Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hater Depot]

[Shit. My first version of this post got swallowed up by the phpBB error. Thanks, fuckface.]

I've just started teaching my second stint of free talking classes (the first was last spring). I'm very unimpressed with the conduct of the classes here at our school. These are the two main problems as I see it.

1. Teachers perceive "free talking" as a time to kick back and just have fun rather than work hard. I've been told straight up that free talking class are for taking it easy, and that attitude is reflected in the work of my (western) coworkers. I'm talking about putting in little to no lesson planning; producing "articles" of shockingly poor quality; failing to enunciate as clearly as they would in lower-level classes and just generally using inappropriate styles of speech; and using the class as a forum to talk about whatever they like without regard to whether it is valuable or interesting for the students.

The truth is that "free talking" can be great, especally for giving students confidence in themselves and their ability, but it must be done right, same as anything else. This means planning the flow of conversation; producing articles that students will want to talk about (that means paying attention to their personalities!); anticipating what grammar and vocabulary questions they might have about those articles; and making sure everyone in the class gets along and feels they are being given equal attention and speaking time.

I've tried to model my classes on those of my best professors in university. And because I naturally hear many more details of student's lives in free talking then in other classes, I make a much greater effort to remember those details.

2. Students have lowered expectations of the teachers. Partly this is due to the lack of formal structure/textbook. But it's also because they may be resistant to correction since, after all, they are now on the top of ladder looking down on everyone else still using Side by Side.



Now please don't think I'm here to toot my own horn or crow about how I'm such a much better teacher than those I work with. But I think I do recognize better than them how much I need to improve as a teacher, and frankly it steams me that they don't seem concerned with taking their jobs seriously. I'm not making this up: when I arrived I was told both how easy it is to teach high-level students and and that those same students were constantly complaining to management and sometimes had only a 50% attendance rate. Now granted I haven't been at very long so far but I have nearly perfect attendance rates and no complaints so far.

Anyway, I want to know what others have to say about making a free talking class the best it can be. I'm not after specific lesson plans or article suggestions but rather the more abstract stuff of lesson planning, etc. Or if you think I'm full of sh!it let me know that too.

[Homer]

Excellent topic.

Free talking classes are all too often blown off as time off by teachers (and sadly students sometimes) when they can be a very effective means of teaching English.

The goal (for me anyway) is to create a relaxed atmosphere where students will feel confortable talking. You also need to have a lesson target in mind or a learning objective. I assign educational objectives to each of my free talking lessons or group of free talking lessons. I chose a topic of interest for the students that will also encourage conversation. I also try to focus the topic on an particular area we have been covering in class. This works well. Students feel involved in the class and I can see if they are hitting the learning target or not.

The debate formula also works very well for advanced students. You split the group in two and each side has to defend a position on a certain topic.


I also use video clips from newscast (usually BBC or CNN) and start the discussion on that. Then steer it towards an area that needs to be worked on.

My two cents....

[Ya-ta Boy]

I agree.

It doesn't make any sense for people to pay good money to come and sit in a classroom and bs for an hour. They can join an English club for that. What they really want is guided talking time, with someone to catch their mistakes and remind them of the grammar points.

I haven't taught one of these for a long time, but when I did, we always started with a vocabulary expansion activity based on the reading, then the reading, followed by discussion. Role-playing activities also make a good change of pace. One activity that worked well for me was to collect the sob stories from Dear Abby, re-write the story to simplify it, and let one student play the role. The other students listened, then discussed the best advice to give to that person. The tricky part was finding 'problems' that were plausible for Koreans. More than once I got the response: This couldn't happen in Korea.

[Hater Depot]

I actually sat in on one class that consisted entirely of playing an English board game. All I could think was that if I were taking that class, paying probably 20-25,000 per hour, I would be outraged that the teacher would think playing some stupid board game would be acceptable.

Ya-ta, that's how I've tried to structure my classes too. I prefer to have the students read the article at home to save class time. Then I always open by asking them if they have any questions about the article or grammar. Rarely are there no questions but in that case I will check the points that I thought were difficult. Then I move into a 30-second recap and dive into a guided discussion that includes what advice they would give, how their advice would change if the situation were different, and personal experiences. And always, some very interesting and usually very Korean topics will come up and we can discuss those. But I make it a point never to discuss myself unless asked, both to avoid upsetting anybody and to show that I am interested in their thoughts.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I had the misfortune to teach with a guy who used Scrabble every day in an advanced class. The students finally rebelled. I don't know why they didn't weeks earlier.

Like you, I avoid stating my opinion as much as possible. I figure my English is OK and I don't really need to use students' time to practice it.

[UncleAlex]

Free talking or free response should never comprise an entire class, especially
if it is on a regular basis. Eventually one reaches a point where the students
are no longer learning anything substantially new. Free talking is a valuable
component of learning a second language in that the student can gain more
self-confidence in speaking and communicate what he knows what to say in English.
But this exercise should only be utilised as a small part of an overall program.
It must never supersede formal structure and an organised language
development program. Once form has been discarded, the entire educational
enterprise has been defeated. In my 50 minute classes, I incorporate free response
for no longer than 10 minutes, and my students and I use structures and exponents
that are part of the target lesson, leaving room for the students to insert what they
already know.

[UncleAlex]

Free talking or free response should never comprise an entire class, especially
if it is on a regular basis. Eventually one reaches a point where the students
are no longer learning anything substantially new. Free talking is a valuable
component of learning a second language in that the student can gain more
self-confidence in speaking and communicate what he knows what to say in English.
But this exercise should only be utilised as a small part of an overall program.
It must never supersede formal structure and an organised language
development program. Once form has been discarded, the entire educational
enterprise has been defeated. In my 50 minute classes, I incorporate free response
for no longer than 10 minutes, and my students and I use structures and exponents
that are part of the target lesson, leaving room for the students to insert what they
already know.

[UncleAlex]

Free talking or free response should never comprise an entire class, especially
if it is on a regular basis. Eventually one reaches a point where the students
are no longer learning anything substantially new. Free talking is a valuable
component of learning a second language in that the student can gain more
self-confidence in speaking and communicate what he knows what to say in English.
But this exercise should only be utilised as a small part of an overall program.
It must never supersede formal structure and an organised language
development program. Once form has been discarded, the entire educational
enterprise has been defeated. In my 50 minute classes, I incorporate free response
for no longer than 10 minutes, and my students and I use structures and exponents
that are part of the target lesson, leaving room for the students to insert what they
already know.

[spliff]