Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mindmetoo]

I mostly teach speaking and some essay writing for demonstrably English proficient kids. Recently my "we need you to be a white dancing bear"/"pack 'em in"/"the mothers actually think this will help them learn English" speaking classes have been transmogrified into writing classes. Alright.

The kids are good at filling in the blanks.

"He (has/have) a new shirt."

But hand them a pen, paper, and a question like "what did you do today?" They're lost. Totally lost.

"playing the computer I school going"

Christ. These kids have been studying English how many years and can't write a simple SVO sentence? Sigh. (BTW, they're grade 5.) I'm sure even kids studying French in Ontario can write a simple French sentence by grade 5.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

Annoying as heck isn't it?

Wait till the kids complain to mama-san cause teacha man make-ee them learn-e the engrish-ee.

[Yo!Chingo]

It really bums me out on so many levels when I want my kids to write. All I get is crap from them both in complaining and the actually sentences they provide. Me thinks that I'm going to require alot more reading so that they'll actually visually see what the sentences are to look like.

Reading is ,in my humble opinion, the best way for someone to learn sentence structure; it just starts to penetrate. The problem is finding the books that will interest them enough to want to read them.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Ice hockey is unusual among the major sports in such / that teams frequently play with different numbers of players. ...offender's team must play a player short / shortly. ...provides an excellent scoring / scored opportunity...

'Teachuh, boring. Teachuh too easy. Teachuh, already study last time. Teachuh, we are not elementary students'.


Write a sentence with a subject, verb, and object. Any sentence. First choose a noun or pronoun for the subject - myeong-sa or dae-myeong-sa. Then choose a verb - dong-sa. Come on, everyone choose a subject, a noun or pronoun. Anything. No, don't copy your friend; choose your own.

'Oh, teachuh, difficult!!!'

[jinks]

[teachingld2004]

Off the topic a bit...
We all know that it is better to have the kids read books on their level, or slightly below. But that is not the way schools want us to teach. The kids say, "too easy!" Then they complain to their mothers, or to the director. So, we go to the next level, and they struggle with the words, and do not understand the story. (also some kids who understand practically nill can read well)

In my school we are told to "push them". Pushing, in my opinion, takes the joy out of reading.

I taught the top reading class (for a very short time)in my school. They could read, but sounded like dead wood. So I brought them right to the kindergarden book shelf. "What???? This is so EASY"! they said. I said yes,the words are simple, but look at the beautiful pictures. Pick out a book, read it to yourself for a few minutes, and then read it too the class. Once again they read like dead wood. I picked up a book, and read it with expression. My voice went up and down. I paused when needed, my voice when up and down when it should.........you get my drift.

They loved it. They went for more childrens books, and they learned how to read. I never did get around to work on their writing because my director wanted me to work with the slower class. Too bad.

MOST schools want to have the kids rush. THe parents get bent out of shape when their kids repeat lessons, or go slow. Teaching here is USUALLY to cram in as much as you can, in as little time as you can. Sad, but true.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

Cram in all you can with little regard as if they have actually learned anything or not.

Teacha we know what verbuhs are!

ok what are these mysterious verbuhs?

silence....

ok find a verb in this sentence...

silence....

Is it this word? (points to word)

Yes teacha!!

No that is a pronoun.

Hahaha funny teacha Play game!

or

Funny white monkey NOW DANCE DAMN YOU DANCE AND MAKE ME LAUGH!

[schwa]

Writing is such an obstacle. My best near-fluent adult students write at a western grade 3 elementary level with mistakes in every sentence. I tease them about it, but I also assure them that most westerners write poorly too. No easy fix.

I dont teach my younger students writing at all because I choose to focus on spoken communication. But I got the following email 5 minutes ago from a girl I taught a couple years ago -- average student, a 1st-year highschool girl now. Good on her for trying!

Hi, schwa.

Are you watched soccer game?

Korea & Togo

Korea Team is winner!!!

Wow~

I'm so excited.



In tuesday I'm not here.

My school Freshmen go to camp.

Very near here that our camp place.

It took 10 minutes by bus.



Tuesday night, all students and all teachers are crazy!!

Ha ha !

Everyone shout , clap , hug and jump.

Really fun !!!



Maybe you are fun and excited, too.

Didn't you?



I'm so soon expect game of Korea & France.

That game is start in the early morning.

So early. Maybe 4:00 a.m.



I hope to Korean players are in good condition.

I pray for them .

And you. haha~



Then goodbye .

Take care.



Mi-ra

[SirFink]

[Yo!Chingo]

[teachingld2004]

One thing I do, is I don't ask he kids is "What did you do yesterday?" I tell them "Yesterday I talked to my brother on the telephone". Can you tell me one thing you did yesterday?" ANd they are not allowed to say what the person before them said. (Unless they are true beginners)

Then I may ask them, "Tell me one thing you did today." Or I ask them"What do you THINK you will do tomorrow?" Or I have said ,"Today is rained, ir it is raining. What do you THINK the weather will be like tomorrow?" ANd I have taught them the word "Maybe". That is a good word to teach them, then they can think. I also tell them that we can not see into the future, and some times the weather men are wrong.

We may make a predition char, and put it on the wall, and on Friday we see who was right most of the time. This way they do not usually giv the same answers, and that is fun.

ALso we do "pre-writing", and that is when mistakes can be corrected some timesby eachother, or by me.

ALl this depends on their levels, but if you try and do this early and they get used to it, that may work.

[schwa]

Try asking What were you doing at 7pm last night? 11pm? 11am this morning? etc.

Its a dead simple grammar construction: I was ---ing, & they'll struggle to answer honestly, which can lead to some useful vocabulary.

Lifts them out of the standard "Played computer game / watched tv" response.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

For dawg it is that bad.

[schwa]

[coolsage]

Most of my toil here at the uni is involved with writing classes. Some students sign up for this class because they believe that if they submit every assignment, they cannot fail (unlike the conversation classes, where an F is possible). Given that the skill of writing is the fourth of the four that one learns in one's native language, writing in a second language is a major challenge. Word order is different (subject+verb+object), and the articles (a, an, the) continue to confound Korean writers in English, because they don't exist in Hangul. Don't get me started on where the commas come in. So far, no one has asked me about the semicolon, but I know it's coming. In short, I much prefer to deal with these questions when they occur to encouraging students to engage in pair-work situations that aren't real for them: (You're the travel-agent, and your partner is the customer. ) It seems that I can elicit more responses in a writing class because the students feel more comfortable about speaking up. Some brainstorming in groups, and the ideas go up on the board for all to see , and those who didn't come up with those ideas are writing them down, and, if the papers that have been turned in recently are any indication, there is some imagination in some of these students .