| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
ulsanchris
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: take a wild guess
|
 Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 7:01 am Post subject: |
 |
|
Side by side blows. There are many adult books that are better.
Let's go is one of the better book series out there.
I think FUN FUN is crap. Korean made with many mistakes. I just noticed a new one today while teaching it. When jeans do you like. I like the blue one. A small mistake but still later in the same book they spell taxi texi. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Fun Fun...crap
==============================
Taiwan... full of homemade junk too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
|
| Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 2:53 pm Post subject: Resources |
|
|
I think rather than blame books, and a lot are absolute garbage, they should be seen as resources for making supplement materials. No text book should be used on its own. But they give an idea about what grammar point we are learning etc so then we go beyond That.
It could take a student 2 classes to "do" all of Tiny Talk but if you can stretch it out to the max potential it could take 20 classes or more and so encompassing general stuff around the same ideas and grammar.
So Benny and Sue play on the swing and run and slide. But, kids also skip, jump, play marbles, Dakchi.... so bring those into "play" too with mind maps, talks, other story resources or puzzles about "play." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
|
| Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I like GoGo  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
chronicpride
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| JongnoGuru wrote: |
Okay, great. Now please, are these all produced in Korea? And if so, why aren't they buying materials produced in English-speaking countries? I thought Koreans demanded the best...  |
They demand the best until they realize how much extra profit they can make by making it themselves. They all know that learning english leads to more opportunities and money. The only thing that trumps that ideal is capitalizing on the opportunities and making money from those who want to learn english. Hence why 60+ recruiters have muscled out a niche for themselves and bookstores have rows upon rows of locally produced crap.
On another note, I'm glad to see that the Interchange series is not mentioned here. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
butter808fly
Joined: 09 May 2004
Location: Northern California, USA
|
| Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 6:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Gogo is pretty bland, and not a lot of activities for the kids.. the songs are like 1 second long.
Lets Chat - when I first arrived here we used it and Im not sure WHAT they were thinking. The kids have improved their English 200% since we stopped with these. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
|
| Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| chronicpride wrote: |
| JongnoGuru wrote: |
Okay, great. Now please, are these all produced in Korea? And if so, why aren't they buying materials produced in English-speaking countries? I thought Koreans demanded the best... |
They demand the best until they realize how much extra profit they can make by making it themselves. They all know that learning english leads to more opportunities and money. The only thing that trumps that ideal is capitalizing on the opportunities and making money from those who want to learn english. Hence why 60+ recruiters have muscled out a niche for themselves and bookstores have rows upon rows of locally produced crap.
|
All right, that makes sense up to a point. But in the sentence I've underlined, by "they" you're referring only to hagwon owners and public school, um... whoevers. As if they're the only one's involved. But this is education -- there are also the students themselves, the Korean and foreign teachers..... and most importantly of all, there are the parents who are footing the bill for this entire parade.
Knowing how much Korean parents (who can afford it) will pay and sacrifice for their kid's English education these days -- insisting on white faces at the hagwon, buying set after set of audio cassettes, books, videos, silly machines that talk back to their kids, etc. -- I can't believe they're going to look at the kid's books and think, "Hmm... Babo's Go-Stop Happy-Family Duck-Sauce English Series, published by KimBumSuck-Sa... Sounds good to me."
Yes, hagwons being businesses are driven by the profit motive. But they also have to compete with one another, don't they? For conversation and pronunciation, they have to hire native speakers if they want to compete, and they have to pay more for that, don't they? So, why isn't that the case with the books as well? Surely any Korean parent, whatever their English ability may be, can tell the difference between the words "KimBumSuck-Sa" and "Cambridge University Press".
Putting aside the whole question of which series or publishers are actually better, I'm surprised that in a relentlessly brand- & status-conscious society such as Korea, local publishers would even bother with English study materials, let alone make money at it. We're not talking about imported luxury cars here, that will simply get you from Point A to Point B like a Korean model would, but at two or three times the cost. We're just talking about books, but books that could make a tangible difference in a child's education and future success.
I'm puzzled, to say the least. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
chronicpride
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 8:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I was actually referring to they as being the avg Korean who has an insatiable entrepreneurial spirit and hell-bent for keeping up with the Jones' indoctrinated mentality and their carefree willingness to capitalize on other's future hopes/dreams to placate their hunger. As a result, the industry looks like a well-dressed hamster hauling it's little ass in a spin-wheel.
If we were magically able to remove the profit element of the book publishing issue, you'd see real books making it's way into school's english curriculums. If they had a clearer and realistic picture of tangible goals for their future, this may change, but Koreans seem to be more interested in frantically running as quickly away from their troubled history, more than towards well-laid plans for the future.
That's why the dilution and sell-out of the ESL industry here will remain as such, because it's grown itself into being such a vital part of the economy, but for all the wrong reasons. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
skinhead
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
|
| Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 2:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
Talk It Up
Stairway
In Focus
2 cherry pops to the first punter who knows where I spent my 2 1/2 years. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 3:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
| "American English Today" is painful to use too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
margaret
Joined: 14 Oct 2003
|
| Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 4:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
The one I hate and the middle-schoolers do to is GO FOR IT: confusing instructions, occasional errors, ugly cartoon drawings that we often can't tell what they're supposed to be, and tapes of kids talking real fast in a monotone. I'll take GO-GO over this any day.
Margaret |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Saxiif
Joined: 15 May 2003
Location: Seongnam
|
| Posted: Wed May 04, 2005 4:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
Damn, I really feel for you guys. These days I'm doing The BFG and some C.S. Lewis. I get to discuss farting giants  . Life be good. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Chillin' Villain
Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Location: Goo Row
|
| Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 3:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
I'd like to see the SuperKids get SuperKidnapped...
I highly doubt it's used anywhere anymore anyways, but it was the center of my existence for my very first year here (in a pretty lousy hakwon).
I will die a happy man if I do not see one more talking panda for the rest of my days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
|
| Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 4:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
I liked Superkids. I found it bright & engaging & I think the kids did too, but it moved a little too fast.
The one I hated & I'm sorry I cant recall the name was one my ECC foisted on the early elementary kids. It had a red cover with crocodiles on it & it was a weird oversized rectangular shape that caused it to fall off desks regularly.
It was all about teaching basic phonics with endless repetitive tracing of letters & unimaginative repeated exercises that the kids quickly figured out how to solve without learning anything.
Funny thing though. After months of hammering away at it, the kids blossomed into readers. It was like a light suddenly switched on. Letters represented words represented ideas & they were up & running, no holding them back. Seeing the moment a child "gets it" is special. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 5:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| schwa wrote: |
The one I hated & I'm sorry I cant recall the name was one my ECC foisted on the early elementary kids. It had a red cover with crocodiles on it & it was a weird oversized rectangular shape that caused it to fall off desks regularly.
It was all about teaching basic phonics with endless repetitive tracing of letters & unimaginative repeated exercises that the kids quickly figured out how to solve without learning anything.
|
Yeah, I think it is just titled, "Phonics." The sad thing is the red one comes after the purple covered one.
Nearly ever ECC book is crap. Glad others have mentioned "Discovery" and "Wake Up." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
