Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nate2008]

Hello everyone, I am a first-time teacher and a relative newbie to Korea. Usually I just lurk here on Dave's but I developed a lesson plan for teaching Halloween that has been a HUGE success among my public middle school students, and I thought I would share it. I know that Halloween is a very fun holiday to teach and many of you probably want to do your own thing, but for anyone struggling with the topic, feel free to use this.

The first 5 minutes of the lesson are devoted to talking about the history of Halloween. It's not terribly interesting and the concepts use fairly advanced English so I like to keep this part short.

The next 10 minutes or so are devoted to talking about Halloween beliefs and traditions: I start with jack-o-lanterns (what they are, their history). Then move on to all the creatures associated with Halloween. I talk about 6 in particular: ghouls, ghosts, demons, zombies, vampires, and witches. You can talk about whichever ones you want, but make sure to introduce witches and how they are hurt by water, this will be important later.

Then I spend about 5 minutes talking about other Halloween traditions: parades, games (like bobbing for apples), and finally, trick-or-treating.

After that, I spend about 3 minutes showing them a small part of the Thriller (Michael Jackson) video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xs9OQHpwDE (I start the video at about 1:30, and end at about 5:45)

1:30 is about the part where MJ and his girl are walking through the graveyard. It's an excellent example of zombies and ghouls coming out on Halloween night, and they get to listen to a great song and watch a great dance

After that, I play a game called "Melt the Witch". I didn't invent this game, but I forget where I got it from. It's very simple: Firstly, I draw a big witch's face on the chalkboard. Then, I ask the kids questions about the material we just learned (IE "this creature survives by drinking blood.") They must raise their hands to answer, and if they get it right, they get to come up to the front and throw a wet sponge at the witch on the board and try to "melt" her. Usually after 5-7 throws the witch is gone.

I explain these directions in English and then draw the witch on the board while the co-teacher explains in Korean.

The last thing I do is spend the remaining time playing another game that involves guessing how many peanuts are in a jar. I spent about an hour one night counting out 800 peanuts and put them in a container. I bring the container around and let everyone get a close look at it, then they must write down their guess on a piece of paper. I ask them to write it rather than tell me simply because I don't have time to listen to all of them tell me their numbers, class just isn't long enough. If you have time in your class though, this would be a great way to practice using big numbers.

I go around and look at all the guesses, and whoever is closest gets a pack of fruit snacks.

So far, this has been a smash hit in all my classes, and it is a great way to teach about Halloween. Feel free to use this lesson idea, or to ignore it, just thought I would share it with you all.

[Juregen]

Drats, I got whiteboards ...

[BS.Dos.]

Balls to that. I've got better things to do than spend my evening counting piles of nuts.

Stick on a copy of Halloween and tell them to shut the f.uck up.

[TOMODACHI-KID]

[Arthur Dent]

Nate, some great ideas in this post. Anytime kids get to throw something as a reward or as part of the lesson, you can be sure the lesson will be effective. And scary, well, that has always been successful with my students.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Do you wear an orange and black clown suit during this lesson?

[D.D.]

Are you talking for 20 minutes? The rest of the time it looks like games? Not my idea of how people actually learn how to speak a language.

My middle school kids can talk a lot when they are given a chance in small groups.

I don't have enough time to give every kid a chance to practice talking. So there is no time to waste on games or time for me to be talking for 20 minutes.

[nate2008]

[esetters21]

OP, don't let the negative comments bother you too much. I think you did a good job of putting together an entertaining and informative lesson. If anyone thinks that there is no room in an ESL classroom for games, I can only imagine how boring their lessons are and how unattentive the students must be.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[D.D.]

[sheba]

Keeping students interested in learning a language is just as important as the learning itself. Throwing in a bit of fun every now and then is an excellent idea, regardless of how educational it is (or isn't).

In my opinion that is.

[nomad-ish]

i think showing thriller by michael jackson is an excellent idea! i'm going to have my kids watch the this is halloween remake by marilyn manson next week.
and i like your idea about the peanut jar-- i'm thinking i'll do something along those lines, but exchange peanuts for somesort of candy, and have kids from all my halloween classes submit their guesses. the kid that guesses the number correctly or the closest guess wins the jar of candy.

[crusher_of_heads]

I like it-and it gives students a break.

[ddeubel]

You could do a couple of "dance" songs.. Time Warp
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7095404644908030983&hl=en

Also go to EFL Classroom's mediafire resources (click the button on our mainpage) and get Rocky Horror with words and lots more songs, halloween stuff. Click holidays. Our Halloween thread has lots of cool ppt vocab stuff, wordsearches etc... for Halloween also...

WATCH THIS
- it will get you in the spirit. Sorry for the poor sound quality please turn your speakers up.

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com