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winterfall
Joined: 21 May 2009
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 Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:49 pm Post subject: Advice Tech Hs: Student learning Issue |
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Can I get some advice from more experienced teachers? I'm always looking for ways to improve my teaching and delivery.
As the title says it, I teach at a tech hs. Across the board their skills are low: English, reasoning, etc. They come from about 14 different middle schools in 8 different districts. I've administered a series of assessment tests to try to figure exactly how much they know. But there's no pattern to it, it really seems like they've just learned a bunch of random words.
Anyway so that's the framework. And here's the problem: whenever I try teaching them differences in language concepts, give them ultra simplified guidelines to use, and we do lots of reviews in class before every activity and worksheet to make sure they got it right, they repeat it all back to me right.
Yet every time we do worksheets they apply the language wrong. Because they just can't distinguish differences. For example with ordinal numbers:
1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th etc
For a ranking worksheet, every answer was: 1th / 2th / 3th / 4th etc
It's weird, I saw them using the number key while they were doing the worksheet.
And this doesn't happen with just numbers. It happens with everything where you have to distinguish differences . Like I show a picture of a shirt. They're say "Clothes". And I can eventually get them to guess Shirt with prodding like Sh _ _t
I mean this really drives me in circles. Am I teaching it wrong? Or is it a learning disorder? Motivation issue? Any suggestions to fix it? |
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English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:59 pm Post subject: Re: Advice Tech Hs: Student learning Issue |
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| winterfall wrote: |
Can I get some advice from more experienced teachers? I'm always looking for ways to improve my teaching and delivery.
As the title says it, I teach at a tech hs. Across the board their skills are low: English, reasoning, etc. They come from about 14 different middle schools in 8 different districts. I've administered a series of assessment tests to try to figure exactly how much they know. But there's no pattern to it, it really seems like they've just learned a bunch of random words.
Anyway so that's the framework. And here's the problem: whenever I try teaching them differences in language concepts, give them ultra simplified guidelines to use, and we do lots of reviews in class before every activity and worksheet to make sure they got it right, they repeat it all back to me right.
Yet every time we do worksheets they apply the language wrong. Because they just can't distinguish differences. For example with ordinal numbers:
1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th etc
For a ranking worksheet, every answer was: 1th / 2th / 3th / 4th etc
It's weird, I saw them using the number key while they were doing the worksheet.
And this doesn't happen with just numbers. It happens with everything where you have to distinguish differences . Like I show a picture of a shirt. They're say "Clothes". And I can eventually get them to guess Shirt with prodding like Sh _ _t
I mean this really drives me in circles. Am I teaching it wrong? Or is it a learning disorder? Motivation issue? Any suggestions to fix it? |
It's a technical high school.....they don't care period. They're not interested in learning the language and / or they've given up on themselves and any idea that 'they' might have what it takes to learn English.
If you want to make your life more bearable then start making the class fun. They won't bother with work sheets or 'real' lessons until they think English is fun and / or interesting. Use some of the Powerpoint games for elementary school learners from Deubel's site, www.eflclassroom.ning.com. If you can get them excited about your class and they have fun, you may well be surprised how much effort they start to put into class and into English in general. |
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winterfall
Joined: 21 May 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:09 pm Post subject: Re: Advice Tech Hs: Student learning Issue |
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| English Matt wrote: |
| winterfall wrote: |
Can I get some advice from more experienced teachers? I'm always looking for ways to improve my teaching and delivery.
As the title says it, I teach at a tech hs. Across the board their skills are low: English, reasoning, etc. They come from about 14 different middle schools in 8 different districts. I've administered a series of assessment tests to try to figure exactly how much they know. But there's no pattern to it, it really seems like they've just learned a bunch of random words.
Anyway so that's the framework. And here's the problem: whenever I try teaching them differences in language concepts, give them ultra simplified guidelines to use, and we do lots of reviews in class before every activity and worksheet to make sure they got it right, they repeat it all back to me right.
Yet every time we do worksheets they apply the language wrong. Because they just can't distinguish differences. For example with ordinal numbers:
1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th etc
For a ranking worksheet, every answer was: 1th / 2th / 3th / 4th etc
It's weird, I saw them using the number key while they were doing the worksheet.
And this doesn't happen with just numbers. It happens with everything where you have to distinguish differences . Like I show a picture of a shirt. They're say "Clothes". And I can eventually get them to guess Shirt with prodding like Sh _ _t
I mean this really drives me in circles. Am I teaching it wrong? Or is it a learning disorder? Motivation issue? Any suggestions to fix it? |
It's a technical high school.....they don't care period. They're not interested in learning the language and / or they've given up on themselves and any idea that 'they' might have what it takes to learn English.
If you want to make your life more bearable then start making the class fun. They won't bother with work sheets or 'real' lessons until they think English is fun and / or interesting. Use some of the Powerpoint games for elementary school learners from Deubel's site, www.eflclassroom.ning.com. If you can get them excited about your class and they have fun, you may well be surprised how much effort they start to put into class and into English in general. |
Well that's the point. They already have fun in the classes and are excited. Its just every time they apply the language themselves they can�t do it.
No way to get around worksheets. Like you said its a tech school. I don't have any of that fancy stuff. Just paper and chalk. |
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English Matt
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:18 pm Post subject: Re: Advice Tech Hs: Student learning Issue |
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| winterfall wrote: |
| English Matt wrote: |
| winterfall wrote: |
Can I get some advice from more experienced teachers? I'm always looking for ways to improve my teaching and delivery.
As the title says it, I teach at a tech hs. Across the board their skills are low: English, reasoning, etc. They come from about 14 different middle schools in 8 different districts. I've administered a series of assessment tests to try to figure exactly how much they know. But there's no pattern to it, it really seems like they've just learned a bunch of random words.
Anyway so that's the framework. And here's the problem: whenever I try teaching them differences in language concepts, give them ultra simplified guidelines to use, and we do lots of reviews in class before every activity and worksheet to make sure they got it right, they repeat it all back to me right.
Yet every time we do worksheets they apply the language wrong. Because they just can't distinguish differences. For example with ordinal numbers:
1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th etc
For a ranking worksheet, every answer was: 1th / 2th / 3th / 4th etc
It's weird, I saw them using the number key while they were doing the worksheet.
And this doesn't happen with just numbers. It happens with everything where you have to distinguish differences . Like I show a picture of a shirt. They're say "Clothes". And I can eventually get them to guess Shirt with prodding like Sh _ _t
I mean this really drives me in circles. Am I teaching it wrong? Or is it a learning disorder? Motivation issue? Any suggestions to fix it? |
It's a technical high school.....they don't care period. They're not interested in learning the language and / or they've given up on themselves and any idea that 'they' might have what it takes to learn English.
If you want to make your life more bearable then start making the class fun. They won't bother with work sheets or 'real' lessons until they think English is fun and / or interesting. Use some of the Powerpoint games for elementary school learners from Deubel's site, www.eflclassroom.ning.com. If you can get them excited about your class and they have fun, you may well be surprised how much effort they start to put into class and into English in general. |
Well that's the point. They already have fun in the classes and are excited. Its just every time they apply the language themselves they can�t do it.
No way to get around worksheets. Like you said its a tech school. I don't have any of that fancy stuff. Just paper and chalk. |
I'd say that they're not that bright then......a bit 'special' as it were. If they never get it then I wouldn't waste your time worrying yourself about why they don't get it. It's a failure in Korea's educational system that means that these kids have been progressively sidelined by teachers, of all subjects, ever since they started doing badly on their first tests. You can't possibly, as a non-Korean, expect yourself to be able to compensate for that. Whatever learning difficulties or obstacles to learning these kids have, they haven't been given the help to overcome them. IMO though, the biggest problem is that they have not been thought to think critically.....therefore they lurch headfirst lemming-like after one another, copying one another's mistakes without stopping to really assess the problem and think about the information they just learned.
Do you not have a TV that you can connect your laptop to? |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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For Technical High Schools discipline is a big issue.The key is to not teach alone. You are supposed to have a Korean team teacher with you at all times. Obviously sometimes your co-teacher might say he/she is busy and would like for you to teach alone. In the short term this might make a lot od sence and you might feel you a winning a friend however in the long term this might be the iceberg that sinks your ship.
One thing I've done for students who are bored was I bought the first season of Lost. You'd be surprised how simple the English is. Most of the dialogues consist of simple short sentences . You can use the English or Korean subtitles. You can also put it on pause with the subtitles showing.
Great for after exams. Saved me from having a nervous breakdown more than once. |
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Captain Obvious
Joined: 23 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:45 pm Post subject: Re: Advice Tech Hs: Student learning Issue |
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| English Matt wrote: |
| winterfall wrote: |
| English Matt wrote: |
| winterfall wrote: |
Can I get some advice from more experienced teachers? I'm always looking for ways to improve my teaching and delivery.
As the title says it, I teach at a tech hs. Across the board their skills are low: English, reasoning, etc. They come from about 14 different middle schools in 8 different districts. I've administered a series of assessment tests to try to figure exactly how much they know. But there's no pattern to it, it really seems like they've just learned a bunch of random words.
Anyway so that's the framework. And here's the problem: whenever I try teaching them differences in language concepts, give them ultra simplified guidelines to use, and we do lots of reviews in class before every activity and worksheet to make sure they got it right, they repeat it all back to me right.
Yet every time we do worksheets they apply the language wrong. Because they just can't distinguish differences. For example with ordinal numbers:
1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th etc
For a ranking worksheet, every answer was: 1th / 2th / 3th / 4th etc
It's weird, I saw them using the number key while they were doing the worksheet.
And this doesn't happen with just numbers. It happens with everything where you have to distinguish differences . Like I show a picture of a shirt. They're say "Clothes". And I can eventually get them to guess Shirt with prodding like Sh _ _t
I mean this really drives me in circles. Am I teaching it wrong? Or is it a learning disorder? Motivation issue? Any suggestions to fix it? |
It's a technical high school.....they don't care period. They're not interested in learning the language and / or they've given up on themselves and any idea that 'they' might have what it takes to learn English.
If you want to make your life more bearable then start making the class fun. They won't bother with work sheets or 'real' lessons until they think English is fun and / or interesting. Use some of the Powerpoint games for elementary school learners from Deubel's site, www.eflclassroom.ning.com. If you can get them excited about your class and they have fun, you may well be surprised how much effort they start to put into class and into English in general. |
Well that's the point. They already have fun in the classes and are excited. Its just every time they apply the language themselves they can�t do it.
No way to get around worksheets. Like you said its a tech school. I don't have any of that fancy stuff. Just paper and chalk. |
I'd say that they're not that bright then......a bit 'special' as it were. If they never get it then I wouldn't waste your time worrying yourself about why they don't get it. It's a failure in Korea's educational system that means that these kids have been progressively sidelined by teachers, of all subjects, ever since they started doing badly on their first tests. You can't possibly, as a non-Korean, expect yourself to be able to compensate for that. Whatever learning difficulties or obstacles to learning these kids have, they haven't been given the help to overcome them. IMO though, the biggest problem is that they have not been thought to think critically.....therefore they lurch headfirst lemming-like after one another, copying one another's mistakes without stopping to really assess the problem and think about the information they just learned.
Do you not have a TV that you can connect your laptop to? |
Yeppers, sounds like you're setting yourself up for a big disappointment. |
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Captain Obvious
Joined: 23 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Fishead soup wrote: |
For Technical High Schools discipline is a big issue.The key is to not teach alone. You are supposed to have a Korean team teacher with you at all times. Obviously sometimes your co-teacher might say he/she is busy and would like for you to teach alone. In the short term this might make a lot od sence and you might feel you a winning a friend however in the long term this might be the iceberg that sinks your ship.
One thing I've done for students who are bored was I bought the first season of Lost. You'd be surprised how simple the English is. Most of the dialogues consist of simple short sentences . You can use the English or Korean subtitles. You can also put it on pause with the subtitles showing.
Great for after exams. Saved me from having a nervous breakdown more than once. |
It doesn't matter how many teachers you have in the classroom. If no one can figure out how to make it work it won't work. |
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winterfall
Joined: 21 May 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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Unfortunately I'm a gyopo so I feel a certain obligation to them. But, even if I wasn't. You just know after school is done. Their lives are just going to suck. It just eats at you.
Thought now that you mention it, maybe they are special ed. I've got my fair share of the "Special" kids. It gets hard to tell who's "Special" and who's not unless they really stick out. Like being mute, or deaf. (Didn't figure out the deaf kid till I yelled at him and another kid drew me a picture of an unhappy face) I�ve been really wondering why they were better than the rest.
Discipline isn't a problem, I can and usually teach by myself. My relationship with the students is pretty good. They know they're have fun so they're do whatever my pointing and pictures tell them to do. I don't bother with the KETs anymore, they always dent the mood. Not cause they're bigots, its just their methods. But they're more than happy with that to catch up on their reading or text.
Ohh don�t worry I know how bad their English is�. The new catch phrase is �Do you want something to drink?� But whenever I say yes and look expectantly at them, they scatter.
I�ve been teaching here all year long. Is it normal to go through those phases where your like ok we�re having fun, let�s go to the next step? And keep switching between the two?
But yea no technology of any kind, at least what I can use in the classroom. I asked em for a tv before and they pointed me towards one that�s been outside for the last 5 yrs. I�m afraid to open it, there might be something growing inside. |
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Captain Obvious
Joined: 23 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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| winterfall wrote: |
Unfortunately I'm a gyopo so I feel a certain obligation to them. But, even if I wasn't. You just know after school is done. Their lives are just going to suck. It just eats at you.
Thought now that you mention it, maybe they are special ed. I've got my fair share of the "Special" kids. It gets hard to tell who's "Special" and who's not unless they really stick out. Like being mute, or deaf. (Didn't figure out the deaf kid till I yelled at him and another kid drew me a picture of an unhappy face) I�ve been really wondering why they were better than the rest.
Discipline isn't a problem, I can and usually teach by myself. My relationship with the students is pretty good. They know they're have fun so they're do whatever my pointing and pictures tell them to do. I don't bother with the KETs anymore, they always dent the mood. Not cause they're bigots, its just their methods. But they're more than happy with that to catch up on their reading or text.
Ohh don�t worry I know how bad their English is�. The new catch phrase is �Do you want something to drink?� But whenever I say yes and look expectantly at them, they scatter.
I�ve been teaching here all year long. Is it normal to go through those phases where your like ok we�re having fun, let�s go to the next step? And keep switching between the two?
But yea no technology of any kind, at least what I can use in the classroom. I asked em for a tv before and they pointed me towards one that�s been outside for the last 5 yrs. I�m afraid to open it, there might be something growing inside. |
Can you understand Korean well? It must really suck to be able to understand everything they're saying. |
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winterfall
Joined: 21 May 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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Understanding is a lot easier than speaking. Korean's got way too many consonants. I understand about 25-40% of everything they say: Most of the nicknames for the teachers, and at least half the curse words. They get really creative and I think they've invented some. But of course, they think I'm a banana. If they knew I understood it'd be impossible to teach them.
Last edited by winterfall on Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:53 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Captain Obvious wrote: |
| winterfall wrote: |
Unfortunately I'm a gyopo so I feel a certain obligation to them. But, even if I wasn't. You just know after school is done. Their lives are just going to suck. It just eats at you.
Thought now that you mention it, maybe they are special ed. I've got my fair share of the "Special" kids. It gets hard to tell who's "Special" and who's not unless they really stick out. Like being mute, or deaf. (Didn't figure out the deaf kid till I yelled at him and another kid drew me a picture of an unhappy face) I�ve been really wondering why they were better than the rest.
Discipline isn't a problem, I can and usually teach by myself. My relationship with the students is pretty good. They know they're have fun so they're do whatever my pointing and pictures tell them to do. I don't bother with the KETs anymore, they always dent the mood. Not cause they're bigots, its just their methods. But they're more than happy with that to catch up on their reading or text.
Ohh don�t worry I know how bad their English is�. The new catch phrase is �Do you want something to drink?� But whenever I say yes and look expectantly at them, they scatter.
I�ve been teaching here all year long. Is it normal to go through those phases where your like ok we�re having fun, let�s go to the next step? And keep switching between the two?
But yea no technology of any kind, at least what I can use in the classroom. I asked em for a tv before and they pointed me towards one that�s been outside for the last 5 yrs. I�m afraid to open it, there might be something growing inside. |
Can you understand Korean well? It must really suck to be able to understand everything they're saying. |
they say shee-bahl 75% of the time, so it's really not a problem to understand what they say,, at least 75% of the time.
OP, I teach tech HS students, and among them abilities, juch less interest vary/varies, but even my lowest level students can distinguish between different clothes. I know you're hamstrung by not having a screen to use Powerpoint with, (this really sucks, can you at least get some kind of basic flashcards somewhere?) but whenever I've shown them different words with pictures, they immediately know what we're doing. They repeat the words and memorize them and later I try to constuct basic sentences with said words for them to , repeat, memorize and hopefully understand.
Sounds like perhaps you do have "special" students? if I were to ask mine whether they wanted something to drink or eat, I'd be buying food and drinks for everyone all day long. (because even the ones who wouldn't understand the question would soon catch on by observation, once I gave the first kid some Coke, for e.g.) |
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winterfall
Joined: 21 May 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Cerberus wrote: |
| Captain Obvious wrote: |
| winterfall wrote: |
Unfortunately I'm a gyopo so I feel a certain obligation to them. But, even if I wasn't. You just know after school is done. Their lives are just going to suck. It just eats at you.
Thought now that you mention it, maybe they are special ed. I've got my fair share of the "Special" kids. It gets hard to tell who's "Special" and who's not unless they really stick out. Like being mute, or deaf. (Didn't figure out the deaf kid till I yelled at him and another kid drew me a picture of an unhappy face) I�ve been really wondering why they were better than the rest.
Discipline isn't a problem, I can and usually teach by myself. My relationship with the students is pretty good. They know they're have fun so they're do whatever my pointing and pictures tell them to do. I don't bother with the KETs anymore, they always dent the mood. Not cause they're bigots, its just their methods. But they're more than happy with that to catch up on their reading or text.
Ohh don�t worry I know how bad their English is�. The new catch phrase is �Do you want something to drink?� But whenever I say yes and look expectantly at them, they scatter.
I�ve been teaching here all year long. Is it normal to go through those phases where your like ok we�re having fun, let�s go to the next step? And keep switching between the two?
But yea no technology of any kind, at least what I can use in the classroom. I asked em for a tv before and they pointed me towards one that�s been outside for the last 5 yrs. I�m afraid to open it, there might be something growing inside. |
Can you understand Korean well? It must really suck to be able to understand everything they're saying. |
they say shee-bahl 75% of the time, so it's really not a problem to understand what they say,, at least 75% of the time.
OP, I teach tech HS students, and among them abilities, juch less interest vary/varies, but even my lowest level students can distinguish between different clothes. I know you're hamstrung by not having a screen to use Powerpoint with, (this really sucks, can you at least get some kind of basic flashcards somewhere?) but whenever I've shown them different words with pictures, they immediately know what we're doing. They repeat the words and memorize them and later I try to constuct basic sentences with said words for them to , repeat, memorize and hopefully understand.
Sounds like perhaps you do have "special" students? if I were to ask mine whether they wanted something to drink or eat, I'd be buying food and drinks for everyone all day long. (because even the ones who wouldn't understand the question would soon catch on by observation, once I gave the first kid some Coke, for e.g.) |
lol the sheebal part is easy. It's the long torrent after, that takes some work. 
I've been using flash cards, paper airplanes, fly swatters, balloons, magnets, fishing rods, dice. and pretty much anything else I can get my hands on to make it seem like its not class and English is FUN. But they're very easily distracted. If they're not special ed. They've definitely got ADHD.
But yea I've been trying to work with sentences. Fill in the blank with this word bank, with a hint next to the blank. And they write words that aren't from the box.
I think everyone here is right. Its a combination of everything: I don't care, special ed, learning disorders, and whatever else you can think of.
Ehh.. guess its time to throw myself back at it. Find something that works... |
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Easter Clark
Joined: 18 Nov 2007
Location: Hiding from Yie Eun-woong
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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I feel for you. I taught at a tech hs for a year and a half and tried nearly everything.
If I ever have to do it again, I'll just focus on playing games or simple vocabulary..maybe just make English class "movie time with the waygookin."
They only see you once a week so it's not like you can expect them to learn anything from you. Just give them a good impression of English and of foreigners and you've done your job. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:48 am Post subject: |
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I feel your pain, OP, and others. Survive and focus on simple words and phrases.
BTW, it'd be nice if, just ONCE, one of those "experts" who claim to know all about teaching in Korea would address how to teach at these kinds of large technical schools, especially boys schools.
None of the "experts" have the courage to do it. It's beneath them. The "experts" are too busy writing "advice" about teaching classes like their classes of less than 10 students at some languge school for advanced students who've lived abroad.
It would also be very helpful if the EPIK, GEPIK, and SMOE orientations would address teaching in large industrial high schools. It would help many foreign teachers, the schools, and the students a great deal. |
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Cerberus
Joined: 29 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:40 am Post subject: |
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| winterfall wrote: |
| Cerberus wrote: |
| Captain Obvious wrote: |
| winterfall wrote: |
Unfortunately I'm a gyopo so I feel a certain obligation to them. But, even if I wasn't. You just know after school is done. Their lives are just going to suck. It just eats at you.
Thought now that you mention it, maybe they are special ed. I've got my fair share of the "Special" kids. It gets hard to tell who's "Special" and who's not unless they really stick out. Like being mute, or deaf. (Didn't figure out the deaf kid till I yelled at him and another kid drew me a picture of an unhappy face) I�ve been really wondering why they were better than the rest.
Discipline isn't a problem, I can and usually teach by myself. My relationship with the students is pretty good. They know they're have fun so they're do whatever my pointing and pictures tell them to do. I don't bother with the KETs anymore, they always dent the mood. Not cause they're bigots, its just their methods. But they're more than happy with that to catch up on their reading or text.
Ohh don�t worry I know how bad their English is�. The new catch phrase is �Do you want something to drink?� But whenever I say yes and look expectantly at them, they scatter.
I�ve been teaching here all year long. Is it normal to go through those phases where your like ok we�re having fun, let�s go to the next step? And keep switching between the two?
But yea no technology of any kind, at least what I can use in the classroom. I asked em for a tv before and they pointed me towards one that�s been outside for the last 5 yrs. I�m afraid to open it, there might be something growing inside. |
Can you understand Korean well? It must really suck to be able to understand everything they're saying. |
they say shee-bahl 75% of the time, so it's really not a problem to understand what they say,, at least 75% of the time.
OP, I teach tech HS students, and among them abilities, juch less interest vary/varies, but even my lowest level students can distinguish between different clothes. I know you're hamstrung by not having a screen to use Powerpoint with, (this really sucks, can you at least get some kind of basic flashcards somewhere?) but whenever I've shown them different words with pictures, they immediately know what we're doing. They repeat the words and memorize them and later I try to constuct basic sentences with said words for them to , repeat, memorize and hopefully understand.
Sounds like perhaps you do have "special" students? if I were to ask mine whether they wanted something to drink or eat, I'd be buying food and drinks for everyone all day long. (because even the ones who wouldn't understand the question would soon catch on by observation, once I gave the first kid some Coke, for e.g.) |
lol the sheebal part is easy. It's the long torrent after, that takes some work.
I've been using flash cards, paper airplanes, fly swatters, balloons, magnets, fishing rods, dice. and pretty much anything else I can get my hands on to make it seem like its not class and English is FUN. But they're very easily distracted. If they're not special ed. They've definitely got ADHD.
But yea I've been trying to work with sentences. Fill in the blank with this word bank, with a hint next to the blank. And they write words that aren't from the box.
I think everyone here is right. Its a combination of everything: I don't care, special ed, learning disorders, and whatever else you can think of.
Ehh.. guess its time to throw myself back at it. Find something that works... |
yeah, I've had some major attention deficit disorder classes and this is generally true for many of them, especially the lively ones (as opposed to the quiet shy ones)
personally I'm actually constantly working on "dumbing stuff down" (don't mean to insult anyone or anything by this phraseology) but essentially now I figure my job is to hammer into them at least the most basic phrases and expressions that they may have to use in life one day, and anything beyond that is gravy. Of course I also always scour the net and videos and other things for cool things that I can show them in English that may spur their interest in that thing.. or that English related thing.. or learning something in English.
btw.. for clothes, well they're all wearing uniforms, but you can try using your students as props/flashcards, for e.g.
wylies you're so right, I remember at my initial orientation, I got frustrated since so many of these games and ideas people presented, etc would be so so far above my students levels but truth be known gepik is actually far more concerned about their academic highschools (basically because the higher ups and the principals get their "prestige" from highly performing academic schools)
hm... I'd love to know what kind of nickname they have for me... I'll have to ask them  |
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