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greyhound
Joined: 10 Jun 2016
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 7:01 am Post subject: advanced General conversational english classes |
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I am teaching advanced general conversational English and you have to choose a topic to discuss for these types of lessons. The last teacher left a file of lesson plans but for one class they're not high enough standard.
I have looked on ESL Library for suitable topics but most of the lessons are intermediate or upper intermediate even though it says advanced on some of them.
So does anyone know a good website for high advanced topic based lessons?  |
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Fallacy
Joined: 29 Jun 2015 Location: ex-ROK
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 7:44 am Post subject: Re: Advanced General conversational english classes |
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An egg hatches, and a chick emerges. Hello world. Welcome. Feel free to search the forums and read the threads. |
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greyhound
Joined: 10 Jun 2016
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 2:17 pm Post subject: |
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Remember that, just because the class is advanced doesn't mean the topics they want to discuss have to be 'advanced' (ie dull) They can learn advanced language talking about stuff they find interesting. When was the last time you had a conversation about biofuels in real life?
Also that kind of vocab is the kind they learn for the Korean university exams in long meaningless context-less texts and they've probably had enough of it. Do some needs analysis on what they're into - provide a long list of topics and get them to tick ten then rank them in order of preference.
In terms of speaking, what they probably need more of is informal expressions, idiomatic language, fluency and decent pron. |
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greyhound
Joined: 10 Jun 2016
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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well one students is really advanced and even teaches English himself and he complained about my lesson on "surveillance" so the CEO said to give this class something "controversial" hence biofuels, as it could be a controversial topic I suppose, carbon fuels versus plant fuels (biofuels). That's kind of why I chose it. The other general conversational English classes we're doing somethings they've asked for when the previous teacher asked them and today it's about food and making a recipe. But these aren't so advanced, maybe intermediate or upper intermediate. |
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greyhound
Joined: 10 Jun 2016
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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ps I have got a lot of topics already planne by the previous teacher on topics which are more "interesting" as you put it, but for some reason she hasn't pitched them high enough even though the folder is marked advanced. Why don't you provide an actual lesson plan then instead of criticising. I only just started. |
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edwardcatflap
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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Why don't you provide an actual lesson plan then instead of criticising.
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Sure if I get some free time today I'll spend a couple of hours of it preparing a lesson plan for your advanced conversation class, rather than going on the play station or watching TV.
If you were hurt by my, pretty mild, criticism you're going to have to develop a thicker skin. |
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PRagic

Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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Gonna be a loooooonnnnnggggg year.... |
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FMPJ
Joined: 03 Jun 2008
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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PRagic wrote: |
Gonna be a loooooonnnnnggggg year.... |
And an entertaining one. Schadenfreude alternating with fremdschämen. And more than a little backpfeifengesicht. |
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Zyzyfer

Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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greyhound wrote: |
well one students is really advanced and even teaches English himself and he complained about my lesson on "surveillance" so the CEO said to give this class something "controversial" hence biofuels, as it could be a controversial topic I suppose, carbon fuels versus plant fuels (biofuels). That's kind of why I chose it. The other general conversational English classes we're doing somethings they've asked for when the previous teacher asked them and today it's about food and making a recipe. But these aren't so advanced, maybe intermediate or upper intermediate. |
Controversial would be China's attempts to bogart ocean territory from other countries. Or the Chinese fishermen invading Korean waters to fish. Or hell there was a really bad accident the other day where a bus slammed into a car and killed four women, spin that with shit like Sewol and maybe put together a lesson on public safety and the right course of action for Korean society. Or even the Hell Joseon phenomenon. Literally anything about Park Geun-hye. Those might work for adults.
Or if they're kids, you've got Overwatch tiering, Pokemon Go, spin things like that the right way and you can probably garner their interest.
In short, keep abreast of current affairs for Koreans. Biofuels and surveillance are so far removed from what's on the average Korean's mind, you won't get any bites and your lessons will tank. It's like talking about financial investment to an elementary school kid or something. Keep up with current affairs here and try to tap into that, relevant to the age groups you teach. That's what I would do for advanced students.
Also, pro tip, the stupidest thing I've ever witnessed a teacher do is argue with a room full of adult students over Dokdo and tell the students that their opinion was wrong. The teacher isn't there to spout off contrarian opinions and openly (and strongly) disagree with the students, it's unprofessional. So don't do that.
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Why don't you provide an actual lesson plan then instead of criticising. I only just started. |
Nobody is going to gift you lessons on this board. edwardcatflap gave you very insightful general advice to get you started.
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ps I have got a lot of topics already planne by the previous teacher on topics which are more "interesting" as you put it, but for some reason she hasn't pitched them high enough even though the folder is marked advanced. |
Unless the materials are heavily tied to the curriculum set out by the school (aka the sort of thing you should be asking the CEO instead of if his business is going to tank because you think student numbers are low), you don't have to follow what's in the folder to the letter.
Loooooooong year indeed...... |
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denverdeath
Joined: 21 May 2005 Location: Boo-sahn
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 2:12 am Post subject: |
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Wrt the other teacher's "advanced" class topics, you can always make more advanced questions to be asked. You can also get students to make their own questions on the topics to ask their group. You can also dumb down "harder" lessons for lower-level students. You'll learn as you go along.
I already mentioned these two sites to you before...
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ (all free. look for the 2-page mini lessons.)
https://en.islcollective.com/ (need to register)
...but there are tons of other ones out there.
I used to just copy and paste a topic into word from yahoo or wherever, highlight 10 difficult words, and make make 8-15 related questions.
This place has some excellent stuff, but it will cost you if you want to do it legally...
http://www.learnhotenglish.com/
Zyzyfer has great advice. Challenging students' answers doesn't mean going blue in the face and telling them they're all stupid. Disagreeing with them and stating your own opinion is a great way to encourage debate and let students realize that they may have viewpoints different from those of their classmates and that that is actually ok. |
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greyhound
Joined: 10 Jun 2016
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 3:59 am Post subject: |
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I just finished the biofuels lesson and the guy who caused all this malarkey didn't even turn up so I had 3 ladies instead. One of them said she enjoyed the lesson because it is her subject, chemistry I think. The others said it was OK and they debated about the biofuel issues quite wel.. We are going to do world foods next as I asked them what they want to talk about and that's what they came up with. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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PRagic wrote: |
Gonna be a loooooonnnnnggggg year.... |
Zyzyfer wrote: |
Loooooooong year indeed...... |
My guess is you're both wrong; the OP's going to have a quite short year. |
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greyhound
Joined: 10 Jun 2016
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 2:13 am Post subject: |
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CentralCali wrote: |
PRagic wrote: |
Gonna be a loooooonnnnnggggg year.... |
Zyzyfer wrote: |
Loooooooong year indeed...... |
My guess is you're both wrong; the OP's going to have a quite short year. |
You're funny you are. You're not even in Korea yet. LOL as you said to me or someone did. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 2:36 am Post subject: |
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greyhound wrote: |
CentralCali wrote: |
PRagic wrote: |
Gonna be a loooooonnnnnggggg year.... |
Zyzyfer wrote: |
Loooooooong year indeed...... |
My guess is you're both wrong; the OP's going to have a quite short year. |
You're funny you are. You're not even in Korea yet. LOL as you said to me or someone did. |
You're remembering incorrectly. I'm no longer in Korea. As I've lived there for about a decade, I'm a tad familiar with the place. I'm also familiar with how places that tout contracts filled with illegal clauses treat their employees. By the way, has your employer taken you to Immigration yet?
Look at your posting history here, starting of course with that incredible embarrassment to professionalism, your thread essentially asking how easy Korean women are. Then look at your responses to other posters in your other threads, including in this one. You are woefully unprepared to be overseas, let alone to be teaching overseas. |
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