Korean Job Discussion Forums

[teachmeenglish]

You could just go with your gut instinct and beat them! (Joke, Joke, ...really. Someone had to say it!)

My biggest problem is having them speak English not Korean in class. Solved this by making the room and English Zone and bringing a piggy bank where each studnet pays 100 won for speaking Korean. The money goes to a class party on the last day, so there is no resentment about teacher buying Soju with student's money (as i think would be much more reasonable) . In doing this with adults for 6 years have only had about
0.1% not like it, and they were usually the biggest Korean speakers. 95% of students really liked it becuase they see it as giving them what they really need, Englsih time.

[Tiger Beer]

Here is something else I could share (was just doing it today).

I had a Freshman English class that doesn't always respond when I ask the class a question.

A good way to handle that is have something called 'participation points'. Meaning if you raise your hand to answer the question, and I call on you, you get a 'participation point'. (I put 'participation' as part of the final grade anyways). But having something where I'm actually marking +'s by their names, and you'll be surprised just how many students are raising their hands to answer nearly every question you can imagine.

I don't think its worth it or effective to do it all the time everytime. But it does get the class competiting to get their hands up and answering questions!

A lower-maintenance way of doing this is also bringing a deck of cards (or some other type of thing).. everytime you notice someone participating in a way contributing to the class, give him one of those. At the end of the class, you collect them and make notes of how many each person got.. if they got one at all.

[ajuma]

[Billy Pilgrim]

[Hollywoodaction]

It's always best to get them talking about themselves. Stay away from closed questions (questions with a limited number of answers, such as yes and no).

[lbellamy]

I'm going to print all these posts and start trying them out....

In the last 3 years I've had plenty of classes of low level uni students barely able to put a sentence together (and very self conscious about it)... I get frustrated at how much momentum and time is lost trying to elicit responses. And especially frustrated at the 3-5 week mark if 'shyness' still hasn't evaporated. And fed up with students who think whispering an answer or saying "pass' is acceptable participation for their attendance point. Also I don't like having to call on students by name because it interrupts the focus/flow/mood with non TL, sucks up time and is tedious.

I ended up devising some generic games that work whatever the TL, so that students couldn't shirk attempting. Any game in which any team/student can earn a turn or has to take a turn - and gets points works, provided it is fun:

ROLL DICE to select who answers next. This removes any chance that they can avoid answering by avoiding eye contact or pretending they haven't heard. Also it's a fun gamble and can make team competitions more dynamic if teams roll for a chance to earn points. You can have 2 circulating in a group/class at a time to select which pair of students will do the next dialog. This completely removes teacher bias too and the students know it. Be really strict: if it lands on them they must do the task, and they lose points if they take too long to attempt etc. I had one shy student had to answer 6 questions in a row and rose to the occasion, getting them all right. He was a hero after that. Vary the rules from class to class to make it more fun. 4 = reverse direction, doubles = exemption or answer 2 questions or double the reward. 6 = pick another student to answer and so on. Another variation: Teacher uses the attendance sheet as the 'board' and rolls to count to the next 'victim' (very quick).

You can build anticipation/tension and fun by being ceremonial about the first few rolls or break tension by using a really big die and dropping it onto a hard floor so that it bounces around and everyone has to strain or scrabble under chairs to find out the result. Then later be strict about time taken to roll, when re-rolling is required etc.

When the students are at the mercy of the dice the teacher is suddenly only judge/referee and it's less intimidating. Actually you can even appoint a strong student to judge players' answers (and then you just judge the judge). Gets hilarious.

CALL CARDS
Similar effect to above except you need to keep track of what cards have been played or it gets bogged down. Good for when students need to put in a bit more thought (because you've turned to write the card on the board and this gives them thinking space.)

Deal out cards to each student. Teacher calls first card or reveals the first from the kitty. Student answers, teacher calls next etc. Or student then calls the next and so on. If you've sat them in teams and they know or have guessed each others' hands, then they try to either call or avoid calling a team mate's card (depending on the task & consequence). Get rid of all or accumulate sufficient cards/tricks to win.

Vary the rules and aims from lesson to lesson depending on if they need more or less difficulty or longer/shorter rounds. If you use similar game rules to real card games they know then you can name the game(s) as such and you don't have to waste any time re-explaining rules the next lesson you run it.

10 POINTS AND YOU CAN GO (for the last 10 mins of a lesson)
This one really works well with students who 'hate' learning English. Set it up by asking if they want to leave early. Tell them you know they don't want to be there and so you will let them go as soon as they've finished the next task. (Now you really have their attention!). Explain the activity and how to earn points. Then say first team/all individual in a team/or overall team to get 10 points can leave. Then call out a question/speaking tasks. Score keep on the board so everyone can see how close they are to freedom!

The students who already know their stuff will soon play, win and leave. Meanwhile the weaker ones will start attempting by modelling their answers on what they've heard the stronger ones do. Because everyone is dying to get out the door they don't waste time holding back unless they really don't know how to answer. It gets fierce. Teacher can insist on 100% accuracy and even apply penalties at the beginning so that the stronger students get a workout (which the weaker ones enjoy watching).

The things I like about this 'game' are:
1) if you play it fast there's no time for humiliation. The focus is not on the student who just answered wrong because you're already listening to the next contributor.
2) You can insist on 100% accuracy in answers. Any answers with mistakes are only "Wrong!" (and don't identify or correct the errors or do so then wean them). Once the whole room gets stuck you can offer the option of spending points to buy a hint.
3) Students start competing when they are individually ready ie they've had sufficient to pattern their answers on previous students' ones, or they don't care if they get it wrong because it's fun to take a stab. This is happy learning.
4) Teacher gets immediate feedback on where students rank
5) Students get to see where they rank. (Important for the middle groups who probably don't know)

What actually happens as the game progresses is:
- the stars quickly perform and leave. Now they're no longer hogging the game and they're not around making the weaker ones feel incompetent.
- the able and interested quickly get it, because they're motivated, paid attention to the stars, learnt ...so perform and leave
- the less motivated are now finally interested and start playing
- meanwhile the less able are trying hard to figure it out (and finally do) then play and start winning points
- the ones who have some ability but just don't want to participate realise they'll have to suffer your intense scrutiny if they don't hurry up and try
- the painfully shy ones can perform to a reduced audience.
- the stragglers have you all to themselves for intensive prompting/explanations/encouragement/praise. If they need to rush off to their next class you can release them after recommending what pages to read to remedy their incompetence - or offer an office hours tutorial.

If you weight the activity/points right then only the first group will actually miss much class. The middle group end up getting out 2-3 minutes early and the end group are playing into the break (usually without realising it). You don't get out early yourself.

A variation: Play lined up with bags packed. The reward is to take one step closer to the door..... [and they can't consult their notes or dictionaries nyuk nyuk...]

I wouldn't consider any of these fluency activities because T is still controlling the questions and the format is still QA QA. But they're good for practicing TL and for distracting students away from formulating answers in their head in Korean and translating out to English if you keep the pace fast.

[ajuma]

lbellamy: Wow!! Great ideas!! I really like the one with the dice!! I'm going to try it out next week! I'll keep track of the score, and let the "winning team" leave first!

[lbellamy]

Thanks for the fb Ajuma (love your avatar BTW).

Another quickie: Spin the bottle to pick 2 students for a dialog. You need a hard floor though. Use a heavy bottle. In an emergency a whiteboard pen will suffice but they don't spin long or well. First I explain that for this game, in Australia, the winning pair has to kiss or take off an item of clothing. They look horrified! Then you point out that you don't have girls sitting opposite guys.... Oh what a damn shame...... Then tell them they only have to perform a dialog instead. Phew.