend 48,

No "physical disciplining/punishment" is allowed in schools in Japan. You should know that.

And while symptoms like ADHD might be more well known among children more recently (formerly they were not well understood), it is not that this is typical in Japanese schools. The way you phrase it makes it sound like Japanese schools are full of kids with "mental disorder," which is not the correct way to describe the situation. And treating kids like "soldiers" is definitely not the right approach.

Interesting name, Niko-dou-san ;)

I agree with Jaiden about "Super Nanny," but in a similar Japanese program, I've also seen the tutor handing out old newspapers for everyone to rip. Once the kids are done with the ripping, they seemed satisfied enough to pretty much sit still.

But I do have a friend who "got fired" (as he puts it) as a student of a couple of off-school classes for fooling around too much. He had turned out okay by the time I met him at 18 and is still doing fine at 53. Sometimes you just need to let go.

I don't know if you have ever dealt with kids before..
But sometimes it really requires patience, skills(profession), practice and all that to do it right..
Not a simple task but once you find your way out its gonna be a lot easier..