Commonly used expression in the Classdoom

- "Stop messing around" could also be "settle down" - "Hands to yourself" or "personal space" if a child is hitting/playing rough

As others have mentioned, positive comments are more helpful. Starting any command or instruction with "Let's" automatically makes it more polite and positive. Example: "Raise your hand before speaking" becomes "Let's raise our hands before speaking out loud" sounds much nicer. "Pay Attention" becomes "Let's pay attention when the teacher is speaking". etc. Good luck!

>Stop playing around. Stop messing around. Cut it out. Alright, that’s enough fun for now. one thing I know from family members who are elementary school teachers is that it's better to keep the statement positive ("let's quiet down" or "let's use our inside voices" or "it's time to clean up") rather than negative ("stop doing x"). you give the kids something positive to do rather than telling them what they shouldn't do. here are some other ones I thought of: encouraging: - good job - excellent - keep it up - way to go - nice work misc: - pair up or buddy up: select a partner for a class exercise - hand out or pass out: distributing something to the students. - handout: (noun) this is what you handed out - extra credit: an assignment or part of an assignment the students can do for extra points

I agree with other comments about using positive statements rather than dismissive ones. The only thing I'd like to add is that I feel that "Sit up straight" is a phrase typically told to a singular person with bad posture rather than a group of students slacking off

the "stop messing around" reminds me of "stop mucking around" from "don't hug me I'm scared". Wouldn't recommend watching it it will give you nightmares. https://youtu.be/vtkGtXtDlQA

Tune in = listen to me now.

>Sit up straight. why? last I checked this doesn't affect your ability to learn in any way

Make sure all your headings have been spell checked before you use them.

Treat others how you want to be treated. (Golden rule)  I've also heard of the Platinum rule: Treat others how _they_ want to be treated.  I'm proud of you! (Some kids don't hear this enough. In any language.) Thank you. You're welcome.  Come sit with us.  Next time, try this... STOP and NO are full sentences.

Some of the phrases you mentioned can come off as negative and kind of rude. I would not say ‘cut it out’ to a child at all, especially as a teacher. Kids respond well to instructions of what to do rather than what not to. These are some common positive class rules: Use kind words Respect your teacher and classmates Keep your hands to yourself Raise your hand to speak Follow directions I like to focus on a student’s effort and actions instead of any intrinsic quality like being smart, artistic, or athletic. Phrases to praise students could be: Well done! That was very kind of you. You worked very hard. Thank you for helping me! I’m very proud of you. Correcting a student’s behavior can also have a positive spin: I can see you’re angry/upset. Can we try that again? All eyes on me! Let’s use inside voices. (For when they’re getting loud) What can we do instead next time?

Native US speaker here, and also a classroom teacher, ages 5-12 (not for language/literature, but a variety of subjects) All of these are common phrases, and I have heard all in a classroom. I don’t think you will have any issue with them as long as they are said with confidence. Some additional phrases I hear in younger classrooms are: ‘Focus up’ ‘listen up’ or ‘Eyes up here’ to regain their attention ‘Please raise your hand’ (If children are blurting) and ‘Any questions?’ or ‘Does everyone understand?’ if I have given instructions, and want to make sure everyone understands before moving on. Since you are teaching younger students, common phrases might also be simple greetings: “How are you today?” “Hello” “It is good to see you” “Welcome to class” etc. Some colloquialisms we use for this age group in particular are: “What do you say?” or “Can we say thank you?” when reminding someone to say “thank you”. or “Sharing is caring” if two children are having trouble sharing an object. “Line up”, “Form a line” is common when taking the class to another location. Other dialects of english use “Queue” instead of “Line” but they mean the same thing and are used in the same way. These are all US custom and I don’t know much about the korean education system, so apologies if some of these do not apply to your situation. As a minor critique, from an educator’s view, the examples you gave are all negative phrases or commands. I think you may have better success using phrases that yield the same result, but have positive words, where possible. For instance, instead of ‘stop messing/playing around’ I would say ‘let’s settle down’ or ‘let’s take a breath and calm down’. It implies a positive action to be taken, rather than an action they should stop taking. Research has shown that positive instruction yields better results than negative. ‘Quiet down’ would be more successful than ‘stop making noise’, for example. Adults tend to focus on scolding bad behavior, but fail to encourage good behavior. Phrases for praising students, as requested: “Good job” “Very good” “You are doing great” (if the action is still ongoing) “Thank you for ___” (whatever it is that you liked them doing) In general, not too different from how you would politely speak to adults.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” is an essential phrase for supervising elementary school students. It’s good for any time kids are getting in each other’s space and “Teacher, he’s touching me!” situations. “Roughhousing” is a phrase used for shoving/wrestling kind of play that might be disruptive but isn’t an actual fight. “No roughhousing in the classroom.” “One, two, three, eyes on me!” is a phrase I see used a lot to get students’ attention if they’re being noisy and you need to give them directions. Sometimes it’s paired with teaching the students to respond, “One, two, eyes on you!”

"Sit up straight" refers to the straightness of the back when not hunching over. It's not an uncommon phrase at all and would be good to use with students. Other phrases you could use might include: * Good job! (Simple praise for a student) * That was music to my ears. (Used when someone has said something pleasing) * You've made my day! (Usually a response to a compliment) * That's inappropriate. (Used when a student does or says something that shouldn't be done in a classroom situation such as a crude joke) * Partner-up... (Used when students should divide themselves in groups of two for small group work) * Let's have a 15 minute work-time. (Used to indicate how long students should spend on their individual work, usually prior to coming back together as a group to discuss the work that was done)

I use "sit properly" more in my classroom than "sit up straight." Partially because how I want them to sit depends on if we are sitting on chairs, at tables, on the carpet.... proper sitting is a bit different depending on each location. Other phrases I use a lot: * Eyes on me, please * Wait your turn * Raise your hand * It's my turn to talk / It's (child's name) turn to talk * Line up * Keep your hands to yourself * Keep your eyes on your own paper * Do your own work please

Please, just let the kids talk in English. If *you* are "not comfortable" using normal, everyday expressions, then you shouldn’t be teaching them. "Classdoom" says it all.