Korean Job Discussion Forums

Snowmeow · Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Location: pc room

I was given this new class late last week consisting of 3 students, ages 17-18 who have already completed high school and are headed for university whenever it starts. They seem to be very bright, and after my first class I could tell that their written and spoken english was already good, when given time to prepare.

I was given next to zero direction regarding what I was supposed to be doing with these students. All I was told was that they need to practice listening to lectures in english to prepare for their english language lectures and that I should be talking as much as possible.

Does anybody have a class like this? I don't know what the heck to do so far aside from

a) reading a newspaper to them, have them take notes and tell me what they heard.
b) dictating to them and having them write it down

edit: oh, and I am expected to give them homework

Please help.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

If they're not sitting the big exam on Wednesday then they're headed to uni somewhere else. If they're going somewhere else, figure out where and when, and teach them about culture as much as possible. They've probably just finished a really rough three years, so try to have some fun with them - Mangna comics, Harry Potter, articles from teen mags will all go over well. Do you have Net access? If so, gather them around a computer sometimes and show them stuff about the rest of the world.

fidel · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Location: North Shore NZ

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

I could agree with that to a point - if they're going to an English university they'll probably really be lacking critical thinking and research skills. They may also have no idea how to write an essay with a sound thesis. Tailor things to their interests, but do try to have some fun as well and remember that if they're doing things like writing short papers for the first time, it will be really difficult, and don't try to push too much on them all at once.

BigBlackEquus · Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:16 pm Post subject:

Show them lots of videos about North Korea, and tell them that whatever they will learn politically in university is going to be a bunch of lies and crap. Laughing

I have a feeling that these kids are being put in your class because they are hanging around the school with nothing to do. They already early-entranced and are supposed to show up at school, but can goof around on their own until 12 noon when they can go home. So the school or parents thought: HEY, you can improve your English during that time.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

Snowmeow · Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Location: pc room

I believe they have already been accepted and are headed to Pohang University of Science and Technology http://www.postech.ac.kr/

That's just what I've been told. Most of the kids I teach are age 5-10 so I don't have experience with the older ones here.

Their education will be in Korean language but some lectures are in english. It's funny that you mention Harry Potter, as one of the students told me he is reading Harry Potter right now. That was the topic of the speech he wrote for me last class.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Clearly I will have to read to them something fairly long and challenging and then test their comprehension afterwards.