Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mastap]

Where can I get some sample lesson plans (in particular for the book 'Middle School English')?
I have found alot of resources for elem school but not so much for middle school. My Kor co-teachers do absolutely nothing, never offer to help for lesson prep and just sit back and kick it when I teach.

[mrsquirrel]

I take it that means you have no experience in what you are doing and they aren't prepared to help you.

Ask your co-teacher for the Teachers Book. It's a nice stop gap while you get on your feet.

Have a search on www.esnips.com as well search for GEPIK. Esnips will be blocked at school so you will need a proxy to get to it.

What lesson are you up to? Lesson 2? 1st Year Weather 2nd Garage Sales 3rd Health and Food?

PM me your email address and I will forward you some bits and pieces of lessons.

If you can't PM - ajarnsquirrelATgmaildotcom

[Bibbitybop]

You should state the publisher or describe the cover art of your book. There are a lot of "Middle School English" books.

What organization are you with? There are probably resources for you somewhere by people in your organization.

[Shredd]

Ha, I would venture a guess that ALL Middle School English books here are called Middle School English. Mine has a Taxi on the cover of the year 1 book. There should be some kind of CD or other supplemental material to go along with the book, ask your co-t. I'm a rookie but I've been going through the appropriate lessons as well as accenting the lessons with some grammar usage rules (articles, adjectives vs adverbs, etc.). My co-teachers (I have 5) sound a lot more helpful than yours though.

[BS.Dos.]

If the book has loads of Korean in it that you don't understand then I'd say put your hand in your pocket and buy your own book.

My MS book (MS English 1 by Carl Dusthimer) is mostly in Korean, but I can use the dialogues, which I supplement afterwoods with my own simple comprehension questions. I usually spend about 20-minutes on this, then spend about another 10-minutes running through new vocabulary, including syllable counting and pronunciation with phonetics before wrapping up with a game or something. Just depends on how I am for time. Every couple of weeks I'll do something completely different like using the internet or something.

With the books, there's usually other simple exercises that while in Korean, are usually pretty easy to work out and perform in English.

I'd still recommend that you invest in a few books of your own though. You can't really expect to rely on just using the school book. They'll get bored, you'll get bored so perk things up with some additional material of your own.

[Draz]

[Smee]

I do lessons based on the textbooks at my schools. There are about 10 different middle school English textbook, so I'm not sure what you have, and I misplaced the link for the site that lists them all.

Well, here's how I go about it . . .

I basically just do speaking, and I'll use the dialogues, speaking drills, and readings to work on sentence building. Repitition is important, so l pick one or two important sentence patterns and create some information gap activities around them. Nothing special . . . just go onto Microsoft Word and make up a table. Today the dialogue was stressing "I know you're busy, but could you come to _______." Very easy, but of course using the textbook the whole time would be insanely dull. So I typed up a little daily planner and gave the students a list of possible locations, asked them to write them on their schedule along with a time, and then I had the students interview each other and write down each other's schedules. They were using the dialogue model in the textbook, so it wan't anything unfamiliar to them.

My books also have a comic strip for a dialogue (if you've seen it,you know what I'm talking about). We'll go through that, too. They'll listen and repeat after me, they'll have a dialogue with me, then they'll work with a partner, then they'll change partners. Then I'll have them close their books and we'll go through the dialogue from memory. I photocopy the dialogue and cut out the text in the bubbles, and I either put it on the overhead or pass it out to students so they can make their own dialogue (that's a little hard for a lot of classes).

At the end of each chapter is a section with pronunciation practice. Time permitting I'll give the students a small list of words with different minimal pairs, and we'll practice saying each one. This month the book has "M" and "N." Then I'll say a particular word and they'll have to circle what I said. Then they students will say them to each other and will have to circle what their partner said.

Those are just two of the many simple activities I use. I don't really do games, per se, as I have limited time, but thet students enjoy competing against each other so I'll often do a few minutes of something that lets the kids do that. Maybe I'll write a word on the board and say that this is the answer, and have them come up with the question that elicits the answer (like Jeopardy, I guess, and they like that, surprisingly). Or I'll make a contest out of that pronunciation activity. I see each class about once or twice a month, and so while there's a ton of stuff I'd like to do, I have to just stick to the basics in order to be a worthwhile part of their English experience. I also keep it low-tech, with simple activities I can put on a worksheet or write on the board. I usually don't have access to technology, and besides I think the students can get too distracted by just looking at the TV screen all the time. Also, I have a pretty busy schedule, so I don't have time to make powerpoints or scour the net for videos.

[ddeubel]

Smee,

[BS.Dos.]

^He's not wrong.

Technology not only puts more zing in your twang, it's also more interactive and stimulating. It can free you up from the dreaded teacher centered 'chalk and talk syndrome' as you'll be able to circulate more freely (with the aid of a remote control you wont be stuck next to the PC clicking the mouse every couple of minutes). It'll accommodate a broad range of learning styles; it's obviously visual, auditory (if you tweak it, which is easy) and kinesthetic if you get them on their feet role playing etc) and (perhaps more importantly) more environmentally friendly (reduces the need for so many A4 handouts etc)

The virtues of using technology to teach English far out weigh those that don't.

Look into it. It's 2008 after all.

Post script: I think Dave's stickies need refreshing. I'd like to see a digital teaching reference point.

[mastap]

Thanks for your replies. The books that I am using for m.s. have a picture of Elvis on the cover for 1st grade and a pic of western students running away from a tower for 3rd grade. Anyone using the same series?

[poet13]

"If the book has loads of Korean in it that you don't understand then I'd say put your hand in your pocket and buy your own book. "

Sorry, I can't agree with this advice even for a moment. Yes, we need to occasionally buy materials, but if a public school wants us to teach, then they should supply materials. It's too easy though to print stuff off the net, or just make stuff up.

Don't worry OP, after a couple of months, if you are diligent and organized, you will have an impressive collection of lesson plans to draw from.

[BS.Dos.]

I agree with you in principle. In an ideal world your school would supply you with everything you need without question, but if you're struggling with the book they provide you with, then I'd say don't moan about it, get off your a55 and show a little initiatve afterall, if you're not enjoying the material you're teaching, then it's highly unlikely that your students will either.

As for trawling through websites, sure, there's plenty of stuff out there, but given the time it takes to find decent material as opposed to having material of your own to flick through at will, I'd personally take the latter everytime.

When I arrived here, I spent roughly two months using the internet and for every one activity I found that was useful there were about another ten that weren't and when you factor in the time it takes, it's easier to just get yourself a book or two.

[poet13]

Ok, now I'm agreeing with you...in principle. However, I think that as you go, the internet as a resource, coupled with using your imagination can be so much more flexible than any textbook. I think also having an understanding of your goals and your own curriculum is important too, but that's another topic.....

[Draz]

[nomad-ish]