Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mavsfan5]

This week I have 5th graders for English camp, and only 1-2 student(s) have been coming. All of the activities I planned are meant for groups. Do you have any ideas for things to do with these students? Things for small numbers?

Thanks for your help!

[tanklor1]

Scrabble.

[jrwhite82]

LOL! Can't believe they didn't just cancel it.....

I HATE 1 on 1. Games suck because he is competing against himself. They don't want to sing alone.

Do lots of art based activities. Making crafts, posters, corals, collages, etc...

He can write a journal.

If you have a video camera, maybe have him make his own movie and then he can act out all the different parts. You can work on it together.

Board games that you can play together.

Listening activities.

Look at some pictures from a book. He makes a prediction about what is going to happen in it. Read the book together. Do some comprehension questions. Then he has to do some kind of art project afterwards or make up his own ending, or what happens next.

Have him read a book and trace the development of a character in it. There's lots you can do with that.

How's his level?

[mavsfan5]

Haha...We played Scrabble yesterday! Maybe tomorrow too!

He's intermediate, I'd say. He's pretty good, and learns well. It's just kind of awkward since there aren't other kids to do the activities with!

Thanks for the ideas jrwhite82...I'll try some of those tomorrow!

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I second the art. In the summer, I had 1 or 2 kids every day. The 1 that never missed a day is now one of my favorite students, and we sometimes have tea together. Do loads of arts and crafts. We did a lesson on descriptions (big mouth, blue eyes, etc) and then drew portraits of one another, describing them afterward. I have the one he did of me on my fridge at home.

[jrwhite82]

Here is a fun activity:

You both make a picture together. You describe what you want him to draw and he draws it. So you start by saying: Draw a square in the middle of the paper. Now draw a triangle right on top of the square. Now draw a circle above and to the left of the triangle and square. Now draw a small rectangle inside the square so the bottom line of the rectangle and square are the same. Now draw short lines coming straight out of the edges all around the circle. Then see if he drew a picture of a house and sun.

Stuff like that could be fun for a bit. He can practice his prepositions. Then you can have him describe one to you.

[matthews_world]

At their level, bring in some culture points you'd like to share about your country but nothing too risque.

To introduce your topic, write a few questions about it and have them answer true or false next to the question.

Do some brainstorming, listing pros & cons of the topic on the board.

Have them create a poster on the topic. They can use your computer to print pics and research information then glue it to the poster board. Have them write a 5 paragraph essay on the topic and post it.

Display the finished work on your classroom bulletin board.

[AsiaESLbound]

I'm using this site for Winter camp to great success. I got the school to support me on it 2 weeks before the camp by allowing my co-teacher to put the craft supplies on the schools card at a Dream Depot stationary shop.

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/winter/index.html

This site is huge and has many more themes and subjects than the Winter one I'm using right now. I'll move to the Spring theme for late February camp. We made snowflakes, snowman, and polar bears, but in the Spring theme there are things like making a rainbow of colorful hands.

This is the main front page site for it. http://www.dltk-kids.com/

[matthews_world]

[AsiaESLbound]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

[schwa]

Since we're meant to be "teaching" conversation, isnt this an ideal opportunity to simply engage in it? Pull up a chair & chat.

Heres a fun structure for ultra-small classes: use the alphabet for topic headers. Let the student suggest.

T: "Something starting with A. What do you want to talk about?"
S: "Animals."
T: "OK. Do you have a pet? What pet would you like? If you died & came back as animal, what would you want to be? Why?" etc.
Topic runs its course, move on to B.
S: (girl student) "Boys."
T: "What do you think about boys? Tell me about some boys you know. What would you do if you woke up in the morning & suddenly you were a boy?" etc.

C, D, E ... Student-initiated topics, fun follow-up questions, share your own ideas too, keep it moving. Teach a new word here & there but dont think of it as a "lesson" & keep it light. Your student might surprise you as well as benefit in a number of ways.