Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crazylemongirl]

Out of 1,300 students I had 40 sign up and 20 stay.

So far we've done some drama, watched a movie and done board game day.

Next week we are making s'mores and advertisments about computers.

Then I'm done.

Gotta love the mother who tried to foist off her four year old in my middle school class and having the teacher look at me like a crazy women when I suggested that having her there was turning these camps into even more of a joke than they already are.

But I'm finsihed in seven days so woohoo!

[ilovebdt]

[Tiger Beer]

i'm loving my winter camp.

15 days left.. (out of 20 total).

[deessell]

He he...I only have to teach 2x50 minute classes in the afternoon. Thailand next Thursday.

[Tiger Beer]

Back to the Philippines.. two weeks from this weekend..

with some nice cash along the way for it..

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I really don't see how I could call it 'camp'. I have two classes of incoming grade 1 HS and one of grade 1 HS going to grade 2, all one lesson a day. I was told it was a remedial class but they're of mixed levels. They're also getting a lesson a day from a KT. I don't know how serious or fun it's supposed to be. The KT is assigning homework and telling them off and bringing a big ruler to class. They're also getting extra lessons in other subjects and the rest of teachers seem pretty serious, like it was regular semester classes. I'm just doing listening excercises and games in mine. After first block I go around and count the students in the other classes to see how many handouts I'll have to make. I'm actually spending quite a bit of time lesson planning.

One more week with the matriculants and two with the grade 1/2 students. Better than sitting around doing nothing.

[Incognito]

Thank God...a CLG thread that doesn't begin with a bi*ch and moan session!

My most successful camp activities this week for me...

1) Make balloon hats.

- Buy the long balloons.
- Begin activity with a tour of www.balloonhat.com
- Some type of balloon inflating device is a must if you don't want the student's eyeballs to pop out of their heads.
- Take pictures of them and show them the next day.

2) Play Jenga.

- Modify the game so that the blocks have at least one activity written on them. (example - Jump up and down.) If they do not do the activity, they have to go again.

3) Picture Scavenger Hunt (using camera phones).

- I made sure all of the items could be found inside the school building since it is so cold outside.

4) Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches.

- Very easy activity. I just used this time as a bull session.

5) The Game of Life.

- My students are low so I excluded some (actually most) of the harder components...insurance, stocks, etc.

6) Charlie and Chocolate Factory.

- The students were freakin mesmerized!

7) Scrabble.

- I did not use the actual board or pieces. I just made copies of the scrabble letters, laminated the sheets and cut out the individual letters.

- Each team got a set of letters.

- I placed a letter on the blackboard and each team had to formulate a word using that letter as the beginning letter of their word. For example, I wrote "F" on the blackboard and the winning word was "fighting" with a total score of 16 points. At the end of each game (having done 7 or 8 letters) I gave out a prize.

[BigBlackEquus]

[manlyboy]

The days are quicker, but the weeks are longer.

[Incognito]

[schwa]

I do much the same stuff I do all year in these sessions. Simple personal conversation questions to start, a handout of some sort to elicit vocabulary, a team competition to revise the day's material.

I dont have much imagination for "campy" activities but the kids seem happy with our classes. 30 grade-5 kids for 90 minutes in the morning, 18 2nd-year middleschoolers for 90 minutes after lunch. Genuinely nice kids.

One thing I like about vacation classes is seeing the kids daily instead of once a week. You can get a nice continuity going.

Week one of two down. Then a free week, then a week of relaxed teachers sessions. Then 3 weeks in Sri Lanka, a-ssa!

[Ya-ta Boy]

The word 'organization' seems to remain a four-letter word here in the metropolis.

My future-high school-freshmen-to-be group seems to number 8. At least the second and third days of our 13 day vacation session has turned out that way. Their speaking level is quite high for this area. They can count and a couple can make sentences. Unfortunately, the best speaker has the maturity of an 8 year old. If it isn't about him, he's on his cell phone (until taken away) or talking to the kid on one side or the other of him, till they are moved away. Then he talks to them across 6 other people. When confronted, he gives this, "Who me? Alfred E. Neumann smile."

But the lack of organization is in the afternoon. Wednesday (Day 1) 7 of the 11 registered show up. Day 2, 10 show up, but 1/2 are not the same as the ones the day before. And not registered. Today, I bop into class with 10 copies to handout...and 18 show up. All of the ones from the previous two days.

I was told that if a student registered, then he was required to show up each day. So far, that has not turned out to be the case. Confusion reigns here. I left notes on the desks of the only two English speakers in school asking what the rules are. I do my best to be adaptable, but SOME kind of structure is appreciated. (I'm the only one teaching in the afternoon. I arrived 'too late' to be included on the regular schedule...the Korean teachers teach 3 days a week during vacation. I teach all 5. )

In addition, 3 of the newbies today were low ability students. All the others have been the high ability ones (here, high ability translates as "I can distinguish between 12 and 20").

Just a note: My best students have figured out that if you either deliberately speak softly and mumble numbers or say them too fast in a math game, it screws up the chances of the other team getting the right answer and winning a total one stinking piece of candy each, all the time being unable to remember to say "I'm fine" in response to "How are you today?"

Anyway, 3 down and 10 to go. (Still don't know jack about the 'professional development course' that may or may not take place in another city for one or two weeks that might but might not start Jan. 24 or Feb. something.)

[wormholes101]

idea...

Preparing lesson plans for camps can be a real pain especially if not a curiculum is not provided... is anyone else in this situation?

I'm going to have to do it all again for the summer camp but i'm wondering if others want to swap similar level lesson plans and materials to save on prep time for summer...? any takers?

i can offer one weeks worth (two 50 min lesson plans a day) and materials (activities, worksheets and flashcards etc) for grades 3, 4, 5 and 6. My grade 5 and 6 are lumped together..

[crazylemongirl]

This week we made our s'mores. Those went over really well, as the kids had never eaten marshmallows before, and they got to light them on fire.

This camp I ran a bit of an experiment.

At the start of the camp the class divided itself into teams (I know better than to force kids to interact here in Korea). Each team got a folder to decorate and put their work into. They also got points for attendance, classroom behavior, excellent classwork, trying really hard, winning a game etc. I always gave the kids the choice of a point for their team or candy. The kids always took the points, as I'm giving out a baskin robbins voucher as the prize for the winning team.

On Monday we'll finish up their portfolios. I'm going to take a copy of the portfolio to show what the kids have done to the powers that be, and then they get to send them home to their moms.

This approach has worked really well, and I haven't had to give out any candy all camp.

The winning team gets to decide what we are going to do for the final class party on Tuesday.

[BigBlackEquus]