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surviving the summer course - advice?

 
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wulfrun



Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:47 am    Post subject: surviving the summer course - advice? Reply with quote

looking for tips on getting through summer course with minimum prep and maximum efficiency... want to get a good, workable approach, which will take the preparation-pressure off, so i can focus on teaching.

it's a four-week summer school in july, 16-20 year olds, probably working with students intermediate to advanced, class size 10-15, 90 minute classes. students from spain, russia, china, japan, sweden, germany, ukraine, ... and elsewhere.

probably need 30-40 hours of material, to get through the four weeks. standard resources available - cutting edge, headway, english file, innovations, reward & inside out resource packs, etc., and the Internet.

main aim is just to get through it. the priorities for the students are speaking (since they're in britain) and cross-cultural exchange (since they're surrounded by people from around the world). won't just be communicative stuff; also do some input.

thinking of a general template that i can apply, so won't have to plan each day's classes from scratch. e.g., nominate a student at the end of every class, and, at the start of the next class, that student has to do a five-minute show and tell abuot their hometown/home country/funny thing that happened to them, followed by questions from the rest of the class.

no-materials dogme stuff would be particularly appealing

thoughts? (in the meantime, i'll use the search function... Wink )
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Dedicated



Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 972
Location: UK

PostPosted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:25 pm    Post subject: Re :summer course Reply with quote

Hi Wulfrun,

I'd be very surprised if 16-20 year olds from China and Japan would be more than low pre-intermediate, with very weak listening and speaking skills, whereas the Swedes and Germans would be much stronger in every skill.

Are you sure the course is not providing materials? Many summer courses (such as Embassy CES) have it all prepared, and the students are streamed. Remember the students are " on holiday" so will not want to do much " heavy" grammar, but more listening to songs etc and filling in the blanks................can you play the guitar?? Always popular.

Incidentally, one of the best summer courses I did as DOS/Centre Manager was based at the Royal School in Wolverhampton.....great accommodation and food, and a decent bunch of young teachers.

Good luck!
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wulfrun



Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:54 am    Post subject: Re: Re :summer course Reply with quote

Dedicated wrote:
Hi Wulfrun,

I'd be very surprised if 16-20 year olds from China and Japan would be more than low pre-intermediate, with very weak listening and speaking skills, whereas the Swedes and Germans would be much stronger in every skill.

Are you sure the course is not providing materials? Many summer courses (such as Embassy CES) have it all prepared, and the students are streamed. Remember the students are " on holiday" so will not want to do much " heavy" grammar, but more listening to songs etc and filling in the blanks................can you play the guitar?? Always popular.

Incidentally, one of the best summer courses I did as DOS/Centre Manager was based at the Royal School in Wolverhampton.....great accommodation and food, and a decent bunch of young teachers.

Good luck!


thanks for the reply. when did you do the course at the royal? who with? let me know if you've an email address or phone number. Surprised

i did the course last year, and this is mostly how it is.

like you say, the ss get streamed with a quick test. a lot of the east asians do come out elementary and pre-int, like you say; but some also come out at int and above (still with relatively weak speaking, yes), and i'll be taking those guys.

classes aren't pre-planned. we have pre-planned weekly topics (travel, food, crime, ...), and guides to which chapters in which books cover that topic, so it's mostly a rush of grabbing cutting edge and activities from a resource pack and doing a load of photocopies, hoping it all splices together.
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Kootvela



Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Posts: 513
Location: Lithuania

PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Arm yourself with loads of crosswords, wordsearches, poster making materials.
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wulfrun



Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kootvela wrote:
Arm yourself with loads of crosswords, wordsearches, poster making materials.


yep, plenty of those will be on hand.

really, im looking to minimise the cutting-out, photocopying, wondering "how long will this activity last?"

trying to develop some versatile template, which i can reapply in a lot of the classes. have been reading up on the dogme stuff, which is appealing for a summer course - especially in classrooms with several nationalities. on any topic, get them in mixed nationality-pairs and ask them to interview each other: "what food do you eat in your country?", "what crime is there in your country?", "where do people from your country like to go on holiday?", "what do you think are some of the stereotypes abuot people in your country?"; or the old "find three differences and three similarities between food/education/tourism in your two countries".
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Kootvela



Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Posts: 513
Location: Lithuania

PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Summer camps are the most uneconomical in terms of copies. Your job is not to teach them but mainly to kill that time they have to spend in your class. If you manage to teach them something at the same time, it's even better.

4 more days to go for my summer camp.
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wulfrun



Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

break a leg. mine starts june 30th, 4 or 5 weeks.

i take what you're saying.
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SueH



Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 1022
Location: Northern Italy

PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:37 am    Post subject: Re: surviving the summer course - advice? Reply with quote

wulfrun wrote:
probably need 30-40 hours of material, to get through the four weeks. standard resources available - cutting edge, headway, english file, innovations, reward & inside out resource packs, etc., and the Internet.


In that case you are lucky. The summer school I did had fewer up to date materials than I took in the boot of my car! The oldest book I found amongst the random materials was published in 1965!
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wulfrun



Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:40 pm    Post subject: Re: surviving the summer course - advice? Reply with quote

SueH wrote:
wulfrun wrote:
probably need 30-40 hours of material, to get through the four weeks. standard resources available - cutting edge, headway, english file, innovations, reward & inside out resource packs, etc., and the Internet.


In that case you are lucky. The summer school I did had fewer up to date materials than I took in the boot of my car! The oldest book I found amongst the random materials was published in 1965!


whew, yes, it would have been nightmarish without all those books. coming from experience in china - where there are no textbooks - it was an education to see and use the range of popular titles.
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TheLongWayHome



Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi

PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the best piece of advice I can give you for that age group is whatever you do in class, keep the pace up. Don't let anything drag. Give them a time limit for each activity and stick to it. Do it from day one. It will make the lessons go so much faster. As Kootvela says, if any actual learning takes place, it will be a bonus. Activities that don't require an explanation of more than 2 minutes are also a bonus. Don't even attempt to explain grammar.

If all else fails play games where they run around a lot with bits of paper stuck to each others backs.
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Kootvela



Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Posts: 513
Location: Lithuania

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a group of 7-9 year olds. There are 30 of them coming and 37 on the official list. Is it wrong just to copy colouring pages and keep them busy for that lesson? It's the last lesson anyway. What do you say? Plus, they LOVE colouring, ask for it every time!
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wulfrun



Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kootvela wrote:
I have a group of 7-9 year olds. There are 30 of them coming and 37 on the official list. Is it wrong just to copy colouring pages and keep them busy for that lesson? It's the last lesson anyway. What do you say? Plus, they LOVE clouring, ask for it every time!


last lesson: anything goes Cool
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FatFreddieFoxx



Joined: 17 Apr 2008
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:18 am    Post subject: Summer School Saturnalia Reply with quote

You should find some useful advice on coping with your summer school experience here:

http://tefltradesman.blogspot.com/2008/06/summer-school-saturnalia-revisited.html

It might not give you much help for your lesson planning, but it should give you a laugh or two!

FFF
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wulfrun



Joined: 12 May 2008
Posts: 167

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:32 am    Post subject: Re: Summer School Saturnalia Reply with quote

FatFreddieFoxx wrote:
You should find some useful advice on coping with your summer school experience here:

http://tefltradesman.blogspot.com/2008/06/summer-school-saturnalia-revisited.html

It might not give you much help for your lesson planning, but it should give you a laugh or two!

FFF


yes, sandy m always relevant, the jeremiah of tefl Very Happy
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