Korean Job Discussion Forums

Underwaterbob · Joined: 08 Jan 2005 Location: In Cognito

At least in middle school when exams are coming up in a month and every one of my students knows very well that none of the material in my class will be on any of those exams. The kids are stressed out and it's stressing me out. I can't even get them to participate in some games. The kids have four math classes today. It's pretty obvious where their priorities lay. Any suggestions on how to keep my sanity?

oldfatfarang · Joined: 19 May 2005 Location: On the road to somewhere.

This advice is probably a bit late, but.......

I don't play games (or music) except around test periods. The kids are really hanging out for some games then. Today, I played a spelling game with my 'problem' MS 3's - and they went nuts trying to get to the whiteboard to win.

An old trick. But a goodie.

Chill out. The kids are the ones with the stress at the moment - not the teachers.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Break it up with some new activities. Last week I made pinatas with my grade 1s (chapter on parties) and made penut butter and jam sandwiches with my grade 2s (chapter on food and recipes). I did a running-dictation game with my grade 3s that got them into new groups and then up and out of their seats.

Another way to motivate them is to see if you can write part of the exam. The ones who(se parents) really care about marks will start to pay more attention then.

ekul · Joined: 04 Mar 2009 Location: [Mod Edit]

It really helps to have some of your material on the test, it's amazing how much extra focus it gives the students.

xCustomx · Joined: 06 Jan 2006

As the above posters have already said, you need to get your material on the exams. It's amazing how my MS students perk up as soon as I mention that I can test them on the material I cover in class. I also carry around a class list with all their names and student numbers so I can give plus or minus points towards their participation grade. I wish I had done this two years ago. Not only do students feel more motivated to speak in class, it also helps me to learn their names.

Rusty Shackleford · Joined: 08 May 2008

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

dean_burrito · Joined: 12 Jun 2007

I know what the OP means. I see the students stressing already and I can't say I blame them. I have a class observation just the week before finals. I'm curious if the board of education has ever shown up and watched a movie in and English class. I'm so tempted to do it. I'm sure everyone has read how half of my classes go from the technical thread. Of course no one would ever allow and outsider to witness that. They'll only see what happens in the best of my classes here as they were only invited on the one day I don't have any to the tech classes. It's a world of difference when the student/teacher ratio is 11 to 1 rather than 35 to 1. Three years of this and you can see the education gap widen even further.
Anyways any suggestions for movies if I go that route? I wish I had the balls to go through with it but I did lose one recently. Ha ha.

Fishead soup · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Location: Korea

oldfatfarang · Joined: 19 May 2005 Location: On the road to somewhere.

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

oldfatfarang · Joined: 19 May 2005 Location: On the road to somewhere.

cruisemonkey · Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject:

I love this time of year in PS -
My yearly 'demo' class is well past and so is 'open house' morning for the parents (these two things always get co-teachers antsy).

I'm basically finnished until September 1. Next week is 'review' week for the term (I contribute to the exams). The week after, I'll be giving speaking tests; and the week after that is exams. Then, it's 'movie time' until summer vacation.

The weather is beautiful... and my holidays are all planned and booked.

Tobias · Joined: 02 Jun 2008

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

I've been doing lots of internet games and grammar quizzes (from www.manythings.org) and English-Korean vocabulary quizzes on http://iteslj.org/v/k/ for about two-thirds of the class then show (mostly Disney) DVDs - especially the High School Musical series because of all the catchy tunes and so many interesting bonus features.

I originally showed High School Musical only with English sub-titles, and even my low-level students were basically attentive, but I had to explain a lot before and/or after the clips (but not during - too many explanatory interruptions are a drag...)

Since I regularly show DVDs the last 10 minutes or so of practically every class, I've found it more effective to let them watch a movie first with Korean subtitles to understand the gist of it and then show it later with English subtitles for learning purposes.

My best Korean co-teacher also thinks it best to let the students view them first with Korean subtitles.

Song cloze listening exercises are also popular and can be done in various ways, including using YouTube music clips to enhance the entertainment aspect.