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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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 Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:31 pm Post subject: Winter Camp Frustrations |
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My school is having me teach 3 different one-week camps (one each per school I work at) this winter. I wish I didn't have to teach camps, but whatever, it's part of the job.
However, what I DO feel is absurd is that I am the only teacher teaching the camp! My co-teacher will be there to help, but there will be no other foreign teachers, and no other Korean teachers.
Not only that, but there will only be one group of kids per school, so I have to teach the same batch of kids for 4 hours in a row. Keeping the kids' attention for 1-2 hours is hard enough, but I keep trying to explain that 4 hours is literally impossible. The adult classes I teach back in the USA run 3 hours, max, and even by the end of those, the students are starting to fade.
So, I have until Monday to write up a full 20 different lesson plans (or 20 hours worth of lessons, at least). Did I mention that they must all be along a theme?
I feel like I'm ready to tear my hair out here. What can I do here? |
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fromtheuk
Joined: 31 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Are you with GEPIK? A theme sounds stupid. Perhaps my school isn't so bad after all.   |
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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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| fromtheuk wrote: |
| Are you with GEPIK? A theme sounds stupid. Perhaps my school isn't so bad after all. |
I'm not in GEPIK or EPIK, I'm "owned" by my particular province, which has its own program. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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| I've done a one-week, four-hour-a-day camp at my school teaching by myself. It was no problem and really a lot of fun. |
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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| I've done a one-week, four-hour-a-day camp at my school teaching by myself. It was no problem and really a lot of fun. |
4 hours in a row with the same kids? What did you do? |
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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| I've done a one-week, four-hour-a-day camp at my school teaching by myself. It was no problem and really a lot of fun. |
4 hours in a row with the same kids? What did you do? |
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nomad-ish
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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are you middle school?
either way the best strategy is to minimize your talking time and preserve your energy. think one group project during the week: such as a poster project or make tv commercials. have them present or show their short film to the class. do a movie class (you can find tons of activities on boggle's world for this) and then show a movie. have the kids write a report on the movie and present once again. if there's snow outside, teach them some winter vocab and take them outside to have fun for a while. do a cooking class (try to choose a food item that's not only easy, but has decorating opportunities... you can bring in chocolate chips, icing, etc. for the kids to use to decorate). remember to do journals once or twice during the week. for the last day make it a game day (do some group games, charades, etc. then have them break up into smaller groups for board games or english card games). you can find board games online.
if you plan your day well, spacing out activities that require a lot of energy on your part with independent learning ones for the kids, it will be a lot easier on you
good luck! |
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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad-ish wrote: |
are you middle school?
either way the best strategy is to minimize your talking time and preserve your energy. think one group project during the week: such as a poster project or make tv commercials. have them present or show their short film to the class. do a movie class (you can find tons of activities on boggle's world for this) and then show a movie. have the kids write a report on the movie and present once again. if there's snow outside, teach them some winter vocab and take them outside to have fun for a while. do a cooking class (try to choose a food item that's not only easy, but has decorating opportunities... you can bring in chocolate chips, icing, etc. for the kids to use to decorate). remember to do journals once or twice during the week. for the last day make it a game day (do some group games, charades, etc. then have them break up into smaller groups for board games or english card games). you can find board games online.
if you plan your day well, spacing out activities that require a lot of energy on your part with independent learning ones for the kids, it will be a lot easier on you
good luck! |
There's a problem with these... I have no resources other than unreliable access to a computer an TV. I teach at a rural school with basically no budget (one of the schools I used to teach at here didn't even have indoor plumbing), so pretty much all of those are impossible by resources, and a bit high level as well. Most of my students can only write 2-3 sentences in 40 minutes, and I'm not exaggerating. The good ones can write 4-5, the bad ones can write...1. |
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NaD00D00
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Gimpo
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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| driftingfocus wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| I've done a one-week, four-hour-a-day camp at my school teaching by myself. It was no problem and really a lot of fun. |
4 hours in a row with the same kids? What did you do? |
You can't give breaks?
We do ours just like regular school; teach for 40 min periods and then have a 10 min break.
I'd show some cartoons (maybe every other day) like Spongebob, Foster's, or something that they might like. A complete showing has 2 episodes that are 10 minutes long. Let them watch an ep, and either stop during to ask questions, show the whole ep and ask easy questions about it after, or make a worksheet for them to fill out during the episode. You can knock out a whole "period" with an ep, discussion/worksheet, another ep, and another discussion/worksheet. |
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nomad-ish
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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is there a computer you can use in the school to print things out and photocopy them? i wouldn't worry about the kids not being able to write sentences, neither can most of mine. it still is a good "learning experience" for them  what about some field trips? do you have anything interesting in your rural area? maybe a hiking trip? |
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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| NaD00D00 wrote: |
| driftingfocus wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| I've done a one-week, four-hour-a-day camp at my school teaching by myself. It was no problem and really a lot of fun. |
4 hours in a row with the same kids? What did you do? |
You can't give breaks?
We do ours just like regular school; teach for 40 min periods and then have a 10 min break.
I'd show some cartoons (maybe every other day) like Spongebob, Foster's, or something that they might like. A complete showing has 2 episodes that are 10 minutes long. Let them watch an ep, and either stop during to ask questions, show the whole ep and ask easy questions about it after, or make a worksheet for them to fill out during the episode. You can knock out a whole "period" with an ep, discussion/worksheet, another ep, and another discussion/worksheet. |
The problem is that the school wants the whole week to have a "theme" like travel, or shopping, or something. |
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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad-ish wrote: |
| is there a computer you can use in the school to print things out and photocopy them? i wouldn't worry about the kids not being able to write sentences, neither can most of mine. it still is a good "learning experience" for them what about some field trips? do you have anything interesting in your rural area? maybe a hiking trip? |
Yeah, I mean, I can print stuff out and whatnot, but something that involves a computer or TV in the classroom is unreliable. Half the classrooms here don't have a working one or the other.
Field trips are a no-no. Can't leave the school grounds. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| driftingfocus wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| I've done a one-week, four-hour-a-day camp at my school teaching by myself. It was no problem and really a lot of fun. |
4 hours in a row with the same kids? What did you do? |
I split them into two groups and did intensive work with one group while the other did another kind of excercise or a game, and alternated from hour to hour. |
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driftingfocus
Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Location: Boston, MA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| driftingfocus wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| I've done a one-week, four-hour-a-day camp at my school teaching by myself. It was no problem and really a lot of fun. |
4 hours in a row with the same kids? What did you do? |
I split them into two groups and did intensive work with one group while the other did another kind of excercise or a game, and alternated from hour to hour. |
What did you do with the other kids who you weren't working with? Were they still in the classroom? |
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Chamchiman
Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Location: Digging the Grave
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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Did I miss the part where you posted which grade your students are in? That might make it easier for people to give you some ideas...
| driftingfocus wrote: |
| I'm not in GEPIK or EPIK, I'm "owned" by my particular province, which has its own program. |
Which province are you in? |
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