Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tanklor1]

I understand that many people here are here for different reasons. Travel/paying off bills/women or men. And that's cool by me. We each do what were going to do and we just have to live with eachother. I don't know how alone I am in this position but I came here to be a teacher. To me it's the best job ion the world. I get to teach and see the world. What better life is there?

Outside of this obvious blog post, I believe that I've come down with a touch of "The teacher's syndrome". I have one class who are almost fluent. Drop them in the middle of New york and they'd do all fine by themselves. Well, as soon as I learned that I'd be teaching them I was already thinking about ways that I can push them harder and hopefully push them beyond anything that they'd ever thought they could go. Today I gave them one page from a childrens novel to really test their abilites. If I go through with it entirely it'll be an incredible undertaking and have me pretty much going into unknown waters. But I think that with time and a little help. My class and I might be able to pull it off. Then again it might just be the "syndrome" talking.

To anyone who tried to teach a novel here in Korea. How hard was it? Is there any easy way to get around the text outside of having a dictionary by your side the entire way? and how long does it normally take to finish a novel? The one I have picked out is 200 + pages. (Another strike against me) Any help will be helpful. So if anyone else fell down with the "syndrome" feel free to help me out.

[Phant0m]

I have a similar question to add to the OP. I was thinking of using plays like "The Doll's House" by Ibsen or maybe something a bit more contemporary for the advanced classes (I will be teaching High School). Do you think it's a good idea?

[calimero]

I'd really suggest to you to use something easy and fun. Your main objective should be to not let them get discouraged, and enjoy what they are reading.

No matter if you are teaching adults or teenagers, I'd always go for fun children's books, because your students are like children in that they read very slowly, and therefore need excitement on every page.

My favorite is Harry Potter. It is very fun and exciting, and really easy and well written.

I'd be enormously impressed if you succeed in getting them to read and enjoy reading.

I don't know "The Doll's House," for the sake of argument I'll suppose it's a play written for adults, and then I'll say: do you think your students would like to read it in their own language, and would they still like it if they could only read one page per hour?

[calimero]

[tanklor1]

There are only four students in the class, which makes things a little easier. The book that I have choosen is the first book in the children's series "Redwall" It seems to be an excellent series for this type of thing, as it is very easy to read, the only problem I have, currently, is getting around the amount of new words that are present on any one page. I highly doubt that most students use the word "Cowl" in everyday English. But, in threory, it shouldn't be something that a good dictionary can't solve on its own time.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll be sure to test them out.

[Cracker006]

Older childrens stories... Aesops Fables, or Childrens book of virtues...

Read it... what does it mean? What's the moral of the story? Often the things they get out of a story are different than what we do.

I did this once... Story of the turtle and the hare. As westerners we think about things from the angle of the turtle... they ALL talked about the hare, and how he became too arrogant, and must always give his best effort, even when he's better than the other guy, and not being serious about a competition leads to failure.

Gives them something challenging, and shows them something of our mentality because of what was ingrained into us when we're little.

Have them translate some of their favorite childrens stories from when they were little.

[ddeubel]

I'll second Calimero's recommendation to keep it simple and fun.

Along the lines of Extensive reading theory -- reading for enjoyment should be the focus to foster language acquisition. I use a three finger rule. If there are three words on any given page that the students don't understand - toss it! (a 5 finger rule for first language students -- they are much more able to understand meaning through context when they don't know a word).

One book that I think is really simple to read is "Old Man and The Sea". Also has a movie to watch afterwards and isn't too long so as to drive students to boredom. Hemingway never used my complex language when running, to his credit.

You might also try some of the Penguin readers and others that are specifically edited for second language learners. I have an example in our Share area -- The coldest place. Also, audio options are a must for second language learners -- get a book which has audio if possible. I spent hours getting the best in the web of online books -- this is an option as well as our leveled readers. Click Learn and Stories. Love that Dog might also be a great choice. http://eflclassroom.com/stories/lovethatdog

There are many other appropriate classics. Next week I'll have time and will put more books on our bookstore shelf. Check it out under young learners for a few that I recommend. http://eflclassroom.ning.com/wpage/books

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[tanklor1]

[Draz]

[blackjack]

Ronald Dahl is always good, stories like the twits, lamb to the slaughter, the BFG, Revolting Rhymes, Matilda.

That or get a book of short stories, assign each student a story, then get them to write book reports, class demonstrations.

200 pages seem a bit long, what happens if one student finishes in a week while all the others take a month. Keep the book around 20-30 pages max

[Countrygirl]

Although I would never be able to teach an entire book to my students, I do do book reports with my afterschool class (elementary school). I wanted my students to be inspired to read English books on their own. The first part of the book report was writing a summary about the book and the second part of the book was writing down 10 words that they didn't know and using the words in a sentence or drawing a picture to demonstrate comprehension. I'd have to say it was very successful and many students went out of their way to read English books. Of course, there was a reward for the student who read the most books.

I once tried teaching The Joy Luck Club at an ESL school in Vancouver. I was also suffering from teacher's syndrome at that time. While the students really liked the book and subject matter, there was no way we could have done the entire book. I ended up breaking the book into chunks and utilizing the movie to keep the lesson interesting.

I also second blackjack in that Ronald Dahl is an awesome writer. My daughter loves his books and she reads them over and over. I've read a few recently and they are really good options for children as well as adults.

[jinks]

I don't teach novels, but I do teach reading. Most of my reading classes are with so-called 'advanced' senior university students. None of them could cope with a full-on English novel, not even Harry Potter, there would be too much dictionary looking-up going on for the reading to be any fun. I use graded readers for just about all EFL reading classes, I seriously recommend them to other teachers too.