Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mdickun83]

I got placed at a technical high school. I just saw the students English level. It's roughly the same as a second grader, my co-teachers were saying.

I'm gonna eventually try some Project Based Learning, I think but haven't really discussed it in full with my co-teachers yet. My first lesson is Monday and they seem to know almost no words. Any suggestions for what I can do for the first lesson? I wanted to do some kind of a "This is where I'm from" but they probably won't understand much of what I say.

I'm kind of starting to ramble. ANY suggestions are appriciated. Thanks.

[andrewchon]

They probably all have handphones with English dictionaries. Put up some writing on board and tell them to translate it. If you speak Korean you can have a good laugh at the translations. You can also do a reverse and make them wonder why you are laughing at they Korean->English translations.

[winterfall]

Search it, this topic pops up every few months. Just focus on vocab and drill. Don't expect them to be able to string anything together beyond very, very simple sentences like: I like _____ and they still get that wrong half the time.

Welcome to the trenches.. You got off easy, at least yours are at the 2nd grade level. Mine are in pre-school

[sojusucks]

You have to simplify everything to the lowest level. Use pictures with everything and make powerpoint presentations. You may never get to serious activities except with select groups of advanced students.

[Epik_Teacher]

Technical schools are the dumping grounds for the students too lazy or not equipped to go to college. I almost took one of those jobs once upon a time, when I didn't know better. But the goes of ESL smiled on me and I got a better offer. The guy who took the job did a midnight run after a few months.

A suggestion, start off with something like Up and Away that focuses on sentence structure and grammar. Book one or two might do the job.

[the oak llama]

i'm at a technical high school. for half a year now.

low level for sure.

what seems to work best is to work with what they already know.

example: i have an activity where i show them a picture on a ppt. i ask them to work in groups and write down as many words as they can think of.

what do you see in the picture? how does the picture make you fee?
what do you imagine when you see the picture?

you can do the same thing with speaking. make it a game / competition.

chances are they know a lot more than you think but aren't at all comfortable using it / putting it together.

trying to force them to use elaborate sentence structures or phrases from the text book can be agonizing. let their korean english teachers do that.

let the students entertain and teach each other.