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Making yourself useful as an FT.

 
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Cornfed



Joined: 14 Mar 2008
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 5:22 pm    Post subject: Making yourself useful as an FT. Reply with quote
It seems to me that apart from explaining the odd English idiom and point of pronounciation, FTs in public schools are largely surplus to requirements. The standard of English is too low for any advanced skills you might have to be of use. The textbooks and lessons are all obviously designed to be given by Korean teachers. Hence if one is to feel the slightest bit useful, or just reduce one's chances of being fired, what exactly is one to do?
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Fishead soup



Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 5:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The best teaching is done in the halls. Try to talk to the students on you're way to work.or in the halls. This way you get at least some one on one talking ,and less of the whole lecture seminar thing that the Korean teachers tend to do.
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Cornfed



Joined: 14 Mar 2008
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
On a related note, does anyone know of any textbooks or resources specifically designed for FTs that couldn't be taught by Korean teachers. If I could find any could ones I could just pick lessons out of those and leave the stupid textbooks to the KTs.
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Fishead soup



Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cornfed wrote:
On a related note, does anyone know of any textbooks or resources specifically designed for FTs that couldn't be taught by Korean teachers. If I could find any could ones I could just pick lessons out of those and leave the stupid textbooks to the KTs.


I use " Tell Me More", its an online textbook that's available on the TESL
Journal. Simply go into the tesl journal and look under Things for teachers.
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Draz



Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fishead soup wrote:
Cornfed wrote:
On a related note, does anyone know of any textbooks or resources specifically designed for FTs that couldn't be taught by Korean teachers. If I could find any could ones I could just pick lessons out of those and leave the stupid textbooks to the KTs.


I use " Tell Me More", its an online textbook that's available on the TESL
Journal. Simply go into the tesl journal and look under Things for teachers.


AWESOME!!! YES!!! THANKS!!!
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Cornfed



Joined: 14 Mar 2008
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, good one, thanks.
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R. S. Refugee



Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Location: Shangra La, ROK
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cornfed wrote:
On a related note, does anyone know of any textbooks or resources specifically designed for FTs that couldn't be taught by Korean teachers. If I could find any could ones I could just pick lessons out of those and leave the stupid textbooks to the KTs.


My KTs told me that I didn't need to bother with the official text since it is terrible in their opinions. Just teach what I want. So, I've been using the Side by Side series of textbooks. Mostly the Acitivity Books. It was recommended by another teacher and I've been happy with it.

Supposedly these S by S books are for elementary, but they work just fine with my middle school students. Additionally, for the classes I have that are a little higher level, I use a conversation book, Everyday Survival English by Nordvall.
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Every textbook chapter has a theme with grammar points and vocabulary. Try employing these in communicative and task-based teaching.
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Cornfed



Joined: 14 Mar 2008
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yu_Bum_suk wrote:
Every textbook chapter has a theme with grammar points and vocabulary. Try employing these in communicative and task-based teaching.

Could you please expand on that a bit. How would a typical lesson go? How long does it generally take to get the gyst of this sort of stuff?
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004
PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cornfed wrote:
Yu_Bum_suk wrote:
Every textbook chapter has a theme with grammar points and vocabulary. Try employing these in communicative and task-based teaching.

Could you please expand on that a bit. How would a typical lesson go? How long does it generally take to get the gyst of this sort of stuff?


Well, say the lesson is about sport (like one of grade's is this week). I could use a text like Interchange or English Communication I / II and draw on their chapters on sports to mix and match and make an original hand-out. I could also use material from picture dictionaries about sports. I could write a short dialogue about sports, say two American HS students talking about their favourite sports, and do this with the class; then we could re-write it making it more specific to our class' interests. I could show them a clip of a Taekwondo fight and a hockey fight and ask them to compare and contrast it. I could do a sports trivia quiz. I could do a grammar quiz with a soccer pitch or baseball diamond on the board, and each right or wrong answer moves the ball or batter forward or back. I could make a dictation excercise about sport. I could make a wordsearch or crossword puzzle based on their textbook vocab and go around the classroom having a short Q & A with each pair of students as they work on this. I could make a task-based excercise where they need to match items with the sports that go with them. I could have them do a running dication where they have to find missing parts of sentences or a story and relay it on to a teammate or partner. I could do a grammar excercise about a particular verb tense using sports vocab. We could play sentence bingo where the students have to get squares by making sentences related to sport. I could given them a soccer playing field on a handout where they have to write down the various positions and other items (18-yard box, 6-yard box, sideline, etc.). I could have them do descriptions of various athletes. I could do a listening excercise related to sport and the grammar in their textbooks. I could give them white boards and marker pens and we could do a Golden Bell style game where I have them make sentences based on photos I've downloaded and key words (similar to the iBT Speaking Test questions). We could make a soccer 'dream team' using a mix of Korean and non-Korean players. We could learn the rules of certain sports.

Now, we could debate all day long which of the above-mentioned (or not mentioned) activities would best fill a 40-50 minute lesson, but to suggest there's a shortage of things we could do would show a real lack of imagination.
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Smee



Joined: 24 Dec 2004
Location: Jeollanam-do