Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gillod]

My school asked me to start teaching afterschool classes. This is great for me- It's 3:30 to 4:30, when I'm usually sitting on my butt. But I have no idea what to teach.

It's a mix of 3,4,5. That sounds insane to me. What could I teach to a 3rd grader that won't bore a 5th grader and what can I teach to a 5th grader that would be understood by a 3rd grader?

What do you do for after school classes?

[nomad-ish]

i've taught a mixed grade after-school class before; don't do it! i spent way too much time planning one lesson and then trying to make variations of it for each grade level. then during the class i would jump around a lot to explain things to everyone. definitely not a good idea.

[Fishead soup]

Basically anything you can't use for the ordinary large classes because either. You are stuck using a really bad textbook. You have to cater your materials towards larger classes.

I use Bogglesworld , Finchpark.com, Strange Stories in the News

[gillod]

[gillod]

[DWAEJIMORIGUKBAP]

I'd use a text such as Let's Go 3 or English Time 3 etc...

5 mins. Intro - how's the weather today, how are you etc (ball toss)

5 mins. Monthly song - http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-little-kids.htm
(choose from the link then print copy for each kid, sing twice each AS class)

20 mins text book

5 min break (so you can take a rest, grab a coffee and not be around kids for a few breaths....)

5 min today's text review

10 min activity that recycles today's text language (presentaitons, role plays, questionairres, interviews, quizzes etc..)

10 min game as above

[Xuanzang]

Use a textbook and add supplementary activities to build on the themes.

[son of coco]

Monopoly and other games

No not really, not all the time. Sometimes though, especially if they've had exams etc. We make up some rules and they're fined heavily if they don't speak English (well...$10).

Bogglesworld is good, I'm at Middle School though so we can use a lot of the role plays etc etc.

Also do surveys and other stuff.

[chipsnsalsa]

I have about 20 students in my afterschools - the upper level class is about 20 students 3rd-6th grade. This is my third time doing it and first time feeling comfortable with it, lol. I've actually stopped using a text book altogether - I just can't figure otu how to use them well, so I just make my own materials and we glue them all in a notebook.

Anyway, in case you're interested - my schedule : everyday we start with a dictation song - we listen to a pop song or fun kids song and fill in blanks. This is a change from the singing we do in class and they seem to really like it. Next, we do a small role play of 2-5 students in a group and we have to watch everyone's play after they finish. (The best one gets a prize, so they usually all work at memorizing their little one liners and are really cute. I try to split up the high energy third graders into other groups - the older kids always complain when they get a spaz, but they usually pretty good and getting them to settle down and learn their line.) Then we play a game and do an essay related to the conversation in teh role play. (I've taught them little paragraph long essays - so really not an essay at all - but we make sure to have introduction sentences and conclusions.) It sounds high level, but it's not. I print out a copy of a premade essay for my third graders, change some words on it in pencil and they copy. Some of the older kids actually do write really nice, original essays/paragraphs though. When each student finishes their essays I check it and they play in the play room or read a book until everyone is done. Then we play another game or do a small art project.

Oh. We also have one party or activity day a month where they can either watch a movie and I can breath, or we make play dough or do game tables (four tables, each with a game - go fish, guess who, etc. - a certain amount of time at each table - usually lasts about 45 mins to an hour altogether. I make them write an essay on their favorite table then...) All in all my class is about 1 hour and 45 mins.

[jiberish]

Easy way could just make it a writting class and just have different expectations for their work. However just because they are grade 5 doesn't mean they are better. I've had grade six students who were worse than grade 1 students. That is not a joke.

[br_owen]

my extra class is crazy mixed - ability wise - so we watch movies and then do a quiz...

[Katchafire]

Why don't you ask your school if you can write a test for those students who are interested in attending your after school class, then choose the 10 - 15 students who are at a similar level.
I did this with my 3-6 grade students, and now have a class of 10 'advanced' kids - all of whom have been attending English academies for a while.

I make sure these classes aren't like our usual ones. We play board games, write letters to penpals (which I set up with the help of my nephews back home), take photos and write 'blurbs' for our classroom scrapbook or photo board, once or sometimes twice a month we have a party day based around either a fav food, fav color - with related activities, or making story Ppts which we can use in our regular classes.

I teach this small class in my office (which is large enough for several desks, a sofa, etc), so I bought the kids a big cushion each, and once a month we bring an English story book we like and we all take turns reading from them, snuggled up around the sofa and on our cushions.

This month I'm teaching them the Thriller dance from "13 going on 30" which we are going to perform to the school the day before halloween. (Can't wait for that!)

The key is to make these after school classes fun for you too. Something different to break up the week.

[br_owen]

i do similar stuff with my elite class. We also had interviews and i picked the smartest 20 kids. Some are 3rd grade, some are 6th grade. It's my favorite class to teach.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays though, my class is all over the place. They're watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as i write this...

[Palladium]

I teach in a small middle school, so we split them into a higher and lower ability class. The school I teach at has very low reading skills in general, so we're doing "Up and Away." It's good for sentence structure, grammar and reading skills. The lower class started with book 3 last spring and is now on book 4. The higher class started with book 4 and is now in book 5.

We do one unit a day (or 2 sometimes for the easier book 3). I read, we read together, then read one by one (or to each other in pairs). Then we do the workbook which is the last unit and the current unit. Then we play some kind of game involving candy as a prize. Usually hangman or a word seek puzzle from words we've done in the book.

[Countrygirl]

I've always had mixed grade classes and never had a problem. They're normally the same or similar English level.

Backpack is a great book. There is a group project in each chapter so the kids work in groups to make a poster. When they're done they have to present it to the class.

Spellingcity.com is a great website for improving their spelling. Every once in a while we have spelling tests with stickers for those with 100% or only 1 wrong and the words that are wrong written out 5 to 10 times. My poor spellers have improved alot.

The only thing advice I would give is to make the kids do homework and study in the class as much as possible. They have so many classes and hogwans that I feel like I'm setting them up for failure if I give lots of homework. Plus, I can help them whereas most of their parents can't.

And, as another poster said, movie day once in the middle of the semester and the last day before vacation.