yeah, its ok now. i gave him a page of coloring. The theme was a family. I know he always tell stories about his family. And he was so happy and didn't stop saying thank you to me. guess will give him that coloring page every time he comes to the course. hehehe

Hey Astrid :)

Hope everything is going okay with your student!

Take care x

Sorry! I just read your next post. I do think your boyfriend's idea is a good one, just do it for the whole class. Make sure you are fair though!

I've been reading a lot into class control recently, and one thing that I have seen and seems like a good idea (I was studying for a PGCE so I've read a fair bit of literature to back this up) is behavior charts. If you have something that goes both ways, with positive and negative points, tell the students that if they are on a negative number of points at the end of the week they are going to be reported or something like that, and if they are on a positive you will give them a sweet or sticker or something small. Tell them at the end of the classes the person with the most points gets a prize (again, something small, but that you know they will like). There are a few variations on this out there. It might be difficult to get this in place now, but it is something to bear in mind. You could try and introduce it. 

How old are your students?

This boy sounds like he is trying to manipulate you.  He may be used to getting away with it at home, or it may a personality disorder.  Trouble is that some people know you think are slightly crazy and will try to exploit it, thinking they can use it as an excuse.  I'm not an experienced teacher, obviously, but I think Honor is right and that you must be firm and establish your authority right from the start.

This week I took a class for the first time that I normally help with.  About twice as many people turned up than I expected, and even though they are adults it seems no code of conduct has ever been established in the class and now it's almost impossible to manage, just because of a few students.

This is my first big lesson in teaching!  Looks like your having a similar problem, but you have the chance to correct it now; I really hope you find the answer as it must be stress.  Good luck!

@honor: yes, that is so true. My boss always said that don't be afraid if a student will stop the course, be afraid of that you didn't do the best.

Lay down the law! Don't let him mess you around. If he misbehaves maybe make him go and stand in the corner? That was the punishment I got when I was a kid and I HATED it!! Also, make one of your superiors at the school aware of the problem so they can help you out if needs be.

Whatever happens - don't let him know you're scared of him. Kids can smell fear a mile off!