Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

Some of you are good with small kids. I am not. I tend to do better when they are at least in grade 3.

I have several grade one kids in a few classes. Some are beginners, some speak English well. Sometimes I am good with this age, sometimes not, generally only good if they already know enough English to communicate some.

I'm not much of a disciplinarian. I just get a bit freaked with youngsters, with their variable moods and small attention spans, but I kind of enjoy how silly and strange they can be.

I guess I can find tips elsewhere on how to teach them, control them, keep things fun, whatever.

Just looking for a few thoughts, experiences, wisdom?

... about something that has surely been covered numerous times before.

[dulouz]

Go real slow, don't expect too much. Kindies are cash cows, try to treat them well. Try to have a K teacher immediately available for discipline. Watch the eyes. We have a work book for busy work and it uses lots of pattern matching. They do well with those so I made pattern matching work sheets like this....

banana
_anana
banan_
_anan_
ba_a_a
b_n_n_
b_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ a
_ _ _ _ _ _ _


Teaching small kids looks like girly work so being a male teacher can look difficult but it doesnt need to be. Act manly and the kids will appreciate the difference from the usual girly teachers.

[huffdaddy]

Wait for tomato to reply, or check his past posts. He has a list of links to most of the kindy threads.

Stars are a great system. Be good and get a star. Be bad and lose a star. Give lots of praise. Establish routines. Play with them on breaks but keep play time separate from class time.

[tomato]

Huffdaddy cleared the path for my list of links, and here they are.
Huffdaddy, thank you for the herald!

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=857307
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=61518&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=58910&highlight
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=751563
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=735454
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=731372
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=44251&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/posting.php?mode=editpost&p=551309
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=34653&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=4422&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=29953&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=16204&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=14162&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=11817&highlight=
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=5804&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Dulouz's suggestion is good.
Younger kids seem to enjoy activities which involve a complete set of permutations.
Last week, I was teaching a class of 4 preschoolers.
To demonstrate verbs in the singular (goes and comes), I had each individual walk out and come back in.
Then, to demonstrate verbs in the plural (go and come), I had each possible dyad (Alice and Amy, Alice and Jen, Alice and Jenny, Amy and Jen, Amy and Jenny, Jen and Jenny) walk out and come back in.
That didn't bore them a bit.

Here is an even more dramatic example:
In the United States, I was giving a music lesson to a 3-year-old.
She played the chord organ while I played the bells.
While playing the instruments, we sang the child's name in all 12 keys.
Then she asked to do the same thing on the words "Mommy" and "Daddy," thereby bringing the grand total up to 36.
After that, she asked to trade places, with her playing the bells and me playing the chord organ.
That brought the grand total up to 72.

On the other hand, I once asked an adult student to repeat the same activity in all 12 keys, but she couldn't even stand it for as long as one round.

Jajdude, if you have any further questions, write again.

[jajdude]

All right, thanks all, and tomato, wow, good list of links there.