Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ldh2222]

So I've been at a hagwon a couple of years... but currently, it's my 1st year at a public school. Next week, I'm getting 1 adult class (45mins) once a week. Basically about 12 mothers I'm guessing?

I'm thinking it's general conversation, but I'm hard-pressed on topics etc. to keep the class flowing and interesting as I don't even know their level... and the fact that I'm used to teaching children-only. Any serious tips would be appreciated!

[Morgen]

There are some other useful threads on this, but it's a tricky thing to search for. Your first class will sort a lot of this out for you, though. Introduce yourself, obviously, and try to talk about yourself for a few minutes, then let them ask you questions. Then have them go round and introduce themselves and say something about where they're from originally or their families or why they're studying English or whatever, and assess their level(s) from that. If they're really low-level, you basically have no problems. If they're more advanced, just ask them what topics they're interested in and what they want to study. My adult class was so clear about what they wanted to learn that they practically planned the syllabus for me. Basically I just teach the class that I'd want to take in Korean, kind of a step up from how to function in shops and restaurants to more colloquial conversation in certain settings and on certain topics. Sometimes I take the standard article and conversation questions from breakingnewsenglish.com and use it as an introduction and supplement it with something from the Korea Times or NYT or something. The Korea Times website also has stuff like Dear Abby columns with some of the harder words translated at the bottom, which the women in my class LOVE to talk about.

[Chamchiman]

I compiled this list with "teaching the teachers at public school" in mind, but some of the ideas buried in these threads might give you some thoughts on what to do with your mothers:

Help with Teaching Adults

Teacher's Class

Teaching adults� any advice??

What to teach for my Korean Teachers class?

Teaching my co-teachers who speak no English.

Teaching teachers.

[ldh2222]

Thanks for the replies. Right, I've been thinking of going the ask-them-what-they-want-to-talk-about route, because I don't want to try and come up with an 'official' lesson plan, only to have it rebuffed or unsatisfying to their tastes. Also, I think the online/newspaper articles is a good idea... I'm hoping they're somewhere near low-to-mid intermediate so we can actually have some discussion. Although it's just 1x a week for 45mins...