Korean Job Discussion Forums

pet lover · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Location: not in Seoul

op deleted

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

Sorry, I don't feel like writing ten pages.

What about creative writing?

Read a novel together and discuss it.

Try to think of what middle school students are interested in and discuss those things. They love to debate. Teach them debate words and how to express opinions in English. Even have a practice debate, with points and counter points.

pet lover · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Location: not in Seoul

ryleeys · Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Location: Columbia, MD

I have taught history to my students... but even there I have to stay away from alot of things as Koreans have particular views about history. And my specialty is East Asian history and that is a definite no-no if you don't have the specific Korean perspective.

I still thoroughly enjoy teaching history though.

kangnamdragon · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea

Zyzyfer · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 6:10 am Post subject:

Ditto. Middle school kids can write; you've just got to figure out some techniques to get it out of them.

I'd suggest that your students do creative writing. I've yet to see a kid who knows how to write a cohesive paragraph or write a descriptive story, so whenever I get the chance, I work on that.

jurassic5 · Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Location: PA

i'd teach broadcasting. (specifically radio)

it was my major and i love it.

i wonder why they don't release a type of XM Satellite radio here...it would be cool. but i guess radio is for only ahjushee's and ahjumma's here in korea.

tomato · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 7:10 pm Post subject:

Hello, Pet Lover!

a third language

Have you studied another language besides Korean?
Then try teaching that third language in English!
Teaching one foreign language in another foreign language isn't difficult.
And it's a good way to spend time. The kids get two language courses for the price of one!

gross motor skills

Gross motor skills are relatively easy to teach in a foreign language.
Hatha yoga, folk dancing--there are probably other gross motor skills which could be practiced in the classroom.

children's story books

How about children's story books? There are oodlums of easily understandable picture books in the English book store. The best English bookstore I know is in Pusan at subway stop #18 exit #1.

Many of them are easily adaptable for singing and role-playing. You can also test recall by holding up the book and asking, "Who can show me the elephant?" "Who can show me the giraffe?" After enough repetitions, you can have the kids read the book back to you.

I have a page on picture books at:

http://eslideas.hypermart.net/picturebooks.html

If there is a good library in your city, get a library card and go to the children's room. You will find bookoos of picture books which you can easily translate and which the kids can easily understand. If you don't already know Korean, this will be a good starting point.

indoor games

If my students had their way, they would do nothing in my class but play bingo games and card games. Old maid and go fish have not disseminated into Korea, but you can help do something about that. Rhyming words, phonetically similar words, synonyms, homonyms, antonyms--anything you want to teach can be adaptable to bingo games and card games. You can get all the illustrations you want from Google searching. If you don't have a scanner, make friends with someone who does.

I have a page on games, too:

http://eslideas.hypermart.net/games.html

sign language

If you haven't had any experience in sign language, you can learn with the kids. You can get plenty of good practice through simple patterns. ("Sarah is next to Judy. Judy is next to Matthew.")

I recommend sign language practice for all foreign language students and teachers. The proponents of TPR (Total Physical Response) claim that learning a language while moving is beneficial, but they are at a loss to explain how to learn anything but verbs. ("I am walking! I am jumping! I am running!" Since all parts of speech can be expressed through sign language, I recommend sign language over TPR.

My favorite sign language dictionary is Comprehensive Signed English Dictionary.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0913580813/qid=1084934939/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1658994-0003058?v=glance&s=books

children's miniature poetry

How about children's miniature poetry?
If the children go for ��ī�ݶ� ��싰��, they should also go for "00 and 00 sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." This could also be a good starting point for a lesson on syllables and poetic meter. Incidentally, most of the little gems will be in trochaic tetrameter.

The best collection I know is Cinderella Dressed in Yella.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800815858/qid%3D1084934496/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-1658994-0003058

If you don't have time to order from Amazon or Asia Books, let me know and I'll send you a few pages.

VanIslander · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 3:18 am Post subject:

Teach Geography is what I'd do.

They all need it, from simple compass use to map reading to place names to economic and cultural geography to weather patterns.

It can be a sort of practical English learning of science, societies, tourism, etc.

But then again, I was a geography major for a semester in university and have a passion for it.

Do what grabs you. You're more likely to put extra effort into it and your energy can be infectious.

How about animals? Wink

Good luck whatever.

Mankind · Joined: 18 Jan 2003

edited

canuckistan · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 3:31 pm Post subject:

Sailing

syclick · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: Seoul

My hogwon has made me teach several science classes to students. It's a pain in the you-know-what...