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Clueless Hogwon is DRIVING ME NUTS - suggestions?
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Seatangle



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Left of Center

PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2003 4:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So here I am humbly offering my own suggestion, but--surprise of surprises--I have a similar situation in at least one of my classes. 4 students, all of them 6-7 years old. One reads and speaks like a native speaking 3rd grader, and another barely knows his own name in any language.

My answer to this dilemma was phonics. I figured it's something they can all benefit from no matter their level. Also, it's easy enough for the lower students to understand, but doesn't seem to bore the more advanced student either. I picked up some flash cards at Engligh Plus (Near Kyobo in Seoul) and we also do some worksheets, and practice new words from time to time. They love it.

We also do journals once a week. I made my own journal format page where the students write the date and the weather etc at the top. then they draw a picture of whatever they want. The next part is trickier. (Their artwork is surprisingly abstact.) I ask them some questions to find out what's going on, ("Who is this? Is this today?" etc.) then help them write a couple of sentances that hopefully desribe what is going on in the picture. Again, the kids love it, and it's pretty well kills a class period even with just four students. If you're interested, PM me and I'll be glad to send you the template file. Smile

If nothing else, rest assured that many many of us know exactly what you're dealing with.

Best of luck.
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captain kirk



Joined: 29 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2003 6:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

a foreign english teacher in korea volunteering at a hagwon? if i'd married the hagwon director's beautiful young daughter and volunteering was an arranged 'dowry'. or if the director had pulled me from the street after being hit by a bus and paid for my brain surgery. but maybe then i'd be so cerebrally addled that i'd think volunteering was the thing to do(i'd be too undesirable as a son-in-law after my accident).
the boss throws a mixed party sometimes, too. he expects the teacher to adapt and make do. he says play to the better students. and those struggling will gain by just attending. just keep the 'off' students sitting and non-disruptive. the slow students, he says, have about a five to ten minute window of receptive consciousness to study. while the best students have about fifteen to twenty minutes. that's in a fifty minute class. in between, have 'fun' activities, he says. 'fun' activities can involve students getting up out of their chairs for a bit. if the class is really off-kilter then, instead of getting stressed rushing to feed the great students while realizing the others aren't near getting it, have more 'fun' activity breaks. using english but no spotlight on who's getting it and who's not hacking through textbook or handouts.
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Canuckophile



Joined: 30 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Fri Jun 20, 2003 7:05 pm    Post subject: Many very useful responses - thanks Reply with quote

Special thanks to Mokpo Chica, OI Girl, Blackbird and Seatangle for useful tips. Wish we had more of this on this forum.

I didn't wanna go into massive detail in my post, but main reason I "volunteered" is because hogwon owner's brothers in law were hoping to "help" him out of his financial pickle by putting me to work(uncompensated of course) in their evening class hogwons. I put a stop to it by pointing out the visa problems, but decided we'd better do something fast to keep me in theschool. I mainly teach kindies (sweetest little guys in Korea)and otherwise like the job.

These are actually nice owners, though dumb as dirt about anything to do with education (former stockbroker of all things).

And good to report that my latest (3rd) liaison does speak English and convinced the owners that the classes had to be divided by ability (this happened Thursday).

So... forall you naysayers, I wasn't being quite so generous -just practical. And the hogwon owners are NOT mean and venal, just in over their heads and cluesless.

But thanks again for all the practical advice-I will definitely use it.
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Canuckophile



Joined: 30 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 9:31 am    Post subject: 2 Q's (for MokpoChica and Blackbird) Reply with quote

MokpoChica -I can't access the Goein (sp?) series... is there a website address you can give? Other links came up, but this one didn't. Confused

Blackbird - I'm pretty poor at visualizing the Tic Tac Toe game (blush Embarassed ).... how do you do TTT with 20 spaces across? (Or this is what I was assuming) Only go "down" or what?

Thanks!
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Medic



Joined: 11 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In addition to writing words that ended in a certain letter, you could also have your advanced classes make up words that ended in certain suffixes:
ise
ic
ism
able
ous
ify
cal
and so on
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mokpochica



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gouin series links.

The other link was probably the best, but you need Acrobat Reader to view it. You can probably dowload it to the computer by going to the site in a few simple steps.
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jajdude



Joined: 18 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

wow mokpochica, good job and great new (?) avatar.... Wink
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