Korean Job Discussion Forums

[S3raph1m]

I teach 3 "advanced conversation" classes a week and wanted to get some input on how others run these types of classes. I have the freedom to run them however I want so, for now, I make my students listen to a song or watch a short movie/tv show clip in English and write down the different English words they hear. Afterwards, we talk about it and then I give them the script or lyrics and we listen to/watch it again. Then we read a news article or some type of short story. I give them 5 minutes to ask me about any words or phrases they don't understand, then ask some comprehension questions, and then I ask some discussion questions to get a conversation started (the articles vary a ton, from recent news in Egyptian archaeology to climate change and nutrition science).

Sometimes we play English board games and just talk so they can get that immersion experience. What do you guys do for conversation based classes? The point is just getting them to talk and feel confident speaking in English, so there's no text book or anything. They seem to be enjoying the classes so far and my boss says the kids really enjoy my classes, but I'm wondering if there are some other things I could be trying out. I'm open to pretty much anything. Maybe some fun games that'll get them talking? Any suggestions?

[edwardcatflap]

No offence but your first activity sounds a bit directionless. Watch a video clip and write down any words you hear. Any words? If they're advanced I imagine that would be a quite a lot. Personally I'd try and make it a bit more structured. If possible it's always better to watch/listen to something then get the students to do a similar task. E.g. 1) Watch/listen to some people discussing a memorable sporting event, 2) feed in some language/grammar 3) students discuss a memorable sporting event.

[S3raph1m]

No offence taken, man. I'm a new teacher and want suggestions. They're not actually that advanced, fyi. They get very few words written down. Their grammar and writing is pretty advanced, but their speaking and listening is very poor. They also lack confidence and I know they know more than they think they do. Thanks for the advice though. I'll try making the first activity more structured. The article/discussion part always goes very well, so I'm going to keep that, but am definitely looking to add in more or change other things I'm doing.