Korean Job Discussion Forums

[shl82]

So this is my first time teaching in public after school program.
I have worked in hagwon before so I am used to teaching smaller number of kids in class. Today I just had my first trial run. I was shocked. Teaching in public school setting was a lot different. It was more difficult trying to control and lead the class to learning because the class was larger and kids were misbehaving. Can you, those experienced teachers give me some advice. What are some good ways to teach effectively in school. And also perhaps some ideas for games. If you can suggest a good websites for worksheets and games I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.

[BS.Dos.]

[yeremy]

You didn't mention whether your afterschool students are elementary, middle or even high school. I also get the impression you are teaching alone hence the request.

I would suggest that for a while you take a teacher-centred approach until your students get used to you and you to them. It stinks, I know, but it's easier to regain or get control of a class that way.

Next, try planning smaller and shorter chunks of study whether you use a PPP method, which works well with younger kids, or a communicative method like Harmer's ESA. Kids have short attention spans, so if they're elementary aged kids, then you could start with using flashcards to introduce what you're going to study (E as in Harmer's Engage/P as in Present), then give them an appropriate worksheet to fill out (S as in Harmer's Study/P as in Practice) and then have them play a game or do an activity in which they practice what they just learned (A as in Harmer's Activation/P as in Production).

For a book recommendation, I have these to suggest. First, I suggest Jeremy Harmer's How to Teach English. Second, for the PPP method, I suggest Teaching English in the Primary Classroom by Susan Halliwel (Longman). Third, for grammar practice activities, I really like Grammar Practice Activities by Penny Ur. 4, for games I like David Paul's Teaching English to Children in Asia, the Game's link on Dave's plus whatever books on games for language learning you can find in the bookstores or on line. Dave Deubel has a really large and exhaustive site, which you can find referenced on the Job Discussion site, or try pm'ing DD, where you will have to join but it has an amazing amount of reference materials.

Above all, keep it simple and keep it focused and always have FUN. Hope this helps.

[EzeWong]

What's your role as the FT there?

Are you in charge of general English? Or more speficallyEnglish conversation?

As for controlling the class. I made another post about it in "Sorry but you just can't tach kids" thread.

[Its just a ride]

You can try mes-english.com & bogglesworld.com for free printable worksheets and flash cards.

http://www.mes-english.com/

http://bogglesworldesl.com/

Try using alot of pictures and relevant youtube videos to break up the class time.

You could use the last 15-20 minutes of the class to break them up into groups of 4 or 5 and play a dice rolling board game. There are a few board games you can print out on A4 paper on mes-english. They have pictures they can identify the English names for and other squares where you could put in a simple conversation task using the target language.

hth

[Fishead soup]

http://iteslj.org/t/tmm/.

I'm not sure whether this link works but it's an online textbook called Tell me more by Andrew Finch. The material is very easy to use. If you can't get into the link provided go to the TESL journal and chick things for teachers and go to" Tell me more" online textbook

Contact ddeubels. He has an account on this site. His material is awesome.
He has his own website. I don't have his link handy. I strongly suggest "Baam"

[yeremy]

I have another suggestion for you, too. Try to identify and either watch or talk with a Korean homeroom or English teacher at the school where you are working to see/find out how they are keeping their students in-line. When you're teaching an after school class, with students you have just met and don't have a teacher-student relationship with, they will get out of hand, usually.

A few of the basics for keeping students on-task in an English classroom are to 1) focus their attention and energy with a mix of good materials, ie: from study to practice to games and not necessarily in that order. 2) Don't be predictable. Be flexible and change the order of what materials you'll use in a class. One way is to give your students some choice by playing a game where their skills, at say making and flying paper airplanes at a whiteboard with the big pie diagram with all of your activities for a class written in the different slices of pie. That's a way they can choose what they want to do, but of course, you can "change" it so they actually will do a combo of what they want and what you want them to do. 3) Don't waste your time rushing around putting out fires. I usually give students a three-strikes policy, which I explain to them the first time I meet them. After two strikes, I either have them stand up in the back of the classroom, or I send them out into the hall to stand and wait. If they're really bad, you should figure out a way to call their mothers and let them know, which is usually your ace up your sleeve. They won't necessarily respect you but they will fear the wrath of their mother, who sent them to your class in the first place. 4) Don't give your students the literal "death penalty." When I do send students to stand in the back, after awhile I go back and play rock, scissors, paper with them. If they win, I let them sit down and if they lose, they continue standing. The whole point of that is to hold them personally responsible but to give them a sporting chance. 5) Get to know your students names and when they act out badly, call them up to wherever you are to talk about it it by calling them by name. It's hard when you have a large public school class but knowing their names is part of the relationship building process, which in the medium-long run will work out to fewer problems and disturbances. 6) Develop a flexible routine, which sounds like an oxymoron, but it will help your students to calm down and pay attention. 7) Smile. Don't treat them like they're prison break escapees and you're the warden who's looking for them. They're kids who're rapidly developing physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, cognitively, etc. Dont' hold their growth against them, but it can be hard to do. You'll have to have at least the wisdom and patience of a Solomon or a Ghandi sometimes. I have nieces and nephews here in Korea and I have to pinch myself not to be too hard on my relatives kids. Don't try to bribe them with candy or treats except once in a while and then for doing well or very well. You can't afford to buy candy for all of your students all of the time. But do treat a few of them at a time once in a while and make sure to treat everyone as equally as you can. Favoritism, while rampant at the official level here, can be detrimental to your classes. 9) Don't use corporate punishment-don't hit your kids. It's illegal and you can get into a lot of really hot water if you do and it backfires on you. If you know your students, the power of shame is far more effective over the long run than hitting students. I have a senior co-teacher who sometimes hits students in our classes and I think that just saps all of the energy and good will from students whenever they do that. That is a real class killing activity. If and when your students are bad, you can send them back to their homeroom teachers, which is what I used to do in my former elementary school who are often best able to discipline those unruly students the most effectively. 10) Get a Korean teacher, optimally the regular Korean English teacher, to tell the students in Korean that you are a teacher at your school and they are to listen and to do what you say like a regular Korean teacher, well if they come close to that, you'll be doing fine.

I want to also say that classroom management and discipline is something I have to work at, too. I hope this helps and that I wasn't too windy.

[BS.Dos.]

^Paragraphs please. You're hurting my eyes.

[sojourner1]

I find after school classes are just like the late afternoon hagwon classes I used to teach, while morning PS classes are usually a more structured real school like charm to teach, because it is real school and they're at their best in the morning. In the after school classes, they like to jump and climb around like monkeys, hide under desks, play hide and go seek, fast loud Korean speaking, get rude, and act like it's an out of control recess. Kidz just wanna bust lose from the structure the stick wielding Korean teacher imposes when they can get away with it and late afternoon is when their mental issues are really flaring up. Since I'm not a practicing psychologist, I leave all those issues obviously going on alone instead of trying to treat and manage them. Happy songs and shows go a long way to treating this mentality they get late in the day and maybe they pick up some English vocabulary in the process.

If you've got a big screen TV, use it, because this will get their attention, get them to sit down, be more quiet, and actually doing something more than just playing and chaotic fast talking in Korean. While watching a show and singing childrens' karaoke songs is not real teaching, it's a lot more than being able to do nothing, but get a head ache trying to get them to do what you want them to do. After all, you want to take a fun and happy approach they'll find fun, instead of it being work or boring to them.

[maingman]

,,

[shl82]

thank you all for your imputs.
by the way, i teach in public elementry.
any more ideas i would really appreciate it.
thanks again