ABSTRACT
During periods when the children are working singly or in small groups, or at more informal times outside the class lesson period, you have a chance to talk to children individually, which can be invaluable in building up relationships with them. You may also be able to deal more productively with work or behaviour problems away from the attention of the whole class. On the other hand you may find the children take advantage of this, to become over-familiar or flirtatious. Excessive interest directed especially to deviations from the main course of the lesson suggests over-friendliness; as Denscombe (1980b) indicates, children may encourage you on social and friendly topics and try to change the subject as subtly as possible when you try to return to the work. This pattern can occur with teachers of either sex. We will return to the tactics to deal with it later.
