Korean Job Discussion Forums

kiwigirl :O) · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Location: Bundang

Hey there

I need more topic ideas for Conversation classes for middle school and 6th graders....ive done all the usual getting to know you stuff and hobbies im now looking for more advanced stuff Wink

thanks
kg

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

What levels are we speaking off?

Mr. BlackCat · Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Location: Insert witty remark HERE

In one of my free talk classes I printed of some country descriptions from lonelyplanet.com and had the kids read them out loud. Then we talked about which country they wanted to visit (hint: make sure you print out France and Italy...and Japan if you want to have a laugh).

If you do writing with them you can also have them write up a desciption of Korea, depending on their level.

Also, you can do that game where one kids starts a story and the next continues it, and so on down the line. I've also found that if you play the dumb foreigner the kids will talk to no end about Korean food, culture and music.

Hope this helps.

Hope · Joined: 22 Nov 2003

This might be useful or at least give you some ideas.

http://iteslj.org/questions/

The impact series may also be good for that age group. It's available at Kyobo

jajdude · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

If they are advanced enough and have good speaking ability, there's no end to topics you can use, except for some that are better suited for adults.

Once I had a fairly advanced adult class and when things got a bit dull I would have a load of topics ( say, 52) written down, and use a pack of cards. The topics corresponded to the cards, so we'd choose one at random and try to talk about that. If needed we'd go to another card/topic.
I made the topics really general and usually just one word.
Examples: computers, education, sports, food, travel, family

Sometimes I'd have the students create their own questions on a given topic. Everybody write one or more questions about "food" and everybody can answer.

This works well with students who know how to speak at least at an intermediate level. This would be an example of what often is called "free talking." There's really no such thing as free talking, you need a topic or structure to work with.

For younger students you'd need to adjust the topics to things that interest them.

You could also use hypothetical situations and have the students create a story. You start a little story, "Last night I went outside and...." and each student adds to the story, being the "I" in the story. This one is good for writing too. A lot of teachers have used this one. The students often like it because they can make up silly stuff and have a laugh.

kiwigirl :O) · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Location: Bundang

kiwigirl :O) · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Location: Bundang

happygirl · Joined: 20 Feb 2006

this is a fantastic link! thanks

Unreal · Joined: 01 Jul 2004 Location: Jeollabuk-do

My students are high school students so some of these might not work or need to be simplified, but they've worked great for me:

The Expert Activity:
http://www.eslpartyland.com/teachers/conversation/expert.htm

Plan a New Country Activity:
http://esl.about.com/library/lessons/blland.htm

Assorted:
http://www.jason-ism.com/classactivities.html
I've used the who would you pick and job interview activities

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

I like the American Headway for middle schoo.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

What are they paying you for?

hatter · Joined: 02 Jun 2006

One thing that wasn't intentionally a conversation starter was the yahoo.com homepage. I worked with grade 5 and 6 students and had the computer/projector deal. I often left it on so I could show them images to help explain things.

Anyways, more than once they read or saw something on the yahoo page before we could even look up the new topic or webiste and they would ask about it. That could open a huge can of worms, but you might be able to get topics/current events off of there. Anything where the students may be able to express different opinions is great.

For example, from today's page...

There is mention of a hurricane. Talk about all of the natural disasters and ask them which one they think is the worst and why.

There's a topic about the first female tourist to space. Ask them if they would like to travel to space. Why? Ask them if people should be able to be a tourist, or should we just send astronauts?

They also mentioned that Japan has the most centarians(sp?), people over 100. Ask the students why they think this is? What is the key to living a long life?

Hanson · Joined: 20 Oct 2004