Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pianowill]

Every Friday, I have to teach a two hour class to Korean children who have spent most of their lives outside of Korea. They are fluent in English, and I think they may be fluent in Korean as well. But because they've spent more time in native English countries (only U.S. and Canada, I think), I've been called upon to teach them everything they'd know about Korea if they had never left in the first place.

There are only seven kids in the class. One in 1st, two in 2nd, three in 3rd, and one in 4th grade.

I'm running out of ideas, and I feel like I'm letting them down more and more with each class. The lecture material has been primarily PowerPoint presentations and YouTube videos. They aren't very engaged. They like to talk through the lecture and comment on everything. This would be okay if they were asking questions, but sometimes they just act silly because they're bored.

We started off with food. I taught them about traditional Korean dishes. Since then, I've taught them about traditional Korean clothes (the men and women's hanboks, what comprises a hanbok), Korean celebrities (present day singers/actors and famous martyrs/kings from history), a little Korean history (nothing political, just turtle ships, musical instruments, creation of hangul, and whatnot), holidays (including American holidays), and Korean geography (delved into world geography just to fill up the full two hours).

I suppose I can do a lesson on festivals. That's probably what I'll do tomorrow. I've vaguely been told that it's okay to teach global cultures but with a focus on Korean culture.

What I'm asking for is a book. A book or website with some great ideas on teaching classes about Korea. I'd love to hear about some games that will keep them engaged too. They don't really like to sit down. I got them pretty controlled when they were gluing continents onto a world map, but they don't really like to draw. They love competition games though.

I never taught elementary school or ESL prior to September 7th, so every day is a learning experience for me when it comes to teaching.

[cruisemonkey]

pianowill,

Ask yourself this question -
Am I Korean?

If the answer is 'Yes', then you should find a different job.

If the answer is 'No', tell your boss/principal to "Shove it" (politely)... you are not qualified.

[ddeubel]

One book I really like is Andrew Finch's "Visit Korea". http://finchpark.com/books Meant for tour guides to learn English, it has some nice Korea specific material.

I have spent a lot of time telling teachers about Korean specific content and hope this next year to spend my conference lecturing on this subject. But for what it is worth, see some materials on my institute's site. Here and Here.

Or just use the search on EFL Classroom and find lots on Korea. But lots more throughout the site, especially Elementary page. Make sure to use the Heungbu Nolbu story / story writing ppt. Plus lots more audio of Korean folktales.

Cheers,
DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[andrewchon]

I can't give you a book, but you can teach them games.
However, if you are not familiar with them, makes it a bit hard.
I don't know how much you know.

Traditional children's games:
Je-gi: Korean version of soccer's 'keep-y-up-y'
Yoot: winter board game with four sticks
Jan-gi: Chinese chess with Korean rules.
O-mok: make five in a row playing on Go-board
you can also play force-out on Go-board.
Flick your stone on to opponents stone and force it off the board.
Gong-gi: Juggling game played with five stones.
Hop-scotch: 8 squares and semi-circle and a stone each.
Girls play patti-cake and go-mu-jul (rubber string dance). Them I never learnt, get a female co-t to explain that to you.
Concentration: 1-2-3-4 call either name, number, nick-names, or 3-6-9
Muk-jji-bba: variation on rock-paper-scissors where one tries to force the other to make other's hand same as his.

Korean kids love 'hitting' penalties. Ggol-bam (flick on head), slap on the wrist are popular.
As there are only 7 in the class and body sizes vary, I don't recommend 'dduk-chi-gi'.

[ajuma]

While I was looking for the second link "Ugly Koreans, Ugly Americans", I found this other site with lots of good books. Maybe they can help. UKUA is a GREAT book written in English and Korean that explains the differences between the cultures. I've used it successfully in several classes.

One more thing: They're KIDS!! They're interested in toys and games, sports and shopping. Do some activities that appeal to their interests. Ahve them describe the difference between American and Korean supermarkets, TV programs, malls vs Dongdaemoon, the lack of PC bangs in America....

http://www.1stopkorea.com/index.htm?Books.htm~mainframe

http://www.amazon.com/Ugly-Koreans-Americans-Min-Byoung-chul/dp/8975121283

[pianowill]

Yeah I think it would be good to compare and contrast America and Korea. Thanks for all the links, everybody! I'm using some of the stuff you posted, ddeubel, and I'll probably be using some of the other stuff posted in later weeks.

[summer33ny]

I did a lesson like this my high school students and we did it like a trivia:

You should always give and take things with two hands from a person older than you (Korea, America or both?), You can call someone older than you by their first name, You should shake hands when you first meet somone, corn and pickes are common toppings on pizza, etc.

It was a lot of fun for my high school students. And they were very engaged.

[Mithrae]

My advice. Run from this project as fast as you can. It can't end well, unless you're willing to praise every aspect of Korean culture uncritically. If you can do that, fine. If not, take the advice offered above and tell the boss you're not qualified.

You also need to question why they are asking you to do this. Koreans already know Korean culture.

It's a very strange request.

[zpeanut]

I have to teach kids about Aussie culture. So we do flora/fauna, food, famous places, lifestyle etc..

May I suggest a cooking class?? something simple.. kids usually enjoy hands on stuff. Make it a condition that they gotta eat what they make for lunch! otherwise things could get interesting..

For flora/fauna we have worksheets, videos and we go to the zoo on an excursion of course. We get them to do some simple arts and crafts. Writing stories featuring the animals, do book review on picture books featuring the animals.. etc

Famous places.. well, we teach something about them and then we go there on a day trip!! unless it's out of reach. Get them to design a holiday brochure on the place as a project.. or plan a holiday.

Lifestyle.. well.. this consists of going to the beach usually, firing up a Barbi - edutour programs run in the summer ... pity Koreans aren't so much into beaches. We also do some Aussie slang.

Hope that helps.

[cruisemonkey]

Teach them how to look anywhere but where they are going.

Teach them to spit in ashtays but use the floor for the butts.

Teach them not to line up, but how to come in 'from the side' and demand their ticket before the waygooken.

Teach them to inspect all foregner's shopping baskets.