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Speaking Class for 7-9 year olds?!?!?!

 
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highstreet



Joined: 13 Nov 2010

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 4:18 am    Post subject: Speaking Class for 7-9 year olds?!?!?! Reply with quote

Hi, this is my first post on Dave's!

I just landed a couple weeks ago and its been great so far. My hagwon isn't that bad, but there's one problem.

They want me to create lesson plans for a speaking class. And having never done that before...they also don't want to use a text book...

The students are only 7-9 years old also!

I didn't know this my first day, so I just kinda been winging it. But as I'm sure most of you are aware, 7-9 year olds don't have the best English speaking ability...

If anyone has any tips, I sure could use them!
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 5:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Speaking class" could mean anything from a phonics class to something where they actually wanted the kids to give speeches. What are they asking for and what level are the students?
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highstreet



Joined: 13 Nov 2010

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry, they want a discussion type class.

Only problem is the 7year olds have trouble communicating anything beyond, I like ___ or I live ____.

The 9 year olds are ok at communicating with each other, but also very limited in what they can say.

I'm thinking maybe I can read to the 7 year olds and try to explain the story or whatever that I just read...
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I sympathize with you.
My director advertised a speaking class for upper elementary children, with neither of us having the slightest idea what we were going to do.
A whole roomful of kids showed up and I didn't have the foggiest notion of what to do with them.
We used a textbook, but it wasn't worth poodle-de-doo.
I tried several other ideas, but none of them worked.

The director threatened to fire me if I didn't find something that worked.
I tried to explain to him that we were experimenting with something that hasn't been tried before, so we had to rely on luck.
If he fired me and hired another teacher, HE would have to rely on luck.
The director didn't understand me.
Maybe I should have explained all that to him in Korean.

(And I've been here for 10 years!
And you just got here?
Your director doesn't expect much, does he!)

At first, I had the class for a whole hour, but later he took the class for a half hour and I took the class for a half hour.
The parents continued to complain and the students continued to drop out.
But at that time, the director couldn't blame it all on me, ha ha!

Finally, when we were down to two students, I hit on a great idea:

I listened to the students' spontaneous utterances and made note of any errors they made.
I didn't correct the mistakes on the spot because that might intimidate them.
The next day, I led an activity in which we made sentences using the same construction as the sentence in which the error had been made.
One student would list words of one part of speech while the other student would list words of another part of speech.
Then we would construct sentences using one word chosen at random from each list.

For instance, suppose one of the student said, "My father likes to cook no."
The activity would consist of sentences like "The baker doesn't like to drive." "Kevin doesn't like to dance."

You could do a similar activity, except that explaining parts of speech to lower elementary kids and asking them to write the words might be asking a little bit too much.

I still say you can adapt the idea, though.
Make up a file of pictures depicting nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech.
In the first session, find out who likes to swim, who doesn't like to run, who likes to play the piano, and so on.
There is a lot you can do with that information:

■ While clapping or patsching, chant "Suzy likes to swim, Suzy likes to swim" rhythmically.

■ Get a sign language dictionary so you can say "Suzy likes to swim" in sign language.

■ Purchase or handmake a set of alphabet tiles so that the children can take turns spelling SWIM.

■ Make up a simple song to the lyrics "Suzy likes to swim." Have the children take turns playing that song on the xylophone.

■ Say "Suzy likes to swim" loudly, softly, in a high voice, in a low voice, in a robot monotone, in a growling voice, in a tearful voice, in a timid voice, or any other way you can think of. The children think that's hilarious.

■ Make a deck of cards matching "Does Suzy like to swim?" with "Yes, Suzy likes to swim" and "Does Kevin like to dance?" with "No, Kevin doesn't like to dance." Then use the cards to play concentration, old maid, and go fish.

■ Make another deck of cards. Make 10 cards for all 10 students' names and put an S in the corner of each card. Make 10 more cards for 10 verbs, with a period after each verb, and put a V in each corner. Make 10 more cards for "likes to," "doesn't like to," "has to," doesn't want to," and so on. Put an Aux in each corner. Then play a matching game in which the students make sentences from these cards.

This may seem unbelievable, but you can get 1000 sentences that way, because 10 to the third power is 1000.

■ Supervise a dice game. Some of the children will take a sheet of paper and write in the left hand column:

1. I don't like to dance.
2. You don't like to dance.
3. Kevin doesn't like to dance.

and in the right hand column:

4. We don't like to dance.
5. You don't like to dance.
6. They don't like to dance.

(If anyone protests that 2 and 5 are the same, tell them that "you" means both 당신 and 여러분.)

Each player takes a turn rolling a die, reading the appropriate sentence, and crossing out that sentence. The winner is the first player to cross out all 6 sentences.

I have found that this game lasts too long with more than about 5 players. If your class is much larger than that, have only half of the students play the game. Then
make up a song or rhythmic activity to the words "I/you/we/you/they don't like to dance." The other half will be the music ensemble which will sing or rap the words read by the game players.

Find out all you can about the children. Who goes to which elementary school? Who is in the first grade? Who is in the second grade? Which ones play the piano? Which ones play the violin? Which ones go to hapgido class? Who has older brothers or sisters? Who has younger brothers or sisters? Which ones like PE class? Which ones hate math class? If two or more children like or hate the same class, make up a lesson about the third person plural.

Then make up songs, games, and other activities out of THAT information.

You can't get any of this valuable information from a textbook anyway. The textbook authors don't know the children in your class, and even if they did, they couldn't make a profit from publishing textbooks for just your one class. So they have to ignore your students altogether and write about Kate and Jenny and Scott and Andy. With a little bit of effort, and a little bit of experience, and a little bit of joy that comes from this effort and experience, you may end up agreeing that a teacher without a textbook is like a fish without a bicycle.
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grant gerstners



Joined: 13 Jan 2010
Location: USA

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Songs: do a youtube search for esl kids songs. Best to use slower ones with lots of repetition. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat, Old MacDonald.

Find pictures of concrete things: animals, clothes, modes of transportation, types of shops, food items, sports, weather, you name it. Enlarge if necessary and combine in a word document. You can use these for teaching about things, activities and descriptions (nouns, verbs and adjectives, but don't go heavy on the grammar terminology--they are too young. Print out. Talk about the pictures: colors, sizes, what people are doing in the picture, what things are made of (wood, plastic, metals, cloth, paper) etc.

Find coloring sheets on the internet.

Us on-line wordsearch generators (10 x 10, even less, is difficult enough for that age). Include only the words you cover for that day. Have them put their names on the wordsearch. That way you have something concrete to show parents. i.e. proof they have been studying new vocabulary useful for conversation.

At that age, 10 new words each session might be too much. Keep it simple.

On youtube searches find Korean language versions. Korean kids know Winnie the Pooh ("Kombori Pooh"). Find the Korean language version of Disney snippets. Example: You Can Fly from Disney's Peter Pan. Then show the English version, also on youtube.
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I generally have decent luck doing discussion with my six year old kindergarteners, but it's not discussion in the sense that you would do discussion with higher level kids. Basically, I'll teach them about something, then ask them questions. I'll put the structure of the sentences up on sheets on the walls of the classroom, then ask the kids questions in regards to what I've been teaching them. After a couple weeks of repetition, my kids will learn the structure, and I can move on to teaching them something else. I would say you have to teach them something first, then discuss it, rather than going in with a question that they might be able to answer right off the bat.
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nomad-ish



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 5:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

does it have to be a discussion type class or just a speaking class? if the director just wants the kids to use the class time mainly speaking, why not try doing some easy charades, a speaking board game (focus on what they already know, ex. "where do you live?", "what's your name?", etc.)., and you could try something like taboo (but make it really, REALLY simple for them).

how many kids are in the class, by the way?
you could also try this --> http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?display:1047568986-29362.txt

good luck! it'll get easier as time goes by
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northway



Joined: 05 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Again, "that age" can mean a lot of different things. The seven year olds at my school are capable of full conversations and some of them have close to native level ability, as they're in their second or third year of English immersion.
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le-paul



Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre

PostPosted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 2:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In my experience korean hogwans seem to want something to show the parents.
This is what I would do/have done...

Make a lesson geared toward a phrase or 2 and a relevant question.

eg -



an example could be;

1/ what is your favourite _______? My favourite ________ is ________.

2/ who is ______ing? He is _____ing.

3/ Why is he _______ing? Becasue he is ________

etc.





number one
Start the lesson by checking last weeks homework.

number 2
brief them then teach them your phrase/phrases for the day (make sure this is on the board the whole lesson.

number 3 - drill it into them

Make them write it, repeat it draw pictures of it and test their spelling on it or whatever.

Sometimes i give them work sheets with the same sentence but with different words missing in each sentence they have to complete - they also have to draw a pic to go with it.
then I make them write 8 sentences of thier own.

number 4 (very important)
check this work by drawing a big red circle on everything and writing 'good' on it for the mums. make sure they take it home!

number 5
bring it all together at the end of the lesson by having the students talk to each other (I usually let them chose themselves who will answer).
Thus, you are preparing for a basic conversation and they are having one.

number 6
give them a worksheet (possibly the same one you used today for the lesson) to complete for homework - or get them to read something to their parents and the paents have to sign it (you will get extra points for that).

number 7
finish with a game that is relevant to the lesson (for example a wordsearch/spelling game etc.)

number 8 - also very important.

EVERYDAY go into the bosses office and give him a copy of the lesson for the day/lesson plan. He will probably get tired of this and stop bothering you.


In effect, youre teaching them grammar and some vocab - so get a grammar book and copy it for ideas.

If you like, you can review other lessons that you have done everyday too - building on each lesson daily.

what is he doing? why? when? etc...



finally,


I empathise entirely with the rediculous notion in this country that becasue we can speak english we can just walk into a class room and teach/talk. It pays to have a pile of resources to play with, whatever they are.

Good luck
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le-paul



Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre

PostPosted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

youre welcome...
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Died By Bear



Joined: 13 Jul 2010
Location: On the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 4:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The penguins of Madagascar are your friends. Search for them on Youtube.
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SinclairLondon



Joined: 17 Sep 2010

PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

www.eslhq.com

Teach the kids vocab and expressions, then reinforce with lots of games, activities, prints, etc....
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mimi belle



Joined: 11 Jul 2010

PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A lesson plan is like an outline for the class. It should help you prepare for the class by making you think about what materials you need and how to organize the lesson.

People write them differently, but there are usually several sections, such as:
1) Objective. The point of the lesson. For example, today the children will learn the letters ABC. Or today we will learn the names of five colors. Or today, we will discuss important people in the neighborhood.
2) Teacher Preparation. Anything you might need to do ahead of time.
3) Materials. List materials you need. In the meantime, make sure you have everything. Are your photocopies and print-outs ready? Do you have a good video that fits for the lesson? If so, do you need an internet connection or extra computer? If you are reading to them, is the book at school? If you are giving rewards like stickers, do you have them ready?
4) Presentation. Make sure you explain each activity so kids will know what to do.
5) Activity. Set the time for the activity and also clean-up or transition time if they are going from a desk activity to the floor, or vice versa. You might have a few activities.

You could make yours a lot simpler, but usually people include at least the objective, materials & activity. Some lesson plans include a warm-up and review time in the beginning of the class. In general, it's good to be specific. So instead of "Read a book", write "Read chapter 2 from Charlotte's Web and discuss life on the farm."

You can find some online. Here are some:
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/LessonPlanHelper.php
(Go to section 6 and scroll to select a section. You can print it.) They're not that great, but will give you a start.

And one for a game called Cops & Robbers
http://esl.about.com/od/childrenslessonplans/a/cops.htm
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Catfisher



Joined: 10 Nov 2010

PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

awesome stuff. I'm going to use a lot of that to prepare some lesson plans for classes I don't have yet
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ktkates87



Joined: 13 Apr 2010
Location: Busan

PostPosted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't worry about the age. We do speaking practice for 6 & 7 year olds where it's a repeat after me sort of thing, to get them comfortable with pronouncing words.

I also have kindergarteners (who are 6 in korean years, so 5 in american years) who have to do a speech every month that they have to write and then memorize completely. I know when I first started I thought my bosses were on crack but even some of the kids that can barely speak any english are able to do it each month.

Lots of people posted some great ideas, and you shouldnt have any problems Smile
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