Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adobe]

Any decent books or ideas for teaching elementary students in the third and fourth grade?

What should I focus on, alphabet and simple words? Any series you found useful which cover the four skills that are suitable for this age group?

Any help appreciated.

Adobe

[Juregen]

[Adobe]

Juregan. Thank you, yes i also thought they would have done the alphabet. However the co teacher says that they have never done english before(public school, extra class and in a rural area.).

Adobe

[yeremy]

I suggest that you give them a simple and quick level test and then use th results to go shopping for a textbook. If there is an English Plus near you, or you have easy enough access to Seoul, then you could go to one of the big bookstores like Youngpoom or Kyobo or even Bandi and Luni's.

I would expect rural 3rd and 4th graders to be a little basic from what you said, so I would aim a little lower in your classroom expectations.

There are a lot of textbook series for young learners such as Let's Go, Gogo Loves English and many others. The two I mentioned do cover the four skills and it would be easy to take the target structures in both and make very simple word searches and listening exercises for the kids, too.

Flashcards are invaluable teaching aids in the elementary schools in Korea. I worked in a public elementary school for three years and I made more than a foot of laminated flashcards which I still have. I used them for warm-ups, memory games, TPR ("Simon Says point to the red car."), review, drills, the infamous snatch game from the national curriculum, Bingo, etc. I also used to write scrambled words onto flashcards, which I would hold up in class for the kids to guess what they were.

Usually I tried to follow the vocabulary for each lesson and if I expanded the vocabulary I taught, I would select related words from a list of the most commonly used words in the back of my Collins Co-Build or Webster's English-English Advanced EFL dictionary.

Dave's ESL Cafe's Idea Cookbook has a plethora of games, which you can use for your kids classes, too. Good luck and enjoy.

[Rteacher]

Find out from Korean co-teacher if most parents would be willing to by "Let's Go 1" (or "Let's Go 2") revised 3rd edition. They have attractive pictures and songs and a good interactive CD-Rom.

The school should pay for the "Teacher's Book", class CD, and flashcards.

A great game for reinforcing the alpabet and (at least) the first sounds of words is "Go Fish" by School Zone (eg: "Do you have a "C", cat?" - "Yes, here you go"/ "No, go fish!"...)

For a large class you'd need like six sets (at 4500 won each...) I've found that good teaching materials that make classes both easier and better are worth it.

Youngpoong Bookstore at the Express Bus Terminal/Central City station (lines 3 and 7) is a convenient place for materials - as is Kyobo bookstore in Gangnam (line 2, exit 6) and Kim and Johnson's (same exit)