Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kaypea]

Hi,

I want to do a Price is Right type game with my students. I have a good PPT to do it with and all that (I think I got it from EFL Classroom 2.0, I've had it for a while but never used it yet)

ANYWAY, I'm wondering if I should have the students practice saying the prices in dollars or in won.

I've noticed that many Korean resources for learning how to say prices in English teaches the students to say the prices in dollars. I guess this makes sense, because people think of learning English as an American skill.

However, I know my students don't think in terms of dollars, and I think the game might be more engaging if we keep the prices in terms of won.

So... do you think it's fine to keep the prices in won? It'll give a local flavor to learning English, and it'll be a good chance to practice saying thousands, ten-thousands, hundred- thousands...

[oldfatfarang]

I play that exact same game from eflclassroom. I use USA dollars, and we give out fake USA 100 bills to the team that answers the question correctly. The kids really love this game (MS1- HS2). Just use the simple conversion formula of USA $1 = 1,000 won.


Don't ever underestimate Koreans' ability to convert won into USA dollars. I think they're given a test on it at the maternity hospital.
Good luck.

[Perceptioncheck]

My vote would be for won.

I tried dollars with some of my kids in Thailand, and they didn't have a clue. Doing it with baht was much much better (and quite informative; I didn't realize how cheaply you could get certain things at the local market! )

[Kaypea]

These are both excellent points!

Come to think of it, even the least advanced students know "dollars" and can say things like, "coke one dollar". Yeah, they know about it, and playing with fake American dollars would be super fun...

But, I think it would be sort of interesting to practice using Won values, even though there's few opportunities or reasons to say prices in English, using won (unless if they're talking to me or other foreign teachers... even then, even I know prices in Korean).

So, I think I'm going to photocopy some 50,000 won notes and we'll play with those... fun!

[Senior]

This game absolutely kills. I only really use it for camps, though. Usually I let them answer either/or ($1=W1000, in my world), then every now and again for bonus points I say "How much is that in dollars/won?" I usually give a short explanation about currencies/exchange rates. By MS they are normally familiar with the concept anyways, many having traveled o overseas by that point.

[Kaypea]

[egrog1717]

My elementary school curriculum uses dollars, but I change that into Won when I play games with them...

There is NO REASON for an elementary school child to learn how to properly talk in "dollars" unless they're high level and are going to study abroad... Just like there's no reason why the back of my classroom should have misspeelt airport signage... LOL




(And yes... I know I misspelt misspeelt... It's called irony... )

[ddeubel]

My two cents worth is to use won. I think we have to keep things about their actual context/world. Also, one of the aims of the game is to get students to appreciate "cost" and that the "money doesn't grow on trees" kind of lesson..... this can be done only by using won.

Also, make sure to laminate some blank paper to use as a whiteboard so that every group answers at the same time by raising their whiteboard with the price on it. Then go around and have students state their prices.

I'd also suggest updating the prices, I made these games a few years ago Or just use it as a template and put in your own items.

The Price is Right game in our Arcade (click the PLAY tab) is cool for higher levels. Really authentic.

A good warm up for this is to use real flyers from emart or any grocery story. Give them "X" amount of won to buy stuff for a dinner party. They cut and paste and make a shopping list poster.

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[Seoulio]

I ALWAYS use both ( I casually slip in the Canadian.American price AFTER we establish the Korean one.

For thise sayng there is NO reason to teach them this, I disagre completely, its a wonderful opportunity to share a bit of our culture with them.

I showed them my Canadian coins and bills and they got a kick out of the fact that they are quite similar ( for coin denominations) except for the quarter, and that the bills are multicolered ( like theirs, but different from the American's)

I even brought in some of my Canadian money for them to look at, they liked that too.

It takes like 2 seconds to add in the Other price of your country/American money, and it reminds them that theres more out there than just KOrean stuff

[Kaypea]

Great ideas all around!

Ddeubal, I'm redoing the PPT with fresh items from G-market. I could share this file with anybody who wants it...

Great, I will check out the arcade version and maybe work out some shopping assignment using real flyers for the camp!

[kiwiinkorea]

I think it depends on their English ability with numbers. If you use won they are going to need to use much larger numbers. If you use dollars the numbers are much smaller (e.g. 20 dollars or 20,000 won approximately).

I would use won if they have the English ability for it or specifically if you want to practice larger numbers but if they only know numbers up to 100 then you should go with dollars and just tell them 1 dollar = 100 won (although my elementary kids already knew that approximate conversion anyway).

I used dollars and gave them some fake money which I made and they loved it.

[ddeubel]

Kaypea,

Gr8 idea, it really needs a redo though the ToysRus version is still pretty good. Post up under "Resources" - PPT Games on EFL Classroom or make a page on http://posterous.com and send us the link.

If I get some time, I'd like to try a new version too, maybe make a Prezi version instead of ppt.

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.com