Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Stinky Llama]

One of the classes I just started teaching is full of silent 15-year-olds. Granted I've only had them for one day so far but I would like to know what I can do to spice up the class early on since I will be having them for four months.

My school is a stickler for their set curriculum and schedule so everything I do needs to be relevant despite how incredibly boring the topics are.

I have three hours to fill: around 2 for a short reading selection and 1 for a vocabulary book (ie, synonyms, antonyms, etc.).

Any suggestions to liven up this class?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

How large is it? I'd be thankful for the silence, actually, and look for as many ways as I could redirect their attention as possible. Take whatever the topics of the set curriculum is and bring in your own material to spice it up.

[twg]

Get the required stuff out of the way, and talk to them like human beings. Tell them an entertaining story, encourage them to tell one of their own.

but be careful when discussing Korean topics. They can be a bit wee sensitive because they've been fed the nationalism all their lives

[Missile Command Kid]

[Ya-ta Boy]

A word to the wise: Let sleeping dogs lie.

[mindmetoo]

[Voyeur]

do you mean don't try to wake the class up in general? or don't even go near the controversial subjects?

Or both lol?


I agree with the latter, but would find a way to wake them up. But it takes time to get the middle school zombies going.

[stevemcgarrett]

Does your school library have a good collection of English young adult literature or children's classics, or graded readers? Are you permitted to launch an extensive reading program? If so, you could let them choose their own reading, keep a reading log and a vocabulary notebook, marking target words found in their reading.

[OiGirl]

Give them a written test. Do they understand the information? If so, they could be bored and you could move towards more advanced language. Or you could just not worry about it.

I started giving tests to a class I was really mad at because they wouldn't speak...now I know they understand the information and COULD speak in English if they want to...they just choose not to.

After I teach the required material, I'll just chat with them, giving my personal experiences on the textbook topics. They enjoy it so much that they respond.

[Voyeur]

I am in no way saying that this is the case in anyone's class, but in my experience just because you have your class jumping and they are talking to you and responding does not necessarily mean you are using your time optimally.

That was a first step for me. I used to think that if I was telling stories and they were responding that this was great teaching. It was better than many alternatives. However, I am not so sure that free-form conversation is necessarily the best use of limited class time. It has its place, but I tend to think that too much of it is bad and that "too much" is often a lot less than one thinks it is.

[OiGirl]

The thing is that I have begin this only after determining that they have met the course objectives. I would not choose to run class this way, but their silence has concealed their mastery of the course objectives, so now it's time to make them happy.