Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jim_we]

I generally try to teach them practical things, but some classes are such a low level all you can teach them is phonics and ABC's. One thing I'm big on in dividing the class in half or thirds and using PowerPoint for games or different kinds of presentations. Take their natural energy and pit the little blighters against each other. I also like to use Discovery Planet's puzzle maker to intro vocabulary. Just wondering what everyone else is doing.......

[bogey666]

[mnhnhyouh]

My lessons so far, I teach each one 15 times....

1) Ask me questions. If the grammar is good, I will answer, if not, the other students will correct it. There were also some other points raised. Ask my age, I explain how age is calculated in the west, etc.

Materials : my brain, a marker and the whiteboard.

2) Show them some pun jokes (homophone jokes). Give them a list of 400 sets of homophones and have them make jokes. This lesson starts slowly, but they get into it. Best?

Q: Are you afraid of the night?
A: Yes, he has a big sword.

Materials : a couple of jokes to write on the board, and a list of homophones, 5 copies. Easy to find on the internet.

3) Give them a coffee shop menu, divide them into pairs and have them make a small conversation buying some coffee. I gave them a template on the board. Bring some pairs out to do their conversations from memory. I pick the slow ones, so everybody knows they have to do it. I also pick the good ones and the funny ones, and some random ones.

Materials : a menu from a coffee shop, 5 copies, found on the internet.

4) Same as 2 but with a resturant menu.

5) A powerpoint game that the last FT left, that shows them Konglish and they have to say the English. Points and candy gets them into it. I finished that week's lesson off with some surfing and Australian Rules Football videos. They loved those

Materials : the Konglish game PPT.

6) Same as 2 and 3, but buying movie tickets. One student made a good deliberate joke with this today. Opening line, Welcome to CGB Movies. He understood the Korean/English V/B thing and the term "B Movies". Great for a 1 grade student.

Not sure what the next weeks teaching will entail, I generally make them up on the preceeding Friday as I have a lot of spare time on Fridays. I think about ideas through the week.

The PPT file is good, and I might make another game from it at some time. It would make a good one for showing two sentences, a correct one and an incorrect one, points for guessing/working out the correct one. Lots of opportunity for humour there.

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[bogey666]

[spliff]

Mostly laminated games, props for role plays and PPT's of course.

[mnhnhyouh]

[MSU Fan]

What age do you teach?

I generally do PowerPoint presentations, but also try and mix it up from time to time. Try going to a book store that sells ESL supplies. Most of the books don't cost that much and offer another way of learning the material. It seems like you are already on the right track but mixing things up with different games. I've been stuck constantly teaching with PowerPoint and am also looking for different teaching methods.

I have to teach 10 classes twice each week, 25 hours total, and find that if something isn't working or something isn't quite right, I can alter it or throw it out and come up with a new plan. Each class is going to have a different dynamic, the worst classes are the loud ones and the classes where you have to pull teeth to make them utter a word.

I have used Dr. Seuss books recently and they seem to be working. I read "Green Eggs and Ham," which has only 50 different words in it! There is a lot of repetition in the book, which is important when learning another language, and there are funny illustrations. I am going to use another children's book, "Go Dog Go!", for my next unit on complimenting others.

Just remember to keep trying new things every once in a while, but find a system that works. I have a short conversation with students every once in a while in which I ask how they are, what they did last night, how they slept, etc. Most understand what I am saying, but there are still some students that are either too shy, don't want to mess up in front of their friends, or are still having trouble with English.

I also try and put myself in their shoes. They study for hours and hours and have to learn a foreign language at the same time. I try showing them pictures of the U.S. (Canada or other country of origin) every once in a while to show differences in culture. I also reward those that pay attention with little pieces of candy every once in a while, which students just love. I also think back to the 1 year in high school and middle school that I "learned" Spanish. Sadly, I can barely say more than one sentence in Spanish. Ay caramba!

[MSU Fan]

[Dome Vans]

Never used powerpoint. Probably a bit old school. But in my three schools there's only one with a screen to do it, and it's a big screen and the lights need to switched off to be able to use it. Other classes just have a knacked tv so no use.

Middle school is generally worksheets I do myself. Conversation, word fill and the like. Usually paper based.

For elementary, flashcards from MES English, board games, cards games for vocab etc.

Being out in the sticks the students are a pretty low level but I don't have any bad students which I'm very pleased about, they all come from farming/fishing families.

[KYC]

I'm currently teachign phonics as my elementary students' levels are really low. I supplement with ppt presentations, starfall, phonic worksheets, and power point based games since any other games will be disastrous as they can be really out of hand sometimes.

[Draz]

[jim_we]

[mnhnhyouh]

[Binch Lover]

I made every student buy an English notebook. For every unit in the curriculum I make a handout with a dialogue, vocabulary list and some phonics which they stick in their notebook (I print them 2 to an A4 page). I also make flashcards, worksheets and PP presentations (nothing fancy).

You can find a lot of materials on ddeubel's website http://eflclassroom.ning.com/ which you can adapt to your own uses. Also, great flashcards on http://www.mes-english.com/ if you have access to a color printer. Try http://www.eslhq.com/ for ideas and basic worksheets (including a great way to make board games).

[icnelly]

For elementary school resources:

My Esnips

Rob's Esnips

For karaoke/songs:

Karafun

My Karaoke Channel

Ddeubel's Karaoke Channel

For Websites:

Larry Feriazzo's page

American University's CLT lesson plan

EFLclassroom 2.0