Korean Job Discussion Forums

[keflyn]

Hello,

I was wondering how many of you use TEFL's "PPP" way of writing up lesson plans? Do they work well with Korean students? The reason I asked is because TEFL is an international course so I wasn't sure how widely accepted they lessons plans are.

Thanks in advance.

[johgraker]

no idea

[edwardcatflap]

PPP is one type of lesson structure that can work for certain types of class for certain target structures but there are many other acceptable ways of planning a lesson. Your questions are a bit vague in some areas, 'Korean students' covers a huge area, from Samsung executives to five year olds singing alphabet songs. Also TEFL stands for teaching English as a foreign language and does not as far as I know refer to a particular course so we don't know which course you have taken/are going to take etc...It might also help if you make it clear why you want to write up PPP style lesson plans at all. Is this something you have to do/will have to do in your job? I would say that in a formally observed lesson with adults when you are introducing a new grammar structure, a PPP style written lesson plan would be a safe option to go for but I don't know if that helps you at all.

[keflyn]

Sorry for the vagueness of my post. I'll try clear some stuff up. I'm currently doing a TEFL England online course where they set you assignments to write lesson plans in the style of "PPP" as well as writing controlled practices and free practices etc. I was wondering if this is commonly used while teaching English in Korea because I know not everyone who goes there does a TEFL type course.

Do Koreans expect you to have these more creative ways of teaching or are you expecting to be much more formal with your approach?

Thanks.

[edwardcatflap]

As I said before it really depends on who you're going to teach and where. A lot of private institutes here have their own curricula and they like you to stick to their course book or lesson plans carefully, while others give you a free reign. In some public schools you might be working with a proactive co-teacher who will plan the lessons themselves, while in others you might be expected to lead the classes.

The problem with using the PPP style approach at public schools is that the classes are usually mixed ability and shorter than the lessons you get tutored for on TEFL courses. IMO PPP works best with adult students when introducing new structures. The level of the public school syllabus will pretty much guarantee half of the students will know the structure already and anyway the Korean co-teacher will probably be explaining the grammar rules for the ones who don't, in Korean. If you're going to be teaching adults, the PPP style might come in handy but again it depends on the type of class. AS you pointed out most people teaching here have never done a TEFL course so a lot of places like to have the lessons mapped out for them when they arrive