How to teach a distracted child

Watch a video by Al on this topic here

How to deal with children getting bored, distracted or upset (excluding cases of illness) so you'd know how to deal with this if it happens during your lesson.

Regardless of your students age, if your lessons are so exciting that your students are dying to know what'll be next - you're unlikely to have any problems with this at all. Exceptions may occur if the child is going through personal issues like losing a pet or a severe disagreement in the family, and they may be so upset that they aren't capable of cooperation at all. If that happens, and the greatest of personal communication skills don't work, you may have to finish the lesson early. In these exceptional cases the parents will be aware and are likely to understand that their child was not ready for the lesson. An experienced teacher can tell if a child is really upset for a reason or if he's just trying to get out of a lesson.

If the child is protesting against being taught, the teacher's authority kicks in - this is something that should already be established on the very first lesson - that you are not a person to cross. And military officer training helps a lot here. I had a case of a kid demonstrating such careless handwriting that I made him write the word 20 times - his handwriting improved rapidly.

However, even the most motivated of kids get bored or just lazy sometimes - that's the way they are.
The preparation lies before this occurs - resonate with the child, have them like and respect you beforehand. Have the child interested in what you teach - that is mainly done by preparing a good and exciting lesson. Secondly, to keep the child interested in you, be interested in them. If a child tells you that he had a dream about zombies coming to his house - listen and express all interest - it's ok on an individual lesson, so long as it is said in English. If the child tells you how during a trip he and his mate spent the night in the hotel room jumping on the bed and having a raging pillow fight - same thing. Personally, I like when children tell me these things, and it's also a sign of trust. I had a situation where the child was telling me about his former teacher who happened to beat him during the lesson. Beating a child student is
a) illegal in most countries - in the UK you could get arrested for any physical contact with the child;
b) detrimental to the learning process;
c) the action of a terrible person. Good luck getting into heaven after that.
Needless to say, when the mother walks into the room and the child is crying because he had been hit, the teacher (let's call him Max) is fired.

I listened to the child tell me that and thought 'ok, we can turn this the other way to focus on the lesson'. I say:
'Imagine zombies came to your house. When did the zombies start eating Max? How long have the zombies been eating Max? (we were studying past simple vs. past perfect)'. 'What next? Are we going to dance on the roof? When did we start dancing on the roof? How long have we been dancing on the roof with the zombies? When did we start jumping on the bed with the zombies? How long have we been having a pillow fight with the zombies?'

Keep that in mind. A good teacher can always make the lesson engaging and have fun at the same time. Remember, a good specialist is always learning. Good luck with your lessons!