Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sheba]

I have just started a fair few conversation classes and am running out of ideas quick! The students have a fair grasp on the English language (advanced middle school and high school students), but getting them to talk without asking them specific questions first can be a little difficult.

Can anyone help???

Topics??? ideas???

[JAWINSEOUL]

The topic starter that always seems to get people excited and makes them share stories is "Where did you get that scar". It seems to work if it's brought up naturally.

[C.M.]

Someone suggested it to me and it helped a great deal, so I will throw it out here: the text book TEEN TALK is a wonderful source for Conversation classes with intermediate-advanced Middle/High school students. The vocabulary is challenging, there is good reading comprehension excercises (which can be done fairly quickly), and appropriate topics with excellent questions. It works well in a Panel Discussion format; I put two students upfront then have the rest ask the questions in the book PLUS a follow-up question of their own...penalties for one word answers, improperly phrased questions, incomplete sentences etc.....lots of room for fun and good discussion here.

[sheba]

Thanks for the ideas.

The students have actually just finished high school and are fairly advanced. I can talk a normal speed and they still understand me (most of the time!)

[Qinella]

I'm doing a few classes with advanced middle school students now. The way I get them to talk is by having debates. If you have small classes, that's good, and if there's an even number of students, that's even better.

Here is an idea that I've used with a few classes. I made up a table on MS Word with about 30 squares. In each square, I typed the name of a job. The jobs varied greatly. Lawyer, musician, product promoter, coffee shop barista, garbage collector, architect, soldier, kindergarten teacher, babysitter, etc.

Then I cut out the squares and brought them to class. I divided the class up into two teams and each team had to pick a random job. When they got the job, they had to work together with their team to develop a list of reasons why they love their job. It was really fun, because usually they'd hate the job they got, so it made them really think.

When each team had a list of four or five strong points, we'd start the debate. The goal of the debate is to prove your team's job is better than the other's. The first team would read one of their reasons, and the opposing team would have to rebut it.

"Being a novel writer is great because you can be creative."
"Yes, but if you have no ideas, you can't make any money. Being a photographer is better because you can make beautiful art."
"Yes, but what if no one buys your art? You will make no money. Being a novel writer is better because..."

So you go back and forth like that. If one team can't rebut, the other team gets a point. As you know, Korean students are very competitive, so they will come up with something, just to keep the other team from getting a point. I've had some very fun, engaging classes with this approach. It also gives the students an opportunity to practice vocabulary they may not often use.

Key Korean words to know, to help explain the process:

debate - ���
rebut - �ݹ�

Each job vs. job debate will take a total of 10-15 minutes, so you can usually do 2-3 debates in a class.

Another source I use is a book called "Korean Hot Topics" or something like that. Just go to an English textbook store and they should have a small selection of debate topic books with themes that would be of interest to Korean students. The books usually will come with a list of debatable questions, and you can split the group up into teams and do the rebuttal thing. My book also comes with sample opinions, so I'll also have them read some of them and explain why they either agree or disagree.

I think the debate approach is a great way to get the students to react quickly in English without any planning or prior thinking time. It's all reflexive and immediate.

Good luck.

[oldfatfarang]

the text book TEEN TALK is a wonderful source for Conversation classes with intermediate-advanced Middle/High school students.

Can anybody provide a FULL reference for this book please???

[denverdeath]

The author's name is Duane Vorhees. Publisher is LIS Korea(���� �ڸ���). Year looks like 1997. Anyway, there is also Teen Talk 1 and Teen Talk 2. I'm not sure which one the posters are referring to.

http://www.helloknj.com/books/detail/read.jsp?productOID=95840

Kyobo

[Bee Positive]

deleted by dave