Korean Job Discussion Forums

[adeeod]

Hi. Can anybody please recommend some games or activities that will capture the interest of very bored, tired, unenthusiastic middle-school students? They show no interest in the curriculum and the games that the elementary kids love are boring to the older kids. Please help!

[crazylemongirl]

are you teaching at a hogwon or middle school?

[Badmojo]

How many students do you have?

I only had 12 and I couldn't make the class go. I started teaching them in January at around 3 in the afternoon because they were on vacation from school. At first, the classes went well. We were both enjoying it.

Then February rolled around, the class got kicked back to 7:30 PM, and I lost them. They came in like a bunch of zombies, their eyes heavy, their heads slumped on their desks. I remember after one class I wrote: Am I supposed to sing f'n lullabies to them? So I kicked up the activity, used a lot of movement, a lot of drama, mime, roleplay etc., abandoned the book for about a week and a half, and it blew up in my face. They stopped coming. Obviously it's a difficult age for such things, they're very self conscious, and probably not much in the mood for performance, or for speaking English after being in school all day.

At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing. Add activity. Wake them up. The ironic part is that if I stuck to the book, I'd still probably have that class right now. If I taught it like the typical Korean teacher, we'd still be going.

Still I don't regret doing it. I was reminded of that part in Scarface when Montana says disgustedly to his coke addicted wife, "You know what your problem is, pussycat, you don't have anything to do with your life. Why don't you work with blind kids, lepers? Become a nurse. Do something, because anything beats sitting around here waiting for me to *beep* you." And that's how I felt about that class. It may not have succeeded, but anything beat being a part of that dead, lifeless group. Not that I blame the students, though. It's not their fault they're expected to learn 25 hours a day.

[Grotto]

I have always dreaded any middle school classes...I think I can sum it all up in one word 'PUBERTY'

The once good hard working student turns into a surly teenager almost overnight. Their focus goes from academic areas to glandular areas

Not that they are bad kids but they are going through all those wonderful changes, the guys notice hair in wierd places, the girls start to develop, they boys start to notice the girls, the girls notice the boys noticing the girls all in all let it suffice to say they often have a lot more on thier minds than schoolwork.

I also think a major factor is that they are often in classes from dawn to dusk and then some.....I mean even at university I had a tough time staying focused if I had 6 hours of classtime. Some of these kids have in excess of 12 hours a day.....I dont think they make prisoners work that hard.

Lesson ideas, one that worked for me was what would you do with 10,000,000 won, how would you spend it and why....they kind of got excited with that one.

Where would you go in the world? Why?

If you could invite anyone to your house for dinner who would it be(tv star, actor, singer) what would you feed them and what would you ask them?

The fantasy part of these questions peaked my middle school students..at least some of them.

Good Luck

[osangrl]

i have 2 games that work great with mine...they love it. But you have to buy a prize or it isn't worth playing.

1- go to the lotte mart or something and buy those noisy kids hammers. Make a jepordy board out of colored paper, 5 by 5, write on each slide of paper, 100 , 200, 300, 400, 500.......and then have quize questions.
Basically its just reviewing the same questions you would normally but with the hammers. And no its not too baby for them, they LOVE it.
Throw in some bonus rounds, with a hangman or something to add more fun.

2- speed quiz- they also love this, divide them into two teams, and make a WHOLE BUNCH of vocab cards, and they have one minute, to go up and get as many words as possible, without saying the word they have. Then switch. Really fun.

[waggo]

[osangrl]

are you being sarcastic? I know silly games, but its fun.

And yes i think they are genius' we study this book:

http://www.bjup.com/resources/curriculum_guides/pdf/hs6.pdf