To Behave Well Children Need Freedom in English Class 

I’ve observed quite a few EFL classes where something seemed to be missing. The students didn’t put in much effort and they weren’t focused on the lesson. The teacher had to drag them through each stage of the lesson. Some of the students even refused to follow basic instructions. At first, I wondered what was going on but then I realized those classes were missing a key, basic need that all people have. The students didn’t have any freedom in class. Now, I’m not talking about political freedom. I’m not proposing the children needed to start a mini-revolution against a tyrannical teacher. Instead, they were missing the ability to make choices which, according to Choice Theory, is a basic human need. And if you lessons don’t include freedom for your students they will find it very difficult to behave well. 

Understanding the Need for Freedom

According to Choice Theory we all have five basic needs. One of these is for Freedom. This is the ability to have and make choices for ourselves; what we’ll eat and wear, how we’ll spend our time and who we’ll spend it with.

It’s also autonomy and the ability to control our own bodies and move freely about.

Finally, and importantly, creativity is a key part of freedom. This is because we make dozens, hundreds, even thousands of small choices while we’re being creative to solve a problem, create a piece of art, or design a lesson plan.

Freedom is Intrinsically Motivating

When we make choices we want them to go well. We commit to them and we are motivated to like them and see them succeed. It’s like they become part of us, even if they’re small and inconsequential. This is a big source of our intrinsic motivation and it drives us to do better.

However, we don’t experience that when someone makes a choice for us. We may like that choice, but it doesn’t give us the same sense of control and commitment.  

And, children start asserting their need to make choices early on (“No!” is a popular word with 2-year-olds for a reason) and will only do so more the older they get. Their need to make their own choices is a big driver for them to improve their abilities. They often looking forward to when they’re bigger and have more freedom. 

That said, children are also used to being told what to do and following adults, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need any freedom at all.

Freedom with Limitations

Now, for children (and really anyone) we are not talking about absolute freedom. We all have and need some restrictions on our choices for a variety of reasons – including to keep us safe and to not harm others. 

We also don’t do well with unlimited or too many choices. You’ll know what I mean if you’ve ever been overwhelmed with the number of options at a supermarket or on a food delivery app. And, in general, children can handle even fewer options than adults, but they still deeply value getting to choose. You won’t get a great response if you ask your students “What do you want to do today?” but you will get one if you offer them two or three options. 

Freedom in the Classroom

Finally, there are lots of ways children can make choices in EFL class and experience freedom. Here are a few key ones for English class.

Importantly, children feel freedom when they choose what they’ll say or write in a game or activity like a role play or Listen Quick.

They also value making choices, like what color they’ll be in a board game or what name their team will have.

Choosing what activity they’ll do or how they’ll participate in the activity also helps them behave well.

They also value choosing partners, teams, and where they will sit.  

Finally, children appreciate making decisions about class rules and routines where appropriate. For example, I’ve had classes that chose to play a reward game at the end of the lesson instead of receiving stickers. That was more exciting to them.

How a Lack of Freedom Affects Classroom Management

When children feel that they don’t have enough freedom in class it will get harder and harder for them to behave well.

This happens a lot in extremely teacher-led and teacher-centered classes where children don’t have any or many opportunities to make choices. Eventually they will start behaving in ways that will reflect their lack of choice or they will even try to create choices for themselves.

Here are some common forms of misbehavior you might see if your students don’t have enough freedom. 

Limited Effort

The biggest issue you might see in your class is a general lack of effort. I’ve been in teacher-centered classes with teachers who put in lots of effort to be funny and engaging but their activities often fell flat with students doing the bare minimum. 

This is because it gets boring and discouraging to always be told what to do and say. Maybe you try to choose interesting and fun topics but your students won’t feel committed or interested in the lesson if they don’t get to give any input. Instead, they’ll just do whatever is needed to keep from getting in trouble. That’s not a great recipe for getting students to behave well in the long term.

You can control what activity they’re doing, but you can’t make them do their best. 

Daydreaming

The close relative of limited effort is daydreaming. Kids who aren’t committed or interested in the lesson will choose to do something that they do have control over; they’ll escape with their imaginations. 

You may have control of where they sit and what worksheet they have, but they control what they do with their minds.

Squirming and Moving Around

Sometimes students are squeezed together in class and they’re forced to sit close up against each other. It’s really uncomfortable to have your personal space invaded by someone else. In part, this is because it’s very restricting of our freedom of movement. 

If your students feel physically restricted by their chairs, desks, or classmates then you will see them squirming and moving about as they try to get free. I’ve sat in many preschool classes especially where the students didn’t have enough personal space. They spent much of the time squirming around and pushing each other to try to get comfortable. They weren’t able to focus on learning. 

Refusing to Follow Instructions

When children get really frustrated with the lack of options they will rebel and try to get their freedom by force.

This can become a real battle of wills as they try to assert some control over their lives. You might even have students yelling, screaming, or lashing out in a tantrum. 

Frozen in Place

Finally, sometimes children have more choices than they can handle. This makes them freeze with indecision which can also be frustrating for their teacher and upsetting for them.

For example, I used to have sticker sheets with fifty different cute designs for children to choose from. Unfortunately, far too often each kid would in turn stare at the sheet and take what felt like forever to choose. Once I cut the sheet into sets of four or even pairs and presented those to the kids they were able to choose much more quickly and happily. 

How to Give Your Students Freedom in English Class so They Behave Well

There are lots of ways you can give your students choices in class to help them behave well. Some of them can be small and fairly unimportant while others might have real impact on your lessons and how you teach.

And, as a quick note, you don’t have to implement all of these techniques for all of your classes. Every class, age, and level has different needs. As you learn about your students and your teaching style you can experiment and see what fits best for you and your students.

Include Open-Ended Student-to-Student Speaking and Writing Activities and Games

One of the biggest things you can do to give students more freedom is let them choose their own words.

In a lot of low-freedom classes I see too many teacher-centered, controlled activities. Students spend a lot of time drilling vocabulary and sentences, or repeating after their teacher. They also spend a lot of time reading aloud or answering closed questions with only one right answer. It gets really dull when the words coming out of your mouth aren’t even your own. 

Instead, open things up and let your students do the talking and writing. It doesn’t have to be super-complicated or advanced. Let students play guessing games with each other, or give commands to each other in games like Listen Quick or pair info-gap coloring dictations. Students can also manage surveys of each other in small groups. Or they can play Two Truths and One Lie with each other. There are so many options.

If your students are able, role-playing activities and group projects like shared posters or crafts are also really freeing. Your students will likely surprise you by how creative and engaged they can get, even at a low level. My students had a great time creating Wanted posters for criminals. They got to draw a bad guy and list all the bad things he did in the past tense. I also gave them a list of verbs on the board to choose from. It elicited a lot of language and all sorts of creative crimes. When students are more engaged they’re more likely to behave well.

Let Them Use Their Creativity

The more opportunities your students have to be creative, the more likely they are to behave well. Like in the Wanted posters example above, you don’t want to open things up completely for them. Set up some parameters or guides and them have fun.

Even simple activities like drawing an alien or monster and describing it for a friend to copy are meaningful, creative, and involve many small choices along the way.

Let Them Choose Their Roles and How to Participate

You can also give your students more autonomy in class by letting them choose how they will participate. Instead of assigning roles in a group activity, tell your students what their options are and then them decide. 

And, especially in mixed-level classes, let children choose how they’ll participate at their level in group activities. This means giving children differentiated ways of participating and trusting them to choose. For example, in Listen Quick I often let students know that they can use just a word, a phrase, or a full-sentence. The important thing is that they get their idea across to their classmates.

Give Choices to Your Students and the Class

There are lots of small choices you can give to your students. These provide great opportunities for actual communication and a feeling of freedom so your students can behave well.

Let your students choose the color of the day if you’re using a Marble Jar or let them choose their team names. I like to let my low-level students choose an animal and an adjective to make their team names. You can also let them choose the class reward at the end of the lesson or what song to sing for fun. Sometimes its possible to let them choose where they’ll sit. You can even let them occasionally choose their partners, teams or groups. 

Let Them Choose the Rules

With older and higher level students it’s also possible to let them discuss and choose the classroom rules. Everyone can create a class constitution together. You can even ask younger and lower-level students “What are some good classroom rules?”  The more input, discussion, and impact students have on the rules then the more likely they’ll internalize them and behave well. 

Ask for Their Input

A slightly more unnerving option for many teachers is to ask their students for feedback about an activity or even the lesson. “Did you like that game?” and “Do you want to do that again next week?” can give you really valuable input and give your students a real sense that they have some control and choice in class. You just need to be prepared to actually respect their opinions.

Give Them Personal Space

Another key point to keep an eye on is your students’ personal space. Make sure that each of them has enough room to sit and move around a bit without being bumped into by a classmate. It gets really uncomfortable and distracting to have someone pushed up against you. So, pay close attention before the lesson starts and rearrange students as necessary.

Let Them Choose Their Games and Activities

Finally, you could really open up your lesson to your class to help them behave well. Some teachers let their students choose between two or three activity options for the day’s lesson. It clearly requires more preparation, but it doesn’t have to be done every time.

Other teachers arrange their lessons and classroom to include free-choice stations. Once students have finished the input session they can then choose to go to different stations that each have their own activities. Personally, I’ve never managed to do this in my lessons (45 students seems like too many for this) but it’s quite popular in some circles.

Last, you could also let your fast finishers choose what they’ll do with their extra time. As examples, they could choose between a couple worksheets or tasks like helping to clean up or helping a classmate.

The Five Basic Needs and Misbehavior

The need for Freedom is the fourth of the Five Basic Needs that every student and person needs to be healthy and happy. The others are Survival, Love & Belonging, Power, and Fun. Students will misbehave in different ways depending on what basic need is missing, so check out the other posts as well.

What experiences do you have with how the need for freedom affected your students’ learning or behavior? Share in the comments below. Don’t forget to like, share, and follow us on Facebook!

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