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tanklor1
Joined: 13 Jun 2006
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 Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:41 am Post subject: Wow, that's a awesome idea. There's just one tiny problem. |
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Today, I had a good idea and no matter how this turns out it will always be a good idea.
I had about 20 minutes left in a class and I had to decide whether or not to start another story. I decided that there wasn't enough time. This left a small 20 minute gap with nothing to do. I stepped out of class for a second to think of a idea. Then it hit me TRANSLATIONS. I picked a basic book off my desk and walked back to the classroom. I walked in and started to write a basic story in English on the board. The kids enjoyed it and I knew that it was a good idea but as the kids passed in their papers the realization dawned on me.
I am going to have a biotch of a time correcting these.
Common sense would have told me that should have done the translation the other way around but I didn't have anytime for "proper planning"
Despite my handicap I still think that my idea is at laeat half-decent on the "Hey, it could have been worse" scale.
Last edited by tanklor1 on Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:44 am; edited 1 time in total |
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jellobean
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:52 am Post subject: |
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| That's what the Korean co-teacher is for.... They don't actually like to do something, but maybe if you ask real nice they might help just this once.... |
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jay-shi
Joined: 09 May 2004
Location: On tour
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:09 am Post subject: |
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It is a good idea and it's also true that this is when the Korean teachers are a valuable asset to the classroom. My co teacher is the one who does the corrections after all. 
I just started teaching a conversation class to advanced grade 6 kids. I taught them grammar last semester so I know they are good with that skill set. However like many other Koreans they are good on paper but make many mistakes while speaking.
Before the start of the course I had a talk with the head K teacher and we were thinking of homework assignments for my portion of the class, they study more advanced grammar with a Korean teacher. He suggested memorizing conversations and that just didn't sit well with me as a great language acquisition tool. So I suggested they translate the reading portions on every unit.
My K coworker does the corrections on their written material they do for homework, but in class I have all the students stand up one by one and read a sentence from the reading and translate on the fly into Korean. Their classmates are eager to correct any mistakes. I guess it also makes their written homework easier in the end. |
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tanklor1
Joined: 13 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:16 am Post subject: |
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| jay-shi wrote: |
It is a good idea and it's also true that this is when the Korean teachers are a valuable asset to the classroom. My co teacher is the one who does the corrections after all.
I just started teaching a conversation class to advanced grade 6 kids. I taught them grammar last semester so I know they are good with that skill set. However like many other Koreans they are good on paper but make many mistakes while speaking.
Before the start of the course I had a talk with the head K teacher and we were thinking of homework assignments for my portion of the class, they study more advanced grammar with a Korean teacher. He suggested memorizing conversations and that just didn't sit well with me as a great language acquisition tool. So I suggested they translate the reading portions on every unit.
My K coworker does the corrections on their written material they do for homework, but in class I have all the students stand up one by one and read a sentence from the reading and translate on the fly into Korean. Their classmates are eager to correct any mistakes. I guess it also makes their written homework easier in the end. |
That's a great idea. I think that 'm going t steal it.  It also gets rid of messy paperwork.
I think I will ask one of my fellow teachers to help me. Thanks. |
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crazy_arcade
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:47 am Post subject: |
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translation?
Isn't the over-abundance of this teaching methodology one of the main reasons we're here?
I think hangman would've been better....... |
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tanklor1
Joined: 13 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:21 am Post subject: |
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| crazy_arcade wrote: |
translation?
Isn't the over-abundance of this teaching methodology one of the main reasons we're here?
I think hangman would've been better....... |
Hangman for 20 minutes? I'm a teacher not an entertainer. I'm not here to play games.
I often do push my students harder then they expect a foreign teacher to do. Translation is an excellent way to build natural skills in any langauge. I was teaching an advanced class last week and I had to point out a minor flaw that kept coming up. They forgot to use the word "at" in a sentence. That's unacceptable for a class who have been studying English for a number of years.
So many students study the langauge but they don't learn it. Ask if any one student can respond in a basic sentence I bet even half or more of the middle schoolers can't even do it.
If I'm harder on my students by making them do translatons then so be it. The worst that can happen is that they increase their English skills and I wouldn't want that to happen now would I?
Last edited by tanklor1 on Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
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jay-shi
Joined: 09 May 2004
Location: On tour
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:24 am Post subject: |
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| crazy_arcade wrote: |
translation?
Isn't the over-abundance of this teaching methodology one of the main reasons we're here?
I think hangman would've been better....... |
crazy_arcade,
It depends what levels you are talking about. For beginners and intermediate levels it's pretty much as useless as typing things into naver or google translate.
At a more advanced level, translation within context, is an invaluable tool and a true show of fluency. The students brain thinking in 2 different languages simultaneously. I can do it, with effort in 2 languages, albeit not Korean, yet. Some can in more than 2 or more and power to them.
We're talking about real time on the fly translation here... in spoken form, with very little time to think.
I don't know what kind of environment you teach in, but if your students can do this at a whim then they are good, real good, and you must be a good teacher. |
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tanklor1
Joined: 13 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| For the lower levels I just have them make sentences but I often put in handicaps such as you're not allowed to use "I", "Like" or "have" The translations ae reserved for the older crowd. I'm trying to get the kids to write fluidly on a page. I'd kill for a proper sentence. Where the hell is all these grammer rules that the K-teachers are teaching them? |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:13 am Post subject: |
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Pure genious. How'd you ever think of it.
Ok, that was sarcastic, but at least you're doing some thinking. Why you had to announce it is another issue, you maniac.  |
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Jizzo T. Clown
Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Location: at my wit's end
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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If you're in a public school and the class is well-behaved, why not let them have 20 minutes to relax as a reward? They're in school for 12 hours a day anyway, and I doubt they get a chance to sleep / take it easy in any of their other classes. Plus they'll love you for it. 
Barring that, I'd suggest having more students "perform" dialogs for the class after a speaking or reading activity. |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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Your inability to correctly evaluate the Korean is a weakness - not bagging on you, I couldn't do it, either.
Could you set up an activity where students on one side of the room see your English story, translate it to Korean, then pass their Korean translations to their teammates on the other side of the room who need to conjure it back into English?
Points go to the team that can do this most accurately. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| crazy_arcade wrote: |
translation?
Isn't the over-abundance of this teaching methodology one of the main reasons we're here?
I think hangman would've been better....... |
The problem is not translation itself but the way it is so often mis-used.
There is too much of the teacher translating everything for the students and very little of the students translating anything for themselves.
If used properly and not over used, translation can be a very effective learning tool. It gets the students to really think about English words and what they mean in their own language.
By the way, one of my co-teachers always asks me to play hangman when we have an extra 5 or 10 minutes..  Go figure. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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| what about 'correct the sentences'? write up some dopey English sentences and have the kids work on them to clean them up |
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