Korean Job Discussion Forums

[BS.Dos.]

Spent forever trying to locate the recent first lesson thread, but to no avail.

In a nut shell, I've my first lesson on Monday at my HS. I've received some rather vague guidelines from my co (speaky slowly and clearly but most important, make interesting) and err..that was it.

All my resources (books) I shipped before I left have yet to arrive so I'm going to have to wing it for now.

I've no idea what the students (1st and 2nd graders) standard of English is and so I feel a bit limited in what I can actually do before I have a chance to talk to them.

Any pointers etc you can offer would be most appreciated.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Their level is quite low. There will be a small handful (very small) who will be up to par, but the general level will probably be pretty low.

One activity I have used for a first day opening is:
(It gets them involved from the get-go and also gives them a chance to satisfy their curiosity about you.)


a) Divide them into small groups of about 5-7.
b) Instruct them to write a series of Yes-No questions (and review Y-N question forms with them)
c) Explain the point system
d) Give them about 15 minutes to write
e) Let each group ask you a Y-N question. Are you from Mexico? Do you have a car? Is your name Smith?

Points:
3 pts for a Yes answer
2 pts for a No answer
1 pt for a boring, easy question, but grammatically correct.

This motivates them to make interesting questions and also gives the stronger students a challenge.

[Alyallen]

Call me crazy but I would try talking to them. Introduction type stuff. They learn a bit about you and hopefully you learn some things about them....Have the students introduce each other...

I've never taught H.S. These are things I'd want to do if I had High schoolers....

Best of luck!

[Scouse Mouse]

They will want to know all about you, so just do an introduction lesson.

For my first 2 weeks of middle school I went with this:

Write your name on the board. Write a bunch of things about yourself on the board around your name. (Your hometown, your hobbies, your favourite sport, your height, etc) and get the kids to ask you questions. If they ask a question and the answer is on the board, give the kid a piece of candy. Once that first kid gets candy they will all go nuts trying to ask questions. Be sure to stick something ambiguous up there so the questions keep coming. I used "2+1" to indicate that I had 2 brothers and one sister.

When they run out of questions, ask them about themselves. Ask their name, hobby, a question or two about their hobby (eg, if they like computer games, what is their favourite game, how often do they play, etc). For each kid that completes the conversation, give some candy.

They will love it!

[ddeubel]

Take a look at the this thread.

http://eflclassroom.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=826870%3ATopic%3A3187

Do an interview with yourself as the subject. Either give them time to brainstorm the questions using the key words you put on the board (born? Weigh? Like? Girlfriend? etc....). Then have them interview each other using identity cards you give.

See an example of a ppt presentation there also. End with any of the millions of games on my site, get them motivated. Hand out cookies as prizes. You'll be popular and a shoein.....

Next lesson, do the rules and routines thing. Not the first.

DD

[crazy_arcade]

First, what type of High School are you working at?

Science Highschool
Foreign Language Highschool
Standard Highschool
Technical Highschool

The first class just do some introduction stuff. From that you'll be able to guage their abilities. Let them ask questions about you. Play the "liar liar" game and you can judge their ability to create sentences in English.

Here's how you play. Write down 6 or 7 statements about yourself on the board. 3 or so should be lies and the rest true. Say the first statement and then have students ask you questions about it....even if it's a lie...you have to try to give believable answers.

For example:

1) I can speak English, Korean, Russian, and Japanese .

Students then ask questions ie. "How did you learn Russian?"
"Show us Japanese."
etc.

When they've run out of questions to ask you. They have to decide if it's true or a lie. You can give them fake money to gamble on their decision or give points or something.

Do the same for each statement.

[Hanson]

Find Someone Who...


Works every time!

[kimchi story]

These are all great tips - and don't forget that you're going through a learning curve. You're taking a risk no matter what you do because you don't know the crowd. Failure is acceptable at this point, and not indicative of what's to come.

(follow ddeubel's link and failure is unlikely - but still acceptable)

[chris_J2]

My first few lessons were some simple geography lessons, on what country I came from (Australia), the main cities, the capital city is Canberra, where Australia was in relation to Korea, time zones, & what animals lived there. Draw them (maps / animals) on the blackboard if necessary, or use the pc google image feature if your artwork is not so good. Most classrooms have a map of the world at the back, or a globe. Use that.

[BS.Dos.]

Some really helpful pointers that will go some way to easing the transition into the unknown.

Thanks to all of the above.

[ddeubel]

Scouse mouse's idea works really well!
I've used this in the past and also as a way of other students to introduce themselves, if the class is new together. After your modeling, asking you questions about words on the board, they do the same on a blank A4. Then interview each other.

This also works for a broad varietyof other themes/occassions and is a really good way to get students producing language. I have a Who is it? activity which is similiar. Students are given a sheet with names of many many celebrities. They describe one, students guess who it is... In my teaching folder.

Crazy Arcade's game is bang on too. It can be used to introduce any language structure/tense. Write 3 sentences using the structure (for example, the habitual present)and students guess which is the lie. They do the same themselves and present, the class guesses their lie. But for an introduction, this could work well. Though with both the above I'd caution to use lots of visuals first lesson. You just don't know the level and visuals help assess and prompt language better than just script.

DD

[chris_J2]

An afterthought. Set the google image filter preferences to either:

* Use strict filtering (Filter both explicit text and explicit images)

or

* Use moderate filtering (Filter explicit images only - default behavior)

It could be embarassing for North American teachers wanting to show what a beaver looks like!

I usually do a quick visual check on the main computer screen, before connecting the students pc's, to ensure that there are no offensive images. Even with a filter, the occasional unsavoury image still slips through.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Here's a link to the first lesson thread you were looking for:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=96155&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

[BS.Dos.]

O I C, should've typed in first day rather than first lesson.

^Nice one. Thanks.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

No problem. And clowns aren't really that scary--we just have attachment issues.