Korean Job Discussion Forums

[stargazer]

I have some thirteen-year olds ,in a discussion class, who need a relatively new(recently published) textbook.It would have to have some structure and specific learning objectives.Anybody have any ideas before I trot off to Kyobo?

[viva]

I just picked up the book called "Talk your Head off" for my class of 13 year olds. This book has been pretty good so far, although I've only been using it for 2 weeks. It contains a million and one ideas for class discussions and very little written activities. So, it's only really useful if this is a "dicussion class" in which the students are actually able to discuss things in English. Some of the subject material is not really relevant for their age, but I just skip over that stuff or adapt it to be more age appropriate. There are enough discussion questions on each page to get the kids talking for my entire 45 minute classes.

For my lower level classes I have them write their answers to the discussion questions in the book before they actually speak because it gives them time to organize their thoughts in a coherent manner. If they've jotted a few notes down they don't feel 'put on the spot' and are more confident speakers when the discussion takes place.

"Teen Talk" is also a good book full of discussion topics, but again, it requires that your students are able to carry on a decent conversation in English.