Korean Job Discussion Forums

[captain kirk]

With middle school, at this school, I can bring in whatever handouts or material I can find. I looked on edhelper.com and there is reading comprehension material at a grade three level, which is their level. That is grade three in America. That's too difficult for them by a hair, really. I copied from their animals section which has two or four paragraphs including INTERESTING facts about animals from all over the world. Well, they find this ok but not terribly interesting. I'd like to find something for them to read/do that is TERRIBLY interesting. They hunch with head in hand dutifully scribbling with their mechanical pencils the translation. I feel like a mortician at a funeral, haha. One student said 'teacher, this is boring', in a listless voice. So I asked what he'd like to do. He said 'a game'. After work I asked the other foreign teacher and he got the newest Harry Potter book (the movie isn't even out yet). Which stopped me in my tracks at how cool that seemed (wish I'd thought of it! damn!). I hate to be party to the stupification of them, it seems, by blathering away at what I had thought in advance would be a breakout from the routine. But it seems it's 'Korean style' to go on cruise/autopilot as a student and 'conserve energy'/go dormant. Then, oh horror(!), complain that 'teacher is boring!'. Any sites with class material that anyone knows of? I've looked at edhelper.com and it's NOT BAD! I use the grade three level reading comprehension and the animals units (reptiles, mammals, etc.).

[OiGirl]

Here are some online resuorces that may help:

http://www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html
http://abcteach.com/directory/reading_comprehension/grades_24/fictional/
http://abcteach.com/directory/reading_comprehension/grades_24/informational/
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm
http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/readcompindexa.htm
http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/SRW2.htm


This site is great:
http://www.readinga-z.com/newfiles/preview.html
There are some free books here, but I had a six-month subscription a while back, and it was well worth it!

There are more stories at the bottom of this page:
http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/member_preview.html
You need to join this site, but it's free.


Hope you find something useful!

[Ghostinthemachine]

I don't know how much help this will be to you cos I used to use it with adults but here goes. I would search the net for biographical or other information/gossip on celebrities (actors, pop stars, the British Royal family) and synopsise it at a reading level appropriate for my students. It went down really well. Perhaps you could ask some of the korean teachers for info on current korean actors or popstars as well that the kids could relate to.

Anyway good luck. Let us know how you get on.

[OiGirl]

I was looking for some biographies at that reading level. Here are a few ideas:

http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/class/archive/ns/archive/0,17593,,00.html
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/arts_and_entertainment/music/Musicians/

[captain kirk]

Thanks for the links! I haven't checked in them yet but am about to. In return I provide you with links from a friend of mine. They are for all ages; it's a rummage bag!
http://www.edhelper.com/

http://www.kidsdomain.com/

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

http://iteslj.org/Lessons/

http://www3.sympatico.ca/cottagecountry//dir-cam.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/index.shtml

In the meantime I found a Can You Believe It edition three yesterday. One of the Korean teachers bought it. And copied it for handouts!

[captain kirk]

Thanks! I went to www.literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html and printed 16 of the one page articles, each a lesson. The content is interesting like the Can You Believe It text content. Some of the lessons;
-solar flyers as low cost alternatives to communications satellites
-U.S. coast guard taking care of burning the oil in a Japanese freighter off Oregan coast, instead of letting it spill
-whales having dialects, communicating by immitating whales with other local dialects, dolphins having 102 different whistles
-men and women and their tolerance for pain as reported by dental workers
-gradually getting ready to release the 'Free Willy' movie's whale
-a solar system 40 light years away
-Tornado survivors speak
-Falun Gong movement in China and government repression and its effect
-amateur rocketeer contest to get a rocket 200 kms into space
-SETI search led by the real life woman from the movie Contact, using arrays of hundreds of commercial satellite dishes AND how the earth is too cluttered with signals now. A SETI station really ought to be on the dark side of the moon.
In Can You Believe It style format I'll make questions about the articles. Thanks!

[OiGirl]

I'm so glad you liked that site!

I don't know if you found all the features, but there are all kinds of goodies there to extend your lessons. Each story comes in three versions: regular, simplified, and outline. They also have audio and video links. There are activities (quizzes) for each story, including one where they can post a message to a forum.