Practical strategies for disruptive behaviour in mixed-age primary EFL classes

[ChiliCupcake]

Does anyone have some practical suggestions for dealing with disruptive behaviour in primary? I teach EFL in a small, private primary school (not in UK). The classes are mixed age and mixed ability. There are a couple of children (boys, aged 8, 9 and 10) who are extremely disruptive - talking over me and other children, messing around, rolling eyes and loudly declaring they're "bored" etc.

I can send them out, but I'd rather not do that - I want them to take part in the lessons. I've been doing this for a few years, but this year has some really challenging children that seem to have no respect or social skills.

Any strategies or ideas much appreciated!

A primary I know well that has extremely challenging pupils uses the mantra "connection before correction". In other words, how can you build a relationship with those tricky pupils? What are their interests? How can you get to know them better? It's not a quick fix, but will be effective in the long run.

Otherwise, I'd be working hard on giving attention to the behaviour you want to see. So lots and lots of praise and stickers and behaviour points (or whatever you use) and messages back to the class teacher and parents for the children who are behaving well. It's incredibly easy to get sucked into a negative cycle of constantly picking up on the bad behaviour - not only does that make the whole lesson feel negative, but it dominates your thoughts about the group too. Can you catch those disruptive children being good at all so you can include them in the praise and general positivity?

Once you know the interests of the boys, is there any way you can design a lesson (or part of a lesson) that relates to their interests? So include the name of their football team in a story, or their favourite cartoon/Pokemon characters - that kind of thing.

If all else fails, stick them at the back or in corners (spread out...) and teach the children at the front who want to be there! Give as little attention as possible to their bad behaviour. They'll up the ante to start with, but let them know that they will get help and attention when they comply with class rules. In fact, if you haven't talked to the group about how to behave in your lessons and come up with a behaviour contract (what do we all need to do to make sure that everyone learns and we can have fun lessons?), I'd do that too.

Apologies if this is teaching you to suck eggs - it's where I would start but I'm sure you've already tried lots of these things.

Thank you, it's always good to hear what others suggest, sometimes it can be something obvious you're not thinking of trying!
Connection before correction is excellent, as is the suggestion to include something they particularly like in the lesson. I do worry though that that sort of rewards the bad behaviour, as the students who listen, take part, do the work etc don't get to do this.