Mrs Sallibartan's English ressources

England's education boss Michael Gove says teachers need to get tougher on bad behaviour, by using punishments like writing lines and setting chores.

He said possible punishments include weeding the school grounds or tidying classrooms.

He's made the announcement because he says schools need to do more to tackle bad behaviour.

According to government guidelines 700,000 pupils are in schools where behaviour is "not good enough".

Teachers will be getting an instruction pack on how to deal with bad behaviour from next week.

Unions that represent teachers say schools should be able to decide for themselves how best to deal with their pupils.

CBBC  wanted to know what children thought.

Is there too much bad behaviour in your school? What punishments should naughty pupils get? Do you think it's fair to do lines or chores if you've misbehaved? Get in touch using the form below.

Read their comments and send yours !

I think getting a detention is bad enough let alone weeding or tidying classrooms, if you behave badly you shouldn't have to do work as that would make you more angry! A detention is fine and then you have time to think about what you have done!

Kate, Irby, England

I think that teachers should get tougher as some of the worst kids in our school blame their behaviour on other students. But I think you shouldn´t make them weed the school grounds or write lines if they don´t deserve it.

Sylvia, Oxford, England

I don't think teachers at my school need to get tougher.

Amy, Preston, England

At my school, bad behaviour is not really an issue, but the punishments are a reprimand (10-minute detention) or a full, one hour detention if it is more serious.

Eleanor, Wakefield, England

I think it's ok to have a punishment but doing chores and writing lines is a little bit too far.

Hayat, Cardiff, Wales

At my school, when people are naughty they have to miss 5 minutes of break and stand against the wall. But if they are even more naughty they have to have 10 minutes and so on. But I do not think that writing lines would be fair because they could move to a different school and the school would close down if too many people leave.

Harry, Derby, East Midlands

I'm not sure, I don't think you should because it might not help. If it does not help it will have to get worse and worse! Until you start whipping them on the back like the olden days!!

Savannah, Sittingbourne, England

I think doing detentions and writing lines is fine, my school even has isolation. I think all the other ideas are really bad.

George, Bedfordshire, England

No, because I might be afraid or annoyed to answer questions if they keep shouting to the class. They should be not to strict and speak in a calm voice and interact with the class.

Julianne, West Midlands, England

Our school does not have a lot of bad behaviour. However, if we do misbehave badly, our punishments vary depending on your mistake. I think it is fair to do lines or chores but only if your it is suitable to your mistake.

Gurleen, Cheshunt, England

Now find 4 comparatives, one simple past, one future and 3 imperatives on this trailer.

Send me your answers. A new price for the first  winner.

(adapted from
Svetlana Urisman 's article on the British council blog)

 They are shorter, they let you come back to the characters again and again and predict what will happen to them next. They often reflect real life, which means people in them use real language and grammar.

As for the grammar, I’ve always liked films and series as a great source of that – ‘real’, spoken grammar.

Just to give you an idea, here’s an example of ‘neither do I’ in the BBC series Sherlock (episode 1, season 2):

Mycroft Holmes: My brother has the brain of a scientist or a philosopher and yet he elects to be a detective. What might we deduce about his heart?
Dr. John Watson: I don’t know.
Mycroft Holmes: Neither do I. But initially, he wanted to be a pirate.

Or tag questions, such as this example from Mad Men (season 2, episode 1)

Driver to Betty: ‘It would be, wouldn’t it?, or ‘… I could say no, couldn’t I?’

I find that watching a short extract (up to about two minutes) out of a film when characters use a structure or a grammar point you are working on brings a whole new perspective to your lesson – you see that the grammar you are learning is not just something you have to study because it’s in the book – you need to study this because people who speak English as their native language use this, as you have just seen on a film. And, as a positive side effect, you might get interested in series and start watching in your free time.

Watch the first episode and list what you can write about in your diary.