Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deanjcrawford]

Hey all,

my school has decided to start a new kindergarten class in an attempt to get more business in the mornings. I have no problem with doing this, however, i have been given the task of coming up with the materials but i have never taught kindergarten before!

Sooooo...

does anyone have any advice on what or how to teach kindergarteners??? to start off with it's going to be two, one hour lessons per week with only two 7 year old kids right now (which i believe the mom is going ot sit in on) until it grows.

Any advice on some books, materials or lesson plans or whatever would be most appreciated!!!

cheers!

[yingwenlaoshi]

Sounds kind of crummy to me.

[ttompatz]

[Masta_Don]

Depends on their level. What I typically do - I loathe teaching kindie by the way - is give them a piece of paper that has boxes with space for writing under them (I got the original off of flashduck.co.kr). There are 12 boxes and the page is divided in half. I write a capital letter on the board and ask what it is. Then I ask what sound it makes. Then I do the same with the lower case. I have them write them down at the top of the page. Then I'll say a word that begins with that letter and ask if they know what it is. If they don't then I'll tell them in Korean but then making sure to repeat it plenty of times in English. I'll have them draw a picture in one of the boxes of the word. As they're drawing I'll ask questions about the word. Then I see if they can spell it as I say the word very slowly. Repeat the whole process six times. Then move onto the next letter and do it all over again.

I make sure to use a mix of words they probably know and words they probably have never heard before. I was hurting for 'i' words that use a short 'i' sound so I gave them 'idiot'. They loved that one. Using verbs can be especially fun for them, like 'kill' or 'jump', and it makes their pictures more interesting.

I do the above for a twice a week 50 minute class with a five to ten minute break. Keeps them from running around the room and me sane. Probably a cop out lesson plan but teaching kindie can be so draining.

[deanjcrawford]

don, cheers!

that sounds interesting. how many did you have in your class. I will only have 2, you think that could work?

I was hoping to get a text book for them really incase i run out of stuff to do. any ideas? I've heard lets go could be ok?

[Masta_Don]

[tomato]

Hello, Dean!

These are the first ideas which come to mind:

books: If your local library has a good kiddy room, get a library card, even if you can't read Korean. You might find some books with one picture and one word on each page. You might even find some English books there.

If you don't already know Korean, this will be a good way to learn Korean.

As for books originally written in English, many of my favorites are published by Creative Teaching Press. I have three copies of I See Colors and all three copies have had to be mended.

music: If the school has a xylophone or electronic keyboard, make up some songs. Have the kids play the songs while you point to the keys. You don't have to be George Gershwin to do that. Just take a sentence and set it to music sing just two or three notes.

games: If you have a scanner or a copy machine, make duplicate cards with pictures on them. These cards are good for many activities, including bingo and concentration games. You can also use the cards for playing old maid and go fish with the older kids.

spelling words with manipulative objects: I lucked out the first year I was in Korea. A construction project was trowing away little pieces of tile, all of which were about the same size and shape. I gathered them up and painted letters on them. They have been useful for me ever since.

You can make letters out of cardboard, but be sure to laminate them or they will get grubby.

gross motor activity: I know a few action songs, but for starters, you can walk, jump, run, dance, stamp, and tiptoe while chanting sentences like "John is wearing red" or "Susan has a brother."

Since I joined the forum, 26 people have asked the same question you just asked.
Here are the links to the 26 threads:

26 25 24 23 22 21
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The next time someone asks, this will become thread number 27!
If there is anything else I can do for you, let me know.