This sounds incredibly challenging and I would find it a challenge even with children who speak English.

Kudos for you for trying, though if it proves impossible, it may be better to focus on the things you *can* do.

Obviously language is a problem, as you can’t speak to them in pure English. But you can always supplement whatever you do with broken English!

If the goal is just to get them to understand the idea, perhaps you could use pictures, games, or some other visuals to express the concepts. I can’t draw, but I can imagine a comic strip with one frame where a teacher is showing a list of rules, with a cruel face, and violent gestures. Then a frame where the students are following the rules, but they have sad faces. The next frame would be a comparison. The students and the teacher are talking about the rules. They all look excited, and as they negotiate, the teacher makes a list of the rules they agree on.

I think something like this would be very successful with kids of all ages. What do you think?

Ideally, after a few weeks (or months or however long) the kids and I would get into a groove where rules weren’t even necessary. Where we’ve all negotiated to the point where we understand each others’ needs are in a comfortable no-lose position. But this can take a really, really long time.

I watched a video of one of England’s best teachers. She started the participative rule setting in September, and they didn’t really reach the “groove” until January. She had to spend 3 months referencing the rules they agreed to, amending them, doing problem solving and conflict resolution with the kids.

But then, after all that time, it finally works. And she has a working, as-mutual-as-possible relationship with the students. And there is almost no need for things like rewards or punishments or discipline and only rare reminders of the rules.

That’s not my goal. It’s too far off. Right now I would consider it a success if I could just make them understand the idea.

For example, my class’ major issue is hitting, pinching, yelling and taking each other’s things. So every few days, I’ll talk with them about why hitting is bad, how it hurts other people, why we don’t like other people to take our things, etc. And if I see it happening in class, I go over and talk to whoever is involved about what exactly happened, go over why we have this particular class “rule,” and try and do it in a way that helps them understand, rather than having it seem like me ordering them not to do something and they don’t really know why.

So that might be one way to approach it. Until you can communicate well enough to have the participative rule discussion, go over the things that are most important in your class, and work with them individually so they feel involved and not like you’re imposing rules on them. And after awhile, when they speak more English and are more accustomed to your way of doing things, you can try and set the rules as a class again.