Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rayray123]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but...
My co teacher gave me a bunch of short dialogs she wants me to use during my summer camp. Aside from making the students memorize them and perform them, what else can i do with them? She acted as if the dialogs will be a big part of the class, but I don't know what else to do with them, and she doesn't tell me what she wants me to do.

[frankly speaking]

I think that if the dialogs stress a main language point, you can demonstrate that and then have the students write their own dialogs. Prepared dialogs waste a lot of time and burn up class time but don't allow for creative or cognitive learning.

[air76]

It depends on how old the kids are...what level...how many kids are in your class...and so on.

If you MUST use the dialogs there is a lot of stuff you could do.

1. Cut up the dialogs into little strips and then students have to put them in the correct order in small groups.

2. Print up dialogs with some words missing...then have some students perform the dialogs while the others fill in the missing words.

3. Cut out half of the dialog full stop and have the kids answer the questions/statements in a different way.

4. Cut off the 2nd part of the dialogs and the kids have to continue the conversation.

5. Do a running dictation.....you tape the dialog up outside the classroom and divide the kids into teams....one kid runs outside and reads 1 word, then runs back to his/her team and tells them the word and then they write it down and send a new kid....they repeat the process until the first team has the entire dialog written down.

You can easily make 1 piece of material last a whole lesson if you really want to.

[Reise-ohne-Ende]

There are several different activities you can do with dialogues.

One of my favorites is the information gap thing. You have them practice the dialogue with a partner. Then, you remove some words (say, erase them from the board and draw a blank in). The kids have to repeat the dialogue filling in the missing words. It's even more fun if you tell them they have to change the words (So instead of "I like to study English," you give them "I like to study ______," and they fill it in with whatever they want to).

Another one is sequencing. Use the dialogue itself - or one you've modeled after it....one which is similar but not the same - and make paper strips with each line on them. So for example, the strips might say:

"I like English, too!"
"So, Mary, what's your favorite subject?"
"Hi Mary!"
"I like to study English."
"Bye!"
"Oh, that's interesting. Well, I'll see you later!"
"Hey, Sue."

Then you give the strips to pairs or groups of students and they have to put them in the correct order and then present their dialogue to the class.

Other ideas: have them translate the dialogue into Korean, have them write/perform skits based on the dialogue, practice pronunciation and stress using the dialogue, talk about situations where you would use that dialogue and brainstorm other vocabulary words you could insert into it, make a crossword puzzle or word search using the vocab from the dialogue, have students draw a comic book for the dialogue...

Be creative! Try different stuff! Some of it will flop, but the successful lessons will motivate you to step even more out of the box.

Hope this helped!

[rayray123]

Thanks a lot for the replies. I'll use some of these suggestions.

The students are 1st year hs students at a technical hs, so their English is pretty poor. I'll be using this for the summer camp, I was told it will be 15-20 students, mostly the kids who are interested in English.

[SeoulMan6]

Yes, dialogs that Ss have memorized but don't understand are a waste of time, but if they understand what they are saying, dialogs can be a valuable way remember chunks of language.


One way to spice up the dialogs is to have the Ss use a certain emotion or feeling while they "perform". For example - sad, tired, angry, bored, etc. They'll love the ability to act (be silly) and it also shows how language can change even though the words are the same.

[ddeubel]

Here are two approaches.

1. Do / Understand - a narrator reads both parts and the two others just perform the dialogue. It really fosters listening skills and lowers the affective filter/anxiety

2. Disappearing dialogue - I have a nice ppt where you just put in the dialogue on the ppt and then press the button. It will "disappear" or erase parts of the dialogue. (find it in Resources on EFL Classroom under "Instructional PPTs) . Students keep repeating, seeing how much they can still do each time. The key is to NOT disappear it all but once a considerable amount is erased, have the students rebuild it from their own minds...

3. Here's another one, tip. You can pump the dialog into http://transl8it.com and get the textmessage version. Print and handout and the students decode the dialogue. Lots of fun. I've made some ppt games on this.

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[DrugstoreCowgirl]

My co has made me do '1 on 1' dialogues the entire year where the kids memorize their lines in about 2 mins and then say them as quick as possible before they forget them. I told her they're not learning but you know how that kind of thing goes.

I think the idea of taking away words, or making them put together the paragraph with cut out words, is a good idea. It'll use the dialogue as well as make them think instead of just memorize.