Monsters Do Exist!

Most people would probably find my experience to be frustrating, yet it has its humor. Bahrain is my first real teaching job. So, I travel half way across the world, and leave everything behind to come here. Before I arrived, I guess I had this preconceived notion that the students would be really well behaved (I figured that students in the states were going to be the most difficult to deal with ever). So, I was so excited to see what my first ever class would be like. Well, I have had 2 weeks of school to get to know my class, and let me say, it was not at all what I had expected! There are some sweet little children in my class, but the majority of them are little monsters! Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a calm and friendly person who never gets angry. But I can say that these students have brought out some serious rage in me, like blood boiling rage. Granted I don't blow up and scream, but I usually give my students a pretty intense verbal beating. Everyday I have to explain to them that they are here to learn, and not to act silly, and dance, and make noises, and steal things from the classroom, and yell and run through the halls, and all the other things that they just love to do. The crazy thing is that some of the students, when I ask them why they behave this way, they just stare and don't respond, or some of them smile and  think its funny! I have tried everything, from rewards, to verbal recognition, proximity, punishment, and it seems like nothing works. This is funny, just the other day, I had had the final straw with my students not walking in line and screaming in the hall. So what did I do, I took them out around noon to the paved track on the playground, and made the students all walk on the white line for about 3 laps. This may sound easy to adults, but it is somewhat torturous to children, especially at noon when the sun is blazing hot and you don't have water. It was somewhat painful for me even, because I was sweating like crazy and the track is pretty long. By the time we got back inside, the students were soaked! And did it work, no! The next day we had to do it all over again, but this time, after about 2 laps, I let the students who were walking properly sit down in the shade, while the rest had to keep walking until they got it right. So, this is my crazy class. I'm fearing that the gray hairs are going to sprout, seriously! But, I'm going to try and remain optimistic and positive, and pray that the behavior changes soon before I become a big monster than they are, lol. I'll get some class photos soon.