Korean Job Discussion Forums

[richardlang]

I work with low-intermediate students at a high school. They can write their own conversations and present them to the class.

The past two weeks have been a lot of fun. One topic was having a baby, the other topic was getting a new puppy. We went over vocabulary through a presentation I made to introduce new vocabulary to them (a crib, baby food, diapers, baby room). Then I handed students a short dialog about two people, one of whom is having a baby soon and the other who is suggesting items she needs to buy. Then students, in their dialogs, provided short justifications for why a mother needs certain items. After they wrote their brief dialogs, my students made speaking presentations to our class.

Does anyone have any new ideas for my classes? I feel like we've gone over nearly every topic (grocery store, superheroes, vacation trips, advice columns as counselors, being an animal for a day, etc).

I need a topic that I can give them new vocabulary for and they can read a short dialog I write for them that they can modify with their creativeness. Everything is about speaking in my classes. Essentially, my class is a speaking presentation class

My students are great. They don't have to read their dialogs off their papers at all.

The last two topics I mentioned went really well because students got creative with naming their babies/puppies. My students were really excited about these two topics.

Another speaking topic I did was I introduced Lego characters on a presentation, then students chose one of them and wrote in the first person about his/her friends, dislikes, interests, and life as a Lego character. When they did their presentations, I had the large photo collection of Lego characters on a handout and students in the audience had to guess who the speaker was describing. It was awesome!

We've also done recipes. I presented them with new vocabulary and a matching worksheet to check they had learned the new words. Students wrote their own recipes, drew a small picture, then presented their recipes to our class. This went great as well.

Additionally, we've also done emergency 911 phone calls. Students received a short telephone dialog, modified it to their emergency situation, then presented it to the class. It was hilarious. The initial dialog I gave them was about a bear in a tree. The operator asked the caller to describe the bear (what it was wearing, what it was doing) and then dispatched the police or fire fighters to the scene. Students had to give their address, phone number, etc. Presentations were really funny. I printed off cellphones and gave them to each student so they could practice in pairs before presenting to our class.

I need creative ideas for speaking presentations

[schwa]

[unhelpful]

[ddeubel]

Take a look at This Folder. Should be enough to keep you going.

I'd also use this list of writing prompts to keep you thinking of new topics. Lots there.

Also, I'd take a look at the Presentation page under RESOURCES on EFL Classroom . I have lots of stuff there and make sure to use this presentation cloze. Lots of teachers using it and it really makes it easy for students to make a speech and then concentrate on delivery.

Good luck.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[richardlang]

I might have them do telemarketing. Give them some pictures of items they have to sell over the phone. Also, another topic I might try is university. Students could talk with their friends about what classes they're taking and why.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

These are such great ideas!!!

What about:

-fairy tales
-make your own soap opera
-mock government
-mock trial
-western subcultures and/or high school cliques (goth, emo, punk, jock, etc.)
-pirates/adventure novel/buried treasure
-cultures of the world
-music genres

-For a small group activity, you could do a modified version of D&D...where they have to do some kind of fantasy/sci fi quest with one person as the moderator who decides what happens when a character makes a decision.

-I don't know if you could get access to it, but I used to play a computer game when I was younger called Rockett's New School (it was actually a series) where you had to make the decisions for a girl's first day of school - who to sit with, what to wear, what to say, etc. You could either use this (project the game onto the board) or you could make up your own RPG along the same lines.


...wow, I'm sounding a lot nerdier than I actually am...


Other things...

-survival in the wild
-science experiments
-logic problems
-vacation/travel

Hmm. I'm running out of ideas. Hope some of those helped!

[richardlang]

Surviving in the wild sounds good. Students can learn new vocabulary, modify a sample dialog writing in their items and justifying why they're needed, and then present their conversations to the class.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

Yeah, there's an activity I've done several times. I'm sure it's on the internet somewhere, or you could create your own. Basically, you set up a survival scenario (mine was in an extremely cold climate, and the nearest town was like 30 miles away or something). Then you have a list of maybe 40 items, but you can only bring 10 with you, and you have to justify why you choose to bring them.

Aha, I found a good website:

http://wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/SurvivalScenarios.html

[richardlang]

As most HS teachers do, I'm working with 50 minutes with my students. Usually there's 10 minutes of introduction/engagement, 15 minutes of dialog writing and practice, and 25 minutes for presentations and checking comprehension. During this last period of time, I try to get as many students to present their conversations using the two or three microphones we've got in our classroom.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

...?

You seem very emphatic. Not sure why? You can have presentations be more than dialogues - for example, explaining why they chose the items they chose.

[richardlang]

Presentations are usually paired dialogs. But they can also work alone and write about their individual thoughts and then present them to the class.

[Dodgy Al]

Richard, you might want to try varying the structure of your classes. Do they have to give presentations every time? This may be putting a lot of pressure on the students, particularly on those with incompatible learner preferences. For the last ten or fifteen minutes, you could try some simple board games using the material from the class, or team quizzes to consolidate what they have learned. ddeubel's Mini BAAM would be perfect for this.

[richardlang]

They give presentations every class. I see them once a week. I think one speaking presentation a week is good for them. They don't get a chance to talk in their normal English classes taught by Korean teachers. I have to take grades for participation, too, and turn those grades in at the end of each semester. I need enough grades (participation points) for stratification of grades. There's a 20%, 30%, 30%, 20% grading curve at my school for my class. Grading is a pain in the butt.

[richardlang]

Here's what I've got planned for this week. I'm introducing vocabulary words for camping supplies (e.g. first aid kit, sleeping bag, hammock, GPS finder, tent, hiking shoes) with it.

Kelly: Hey, Patrick. I�m going on a camping trip next week.

Patrick: Where are you headed?

Kelly: I�m going to Seorak Mountain with a few friends. We�ll spend the weekend there.

Patrick: Who�s going with you?

Kelly: Dambi Son, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tae-Hee Kim, and Daniel Henney.

Patrick: Did you buy camping stuff at an outdoors store?

Kelly: I went to a Northface store. I bought a sleeping bag, a water bottle, a gas stove, and a GPS finder. What else should I buy?

Patrick: You should buy a good tent, a raincoat, a backpack, and some hiking shoes.

Kelly: I see. What�s the most difficult thing about camping?

Patrick: Making a campfire is very difficult in bad weather.

Kelly: What�s the easiest thing about camping?

Patrick: Using a GPS finder is very easy. It helps you when you don�t have a map.

Kelly: Thanks for your good advice. I'll see you when I get back to school.

I tried to put as many questions in here as I could. Are there any obvious questions I missed? I made this as modifiable as I could. Students can write their justifications for things (e.g. what's difficult, what's easy), add in new names for camping sites, and write in new people who are coming with them.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

hmm...you could also ask "What are you going to do?"

With answers like: "Go hiking, go fishing, roast hot dogs, tell scary stories around the campfire" etc.

You could teach them about s'mores.

[richardlang]

Thanks I'll work that one in.