Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tanklor1]

"We have a full Kindie program at our school" Those words seemed pretty hollow on the other end of a trans-continential call. I honestly didn't expect what I got: Kindies six times a week. Now, I enjoy teaching, but I quickly discovered that trying to TEACH kindies is impossible. But, I knew that I had to get through to them. I believe that I'm beginning to sratch the surface and heaven help me I'm even beginning to think about how I can improve my classes even further. However, I still have a ways to go and I highly doubt that I'll teach Kindies after this contract. Anyone have any tips with Kindies in actually trying to help them learn?

[icicle]

Do you have the same class 6 times a week or is it 6 different classes?

I teach Kindergarten 5 mornings a week for 2-2.5 hours depending on the day. Most of that time is with one class of Korean age 4-5 years old students, then one class on 3 mornings a week with a Korean age 6-7 years old class.

On 3 afternoons a week there are other kindergarten students who come later in the day for 2 classes a day but I don't teach them.

My normal kindergarten classes are taught in English all day that they are in school and have much higher levels than the afternoon classes simply because they are exposed to more. Even though they speak a lot of Korean at me most days (which is useless to them because I don't understand them ... But am fairly good at interpreting based on situation and non verbal ... Well enough for a couple of the Korean teachers to ask me if I really didn't know much Korean because I looked like a did )

I think that the bottom line with effectively teaching Kindergarten is to make it as much fun as possible for the students. They tend to love songs and movement (actions etc). If you don't have a fixed curriculum to follow (I do have one) then set some basic objectives and work around them. Don't try to do too much in any one lesson and include songs etc in each lesson. Follow a similar lesson plan each lesson so that the students can get used to it and know what to expect

[soviet_man]

Absolutely.

When I taught kinder, the way I did it was that *each day of the week had a different theme*.


READING DAY (take turns reading, games with flashcards)

MUSIC DAY (easy, put the CD on and sing)

ART & CRAFT DAY (amazing how many things kids can make with some chopsticks, paper, string and sticky tape!)

SCIENCE DAY (very simple 'experiments' with candles and batteries etc., it was the highlight of the week).

VIDEO DAY (the ultimate bludge for kinder teachers, all you do is press the play button)


Of course you still have to cover the textbook and writing stuff, but for me that was only ever 1/3 of the overall lesson time.

The main part was getting kids involved and having fun.

[branchsnapper]

I never get that approach - short spans of attention require zappy movements through various activities, I always think. Why not mix them all in together, therefore?