Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Qinella]

Does anyone know of some good resources that will help me teach the kids to comprehend and speak in full sentences? As it is, there are only maybe three students at my hagwon who can always understand full questions and respond in full sentences.

When a typical student answers questions, s/he answers with one word, and if I ask a question they almost always don't understand. I asked the KTs why, and they said it's because the kids don't understand grammar and that English sentence structure is so different from Korean. Granted, it is very different, but it seems that after 5+ years of study, if a student still can't understand very basic grammar, it's a problem of teaching method.

I've noticed that all of our textbooks focus on one word at a time. So there will be an exercise where they must fill in the blanks with words or respond to questions with single words. When they study vocab, they learn "toaster" or "sofa", not "This is a toaster." or "This is a sofa." What I need is a way to teach them to think in complete sentences.

Yesterday I was doing a lesson about ice cream and flavors, which they understood. I wrote "What is your favorite flavor?" on the board and had each child answer with a full sentence. I wrote "My favorite flavor is _____." on the board and they used it as a template for response. But then last night I called one of the students for phone teaching and asked "What time do you get up in the morning?" She said, "7 o'clock," after which I requested a full sentence. She thought about it for a few seconds and responded, "Oh! My favorite flavor is chocolate!" and she was so happy to have "remembered".

Anyway, if anyone has some advice or even better some resources (online or not), for teaching students to understand complete sentences, I'd be so grateful.

Cheers,
Qinella

[JacktheCat]

I always make my students answer questions with a full sentence too.
None of this Teacher: "How are you today" ... Student: "so-so"

I don't know of any specific lessons or resources that you can use to teach it.

It's more of a lesson\class structure thing that you have to drill into the students from day one. That you wont accept anything less than a full sentence as an answer from students. After awhile they catch on and always use full sentences (at least in your classes).

Written sentence templates on the board, as you mentioned, are a very good idea.

[mindmetoo]

You really got to hold their feet to the fire. I have to give them templates on the chilpan too. I figured it was an artifact of Korean where people give single word answers.

[JacktheCat]

[crazylemongirl]

I make my students speak in full complete sentences as much as possible. You really have to make a concrete effort.

Eg, CLG: Are you ready?
Students: Yes, I'm ready.

CLG: Who are the champions?
Students: We are the champions?

CLG: How many?
Students: Eight, please.
I also won't let students have whatever it is they want until they say 'thank you'

Student A: "candy please"
CLG: "I have candy. What candy does Student A Want?"
Other students: " He wants a choco-pie SLAM!"

CLG: Be queit or...
Students: Ms CLG will kill you!

Kind goofy, boring and repetive, but the point is that students get to practice grammar structres and talk as much english in class as possible. What I'm trying to get across is that they don't have to understand all the question to answer it.

[some waygug-in]

I've found that "Side by Side" is good for getting them to say full sentences. It doesn't always work, and it depends on the student's level and attitude etc. but I've gotten more students to use full sentences since I've been doing exercises from that book.

[Koreabound2004]

I've got a fun game for learning to structure sentences correctly, it is pretty adaptable too:

Make a list of verbs, nouns, and adjectives(make the words as hard or easy as you need to).

Cut out the words and make them into cards.

If you have a smaller group:

1.Get everyone sitting in a circle....you can explain adjectives, nouns and verbs if you want or need to at this point.

2. Put the cards face down on the table, 3 piles of cards(nouns, verbs, adj.)

3. Have a student choose one word card, and he/she must make a PROPER sentence using that word...or they can pass if they can't do it.

4. If they make a proper sentence, you allow them to keep that card and tell them to put it face up on the table. If the sentence is wrong, you can tell them what would have been correct....and make them put their card back into the pile, ensure that the pile is mixed up after.

5. The next student chooses a word. And if they want, they can steal a word from another student, if they can make a sentence using both words(gives advanced students a chance to show off), and they really like stealing cards from other students.

6. Object is to get the most cards. Play until all cards are taken from all piles, or until class is over. I played it yesterday for 50 mins, and we could have played for at least another hour. You might want to impose a time limit to add a challenge.

7. Give a candy to the winner or some other reward. I like to reward the top 3, as my students seem to think that being number one is all that matters. Sometimes I reward everyone if they played really well together.


Today, I changed it a little b/c I had a large class:

I took all the word cards and put a number value in the top corner of the card, or I put a "T" on the corner for typhoon. Put all the cards into a bag or basket.

I split the class into two teams, and had each team take turns sending up students to win points or houses by making proper sentences using the words they chose from the basket(don't let them peak at the words, hold it high).

If they felt brave, I told them to take 2 words and try to make a sentence. If they made a proper sentence, they were awarded a number of houses(as per the numbers on the cards) which I drew on the board.
If they used 2 cards, they were able to earn more houses, as I combined the point values on the cards.

If they got one with a T, it means that a typhoon came through and wiped the other teams' houses out. If the other team has no houses to wipe out, I gave them 3 houses instead.

The students absolutely LOVED it. I did this with high schoolers, but you can make the words harder or easier for lower or higher level students.

I think this is all the info you might need to play, if you have any other questions about it, just PM me.

[agraham]

That sounds cool. What do you do if a sentence is gramatically correct but unnatural sounding?

[Tiger Beer]

I always TEACH them how to make their answer INTO a full sentence..

And I'll ask the class, 'how do you make that into a full sentence?'

I also often assume that most already know how.. but feel lazy about it. But at the same time, I'm also often amazed at how often the students write down the full sentence from the board (after I've made it into a 30-second excursion).

[schwa]

Doing q & a with large classes of middleschoolers I make it a game.

One-word answer, one point. Simple sentence, 2 points. Long, interesting, or funny sentence, 3 points. The kids are in teams & if a lower level student is called on to answer, his teammates can coach him.

In my experience this really gets them trying.

[Qinella]

[some waygug-in]

Pretty much any ESL bookstore would have Side by Side. I've even found it in the local Korean book store in the little English book section.

It comes in 3 levels and there is a workbook also. I use the classbook only. It does get a bit repetitive, but that's the point I suppose. I don't use it for an entire hour, usually the first half of class and then on to a game or something else.

I am amazed at the game mentioned above. I can't wait to try it myself.
I have a feeling though that my students would complain that it's too much work on their part. They do that from time to time when I try new games on them. If the game involves too much thinking on their part, they just refuse to play and I have to go back to one of my old stand by's.



I have a game that I use as well, but it's not as good as that.

I like to play "Sorry" with my middle school classes and sometimes even the adults will get into it.

They only practice one grammatical pattern though, that's a problem, but since I make my own cards, I am able to get them practicing some really cool sentences.

Ex: Do you have "stinky socks"? No, sorry.

Do you have "a dirty, disgusting, dog"? Yes, I do.

Do you have "a 3-eyed girlfriend"? No, sorry.

Do you have "bad breath"? Yes, I do.

Do you have "a wild and crazy hairstyle" ? Yes. etc.

They seem to get into asking each other these kinds of embarrassing questions. I also mix in a few countables and uncountables into the mix.

Do you have "some juice"?

Do you have " a bottle of coke"? etc.

[saw6436]

Kim & Johnsons bookstore in Daejeon sells it. Real good collection of other ESL materials. The bookshope is on the 5th floor in the building next to "Subway" sandwich shop in DunSan. I use Side by Side also. Its abit hokey but pretty good none the less.

[ulsanchris]

there are many books that are much superior to Side by Side. I hate that series.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Some of the things I've found that help:

a) After a couple of students answer using the template on the board, I erase it. That forces them to remember the whole sentence and not to focus only on the answer.

b) When someone answers with a one word answer, I say 'Good!' Now, make a sentence. (My students often call me "Mr Make-a-sentence") I think the positive reinforcement for them at least knowing the answer is important, so they can focus on learning the grammar of a sentence without feeling like they are stupid.)

c) With beginners who struggle with word order:
Write the question on the board: Did you watch TV last night?
Cross off 'Did'
Write 'Yes' under 'Did'
Have the student change 'you' to 'I' and finish the sentence. (If they forget to change to past tense, I point to 'Did'. )

It helps them understand that the question provides the word order for the answer.

We also work with long and short answer forms: Yes, I did/ Yes, I watched TV last night/Yes, I did watch TV last night.

For me, the hard part of getting students to answer in complete sentences is that I worked for two years with a teacher who told students that it is not natural to have a conversation using complete sentences. I taught my beginners book classes and spent hours and hours getting them to use sentences. Then the other teacher had them for conversation classes. That teacher would give them this example: Where is the library? There!

That was a big problem at our school. I could never convince that teacher that we can answer in one word because we are strong in English and that the students do it because they are weak. One word answers are conversation.

Grrrrrr.