Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Grotto]

First day icebreaker.

A lot depends on the level of the students.

I have used a supply of photos of my family, Canada, and places of interest. Show them Canadian money.

I usually use the first day to introduce myself and give them an opportunity to ask questions. Higher level students I will pair up and they have to come up with 5 questions to ask me.(no repeats) That way the people who volunteer have an easier time than the people who wait until the end.

Another one I have used is I ask them to bring in a photo of their family and to tell me about them.

[Tiger Beer]

I'll be teaching adults in a university class.

I want something where they are moving around introducing themselves to others, getting to know each other, as well as asking me questions too.

I'm thinking of some game where they have to get information from each other, and report something back to the class about what they learned from those that they met.

Thats the idea though, I just haven't worked out the details of the information I want them to try to get from each other, etc.

[lawyertood]

You can have them interview five different people (limit to 5 minutes each person) in the room to find out as many things they have in common, i.e., number of brothers and/or sisters, birth month, father's given name, shoe size, etc.. and then interview 5 different people about things that are not the same. Have them write them down and be prepared to present their results. You should call out the times to change partners. Include yourself as a potential interviewee, if you like.

[gypsyfish]

An activity that I've had a lot of success with classes is Timeline. A timeline is a graph that notes important events, such as birth, school graduations, moving from one town to another, and marriage, and the dates (years) they occurred. Feel free to include less serious moments such as "my first kiss". Students enjoy learning special things about the teacher.

Before class, prepare a timeline of your life. (It's a good way for them to get to know you, too.) Show the example, explain the idea, give students paper, and have them prepare one. Tell students to list at least five or six events and not to put their names on the timelines. Collect them, when the students finish, number them, and tape the time lines up around the room. Students then need to walk around the room and interview each other to determine which timeline belongs to which classmate. You can do it, too. Students can ask either open ended information questions (When were you born?) or yes/no questions (Did you get your first kiss in 1995?), but can not ask the interviewee's number. After students have determined which timeline belongs to which student, or after a set time, remove the timelines from the walls and ask students who is who.

If the class is really large, or you have limited time, you can collect and then redistribute the timelines and tell them to find the person who wrote the one they have.

It's a good way to get them talking and you can assess their abilities while you're walking around making sure they use English.

[waterbaby]

Find someone who...

This is a great first day ice breaker.

In advance, prepare and photocopy of a list. The students get a copy of the list and the object is for all the students to move around the room and find someone who...

likes ice-cream
has a dog
has an older brother
is wearing blue
can swim etc...

They ask the person "Do you have a dog?" and if they do, the person has to sign their form next to the characteristic they match.

The first one to complete the whole form first is the winner and give them some token prize like a chocolate bar.

Depending on how many characteristics you go for and how many in the class, have a rule where they can only have another person sign their page once.

Another one is to write three statements on the board about yourself... two are true and one is false. Ask the class to guess which one is false. Then you can ask the students to do the same thing. Some people come out with some pretty obscure facts about themselves!

[McSnack]

I teach college kids who've been together in the same class the previous year. The other ideas are good, but I've found that they don't fly well with my kids since they know pretty much all there is to know about each other from the previous year. I now hand out 3X5 cards for them to fill out with personal info - name, birthday, hobbies, etc. I then collect each card individually and give each student a short interview. Beforehand, I tell them that they've got to ask me at least one question (not my age, hometown, etc -- I've already told them that). I have them keep the 3X5 card and tell them to affix one of those little pictures that Koreans love to use and return it to me the next class. Then I put all the cards together with a key-ring thingy and it makes it a lot easier to put names to faces for the remainder of the term.

[matthewwoodford]

[Chillin' Villain]

[canuckistan]

[superhal]

for adults:
i usually give a series of placement tests just to get a feel for their language level. included in this is a survey that includes 4 questions (of course, re-worded in easier language):
1. immediate english language needs, e.g. talking to a doctor.
2. personal study habits and self-assessment of language ability.
3. expectations on "what is language teaching."
4. long-term goals in english.

question 1 tells me what subjects are of most importance to them, 2 tells me how they view themselves and their self-confidence, 3 is a way to spark class discussion and introduce myself, and 4 tells me why they are here.

so, after the first day, students leave my class knowing (not thinking) what to expect, tips on studying, and focussed on their personal goals.

for high school kids:
same assessment test as above, but the goal questions are a little different, more focusing on the social aspect of language learning and how they can use language to chat and make friends.

for middle school:
on the first day, i usually take them aside one at a time and talk to them about how a typical day for them goes. this tells me if they are hitting puberty and if their hormones and emotions are starting to go crazy. also, i can then target any emotional or behavioral problems right away, and deal with those first, as disruptive or anti-social behavior makes teaching impossible.

for elementary school:
on the first day i just listen and try to give confidence boosts. i've never taught more than 2-3 at a time, so i have them do a little reading and writing, and then try to get them to see that they aren't dumb, stupid or worthless, no matter how many times other people have told them so. my favorite line: "We'll work together to make you smart." 9 times out of ten, they are at the hagwon because they are underperforming compared to their peers, and thier parents are trying everything to figure out why they are so dumb. also 9 times out of 10, their performance is totally unrelated to the percieved problem, eg. problems with math are almost always either releated to word problems (problems with reading) or that students did not automaticize last year's work, such as getting away from counting on their fingers or multiplication tables.

[tommynomad]

In my smaller (<40) classes, I have a lot of success with "Am I....?"
Give each student a length of masking tape or a sticker. Have them write the name of anybody famous (alive/dead, real/fictional, etc.) and return the sticker to you. Check for doubles. Ask them to line up and affix a sticker to the back/neck of each student. Then give them 10-15 mins to run around, aking yes/no questions only to discover who they are. I also tell them the person who asks the most Qs before discovering their identity wins, so they don't just rip off the sticker and actually try to ask lots of Qs. In reality, there is no 'winner.'

In bigger groups, I play telephone (whispering a word, then a phrase around the circle to see how it permutates) and for introductions, the Big(gest) Lie. No one can sit next to a friend. Everyone gets 3 mins to think of three things about themselves, one of which must be a lie. Then we go around, introducing ourselves. Your neighbour must guess which of your descriptives is the lie. At the end we try to decide which was the single biggest lie. Lots of fun.

I use lies/exaggeration for almost all of my programming--it really gets the students motivated to imagine, and the whoppers are so huge no one ever takes them seriously. In my business classes, I have students write cover letters and resumes that are filled with outrageous lies ("I can leap tall buildings in a single bound. I woo women on the trombone. She turned me into a newt. I invented the river.") for style purposes, before having them move on to the real thing.

[Ody]

great suggestions.

' think i'll do the 5 questions thing in my one freshman class.

with sophomores, i dive right into the curriculum. when textbooks are late we'll chill out a little, talk about what's expected, maybe throw in some easy activities from the text. after assigning homework, we'll let out early.