Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Spindleshanks]

Hi there everyone ,

Have just begun a huge adventure, moving to rural Sth Korea to become the sole ESOL teacher in an all boys' high school!! As a rookie ESOL teacher, I'd be truly grateful for any pointers anyone can offer as the school has no set curriculum or ESOL resources in general (something I didn't expect, lol).

I have a tonne of ideas for topics etc for teenage boys but finding it a little tricky to know where to begin in terms of creating a syllabus or formatting lessons - mixing in a bit of culture, grammar & still keeping it fun etc.

My classes will be one hour long, have about 30-40 students to a class & ages will range from around 14-17. My task is to create one lesson a week that I go through with all of the classes. Students are of mixed ability. Classes are to be mixed - speaking, listening, reading & writing. I do not need to complete report cards or create tests. There isn't so much as an OHP or computer lab, just a whiteboard, markers & me.

My main concern is to keep it relevant & fun for the students & for the lessons to build on each other. Any advice would be great or even just horror stories of your first classes. It'd be comforting to know that I'm not the only new ESOL teacher who has been in this position.

Cheers

[scorpiocandy]

My first month was horrific! I had never taught before and was meant to observe for the whole first month. Then the secretary quit and the Supervisor had to play Secretary. And so of course I had to take the Supervisor's classes.

They ate me up alive. I think I played hangman for the entire first month while I figured out HOW to become an ESL teacher. I watched the Korean teachers and what exercises they did and pretty soon it was a piece of cake


I'd suggest using the first week or two for warm-ups and icebreakers so you all can get to know each other. I found this to be the most valuable thing you can do at the beginning of a new class as it sets the tone for the rest of the semester (or year). They will feel less self-conscious around you and thus make the subsequesnt lessons so much easier I think.

This is also a good way to guage each one's level so that you can better plan your lessons. So before the term starts have a rough idea of lessons and a syllabus but then you can fine tune it once you've actually met them and seen what they do and don't know.

Good Luck!

[Sadebugo1]

[caribmon]

The single best activity that I have found to get students really interested and excited is to write a phrase on the board. You read it out loud as fast as you can, like an auctioneer would. Then you get them to read it and you time it. They get very competitive and they are begging to get the fastest time. The exercise is one that I invented to speed up their reading and to get rid of the "lunchee" and "pagee" and "finishee" because adding "ee" to everthing adds precious time. You can also get them to read it perfectly. I had kindergartens doing perfect reading with no accent whatsoever. I had some of the speed reading almost as fast as me. It's like hockey practice but with ESL.

[JesussaviorofmySeoul]

I used to play truth or dare with my upper level students, and they loved it.

For example: Make 30 cards up, fifteen with truths on them, fifteen with dares on them.

The truth say stuff like, tell us about your favorite class. Tell us about your girlfriend. How do you cook kimchi? Have you ever peed your pants?

The dares tie into whatever lesson you are teaching, and some fun stuff.

Go outside in front of the school and yell "I am fifteen years old and you are 33 years old!" ten times.

Go outside and dance for five minutes while chanting, "I was born in Korea; I will go to college someday; I am having fun in English class."

I also used to have a candy dare where I'd make them eat special candy for a dare. I'd fill a piece with salt and make them eat it.

The kids loved my class. This is a great ice breaker class, and you could do it once a month or so. The students I used this on hated English class but after this loved it.

Using games and ingenuity is a key to winning their hearts and minds.

I would say @@@ (dog spelled backwards) bless, but the moderators have told me I cannot say such things on here.

So I will say good luck instead and hope your year is great.

Oh, and another good lesson for high schoolers is concentration. If you have 35 kids, make up 36 signs on 8 by 11 paper. Have two of them say the same thing, like "I am in school and I like it." Or "I can't wait until I see my girlfriend tonight." Or "I wish I was more handsome." Or "I wish you were more handsome." Make some serious and some funny. Call two people up front to be the guessers and play concentration. When the guessers call on the others, made the others stand up and read their sentences outloud. The guessors take turn until all cards are matched.

This game is fun to play once a week and the kids love it when you make it funny. It can be adjusted to any level.

Make things fun.

[Spindleshanks]

Thank you so much to everyone who responded with their pearls of wisdom. I can see how important it is to build a rapport with students not only so they're willing to attempt activities but so that I can know what they want out of lessons as well.

All the best for 2010!

[djsmnc]

No worries at all. I came here after being told I would be an "Assistant to a Korean teacher" and being thrust in a classroom on my third full day in the country.

Found out the first day that the "curriculum" chosen by the "school" was crap and decided to improvise based on what little I had to work with.

Just get a feel for the class and students and do what you think all your best teachers in the past did to make the class informative and interesting. This has worked very well for me in the past and should work fine for everyone else who is able to relate to learners well.

[Mint]

[Weigookin74]

Buy a picture dictionary. It will give you ideas for topics and you can make copies for the students. USe this for a discussion.

[passport220]

[DavidVance]

Spindleshanks,
Go to:
http://sites.google.com/site/multifactoreslenglish
There's heaps of material, with Korean vocabulary and translations - print it out and hand it out, or bring it up on the screen.
Regards,
David Vance

[jiberish]

Find a good book and make lessons out of that. The Grammar in use books are great for that