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Cornfed
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
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 Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:15 pm Post subject: First middle school lessons |
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I'm starting teaching grade 1 and 2 public middle school tomorrow. I appear to be the only native English speaker in the school. The textbook material seems to be fairly lame and in any case the idea seems to be that the Korean teachers will do most of the actual teaching while I will do the speaking parts and add my own material.
So with that in mind, does anyone have any suggestions as to activities I could try to fill out the lessons? What do teachers normally do on their first day. (BTW, I'm sorry if this has been asked before but I'm kind of pushed for time). |
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mnhnhyouh
Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Location: The Middle Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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The kids will be curious.
You could try letting them ask questions, but only answer those that are properly put. Let other students correct incorrect ones. Sometimes writing the incorrect sentences on the board will make it easier for the students to correct them.
Expect blunt personal questions, use your own judgement on which to answer.
This makes a good first lesson.
h |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Teaching middle school is great. The kids are so keen on studying English. I envy you. |
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Luna
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Location: seoul suburbs
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Introduce yourself. Lead them into asking questions about you. (This will give you an idea of their levels) Make sure you set up a rule system very quickly. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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Don't assume anything about what the KTs will and will not do. They might want to use you as a human tape-recorder or they might not even want to come to class with you.
Next week is right before mid-term exams, so the kids will be preoccupied with that. Do a general introduction lesson and perhaps bring some down-loadable photos of you from your country for their class computer / TV (if it's working). |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| I've been teaching middle school for almost eight weeks and I have yet to figure out what I'm supposed to do during class. Asking this question online always stimulates a couple lame responses of "something with powerpoint" and.... nothing. So what? Everyone else is at a school where the computers work? Everyone else isn't expected to prepare? What is everyone doing already? |
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Cornfed
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Draz wrote: |
| I've been teaching middle school for almost eight weeks and I have yet to figure out what I'm supposed to do during class. Asking this question online always stimulates a couple lame responses of "something with powerpoint" and.... nothing. So what? Everyone else is at a school where the computers work? Everyone else isn't expected to prepare? What is everyone doing already? |
Yes, this is the problem I'm having, and I was rather hoping to have it sorted out before the 8 week mark. As an example, I'm apparently expected to prepare lessons, but what exactly does this mean?
BTW, thanks for the other suggestions. I guess if I do a general introducing myself class and perhaps a couple of pronounciation exercises for both grades, that should be enough before the mid term exams. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Cornfed wrote: |
| Draz wrote: |
| I've been teaching middle school for almost eight weeks and I have yet to figure out what I'm supposed to do during class. Asking this question online always stimulates a couple lame responses of "something with powerpoint" and.... nothing. So what? Everyone else is at a school where the computers work? Everyone else isn't expected to prepare? What is everyone doing already? |
Yes, this is the problem I'm having, and I was rather hoping to have it sorted out before the 8 week mark. As an example, I'm apparently expected to prepare lessons, but what exactly does this mean?
BTW, thanks for the other suggestions. I guess if I do a general introducing myself class and perhaps a couple of pronounciation exercises for both grades, that should be enough before the mid term exams. |
Another thing you could do is prepare a trivia game with questions based on the chapters their mid-terms cover. |
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nobbyken
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Location: Yongin ^^
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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If you can use ppt, save some google earth shots, from your house to your Korea.
Or a write facts on the board, and let them guess questions.
Throw in a few red herrings for humour.
Some idea's in the idea cookbook on this site. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
Don't assume anything about what the KTs will and will not do. They might want to use you as a human tape-recorder or they might not even want to come to class with you.
Next week is right before mid-term exams, so the kids will be preoccupied with that. Do a general introduction lesson and perhaps bring some down-loadable photos of you from your country for their class computer / TV (if it's working). |
I've given up on the idea of ever having a functioning computer monitor.
I take pictures of my family, my vacations, and my home country. I color photo copy them. Then I laminate them. The reason for doing this is some students can get pretty rough with the materials. I put the students into groups and write some basic wh questions on the board. This really gets them talking.
Last edited by Fishead soup on Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:11 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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mrsquirrel
Joined: 13 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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It's midterms around now as well.
Check to see if they have finished them or not.
I like to start by writing either the answer to questions on the board or writing one or two word facts about myself on the board.
I then get the students to ask the questions or make up questions for the facts.
Repeat x 22 and the first week is over. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Fishead soup wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
Don't assume anything about what the KTs will and will not do. They might want to use you as a human tape-recorder or they might not even want to come to class with you.
Next week is right before mid-term exams, so the kids will be preoccupied with that. Do a general introduction lesson and perhaps bring some down-loadable photos of you from your country for their class computer / TV (if it's working). |
I've given up on the idea of ever having a fuctioning computer monitor.
I take pictures of my family, my vacations, and my home country. I color photo copy them. Then I laminate them. The reason for doing this is some students can get pretty rough with the materials. I put the students into groups and write some basic wh questions on the board. This really gets them talking. |
The 'is the damn thing working?' odds at my school seem to be somewhere between 70-80%. I really like to use the A/V technology, as I find it does a good job of breaking a 50-minute lesson into segments for which it's easier for the kids to pay attention to someone using L2 as the language of instruction. But, I always go in with a back-up plan, be it some printed-out pictures or a game we can do if, say, I've planned a pop-song listening excercise and the computer decides to *beep* up the sound five minutes before my lesson. |
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