Korean Job Discussion Forums

[greasypeanut]

i dont really know what to do with my high school students. as it is, i have 3 korean co-teachers that teach the students from a textbook. and what they want me doing is teaching them something else. like today, i tought them about the weather. (did a short power point, had them do a worksheet, and then had them try to make a short play/skit on the weather)

now the hard part is that these students barely know any english at all. ive had much longer conversations with elementary kids here. all they really know, or seem to know is "hello" "how are you" "i am good". as such my co-teacher is doing most of the talking.

does anyone have any ideas on what to do with these kids? i dont know what i could possibly do that would last an hour. sure i could play games, but i ran out of ideas and material, we can only play vocabulary pictionary so many times. and i can't play any thing more complicated than that, because they just don't know enough.

im sure theres some people in the same situation as me, can ya share some of your ideas?

[D.D.]

I was going to answer this but thought I will waite until September as the semester is almost over. I hope you just started this job in the last few weeks?

[greasypeanut]

yes, yes i did.

[espoir]

The semester has 2 weeks left in it. Play some movies and then wait for the summer break

[greasypeanut]

hehe yeah i just talked to my coteachers...tahts what im going to do. simpsons movie ftw. this thread can die now.

[Bob_Salad]

If you've got complete autonomy, then I'd invest in a book over the summer. You didn't state whether you're HS is vocational, technical or academic. Either way, get yourself down to Kyobo. I'd personally recommend:

English Communication 2

You may be able to find book 1, although I've never seen it (I think YBS has it so he may be along shortly and add a comment as to how good it is etc). I've been using 2 at my Academic HS for the past 2-years. It's really good. I'm selling my copy as I'm out of here in about 7-weeks if you're interested. I'll also include a CD-ROM of the first 12 of the 16 units in PPT form. (Here's a sample for you to download so as to get an idea of both the level and content etc).

As you can see, each of the units has 3 dialogues plus a load of other activites. All you'd need to do is photocopy each unit from the book for your students and then run the PPT through the classroom PC-->TV (assuming you have one in your classroom that is). I used to teach in the library, which was much better than a classroom as you've got much more space and (in my school) a huge screen. I also added slides (dialogue comprehension questions and additional related grammar exercises etc) to some of the units. Each unit will take about 3-weeks to work through depending on how extensively you drill and how often you see your studnets etc. So, ignoring cancelled classes and tests that come up each semester, the book should last you for at least a year and a half, but I suspect it could last for up to about 2-years if your school is anything like mine. I bought my copy at the start of my second semester, so I've been using it for 3-semesters now and I only got up to unit 10 with my second graders.

I can't PM, so post if you're interested.

*Edit*
The unit I've linked to is actually incomplete. Basically, each unit is formatted the same and ends with a review, pronunciation exercises and a fairly extensive reading activity.

[Gary-Korea]

Greasypeanut! Im in exactly the same situation at my Technical High School aswell. They said to me on the first day that I had complete autonomy over what I teach and also not to use the normal textbooks. I asked for help on here the other day aswell and got a couple of good ideas. First of all, English Communication 1 and 2 by Putlack and secondly, this website:

http://iteslj.org/t/tmm/

Tell Me More has to be by far the most complete resource ive found for lesson plans on the internet. Im looking forward to a stress free new semester using these resources.

I hope that helps!

[Gary-Korea]

Hey Bob_Salad

If Greasypeanut doesn't take you up on the offer of the textbook and PPT CD-rom then im definately interested.

Even a copy of the PPT CD-rom would be very useful on its own if we could sort that out? Let me know!

[espoir]

[D.D.]

If you are lucky enough not to have to use a book then don't use a book. There are a lot better ways to learn conversational English than using dialogues and books.

[i]

Got a copier? Wordsearch, crossword puzzles, etc. Just type ESL wordsearch in google, and you'll find tons of resources like that.) If you have a projector, Mr Bean and just stop the video here and there and ask what he is doing. Kids seem pretty competitive in trying to say what he's doing.
I finished my book and have some time, so it's a lot of games and videos.

[Silk]