Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kleenx]

Hello,

I'm a first time teacher teaching the "speaking" portion of the lessons in a hakwon. They're using a book which doesn't seem to be all that great at making the students talk and just drills them with reading and writing.

The speaking portion of the book has me go over some vocabulary words while they repeat. It's great that they're learning these words and I help them with the pronunciation, but the principal wants me to help them feel more comfortable engaging in a conversation in English and holding that conversation.

I've been looking things up online but I'm not finding anything too useful. Does anyone have any suggestions that have proven effective? I mean I can throw out topics for them to talk about, but beyond that is there anything else?

Actually since it is my first time teaching (I have a background in pharmacy not education or English), any suggestions/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[s.tickbeat]

Dokdo. Ask an innocent question, like 'I read about Dokdo, but I don't understand; can you tell me? My friend said that it's Japan, but I'm not sure. . .'

THEY WON'T STOP TALKING.

[edwardcatflap]

What age are they, what level are they, what are their needs/expectations etc..? It's difficult to give you any advice without knowing a few more details

[kleenx]

They're at a pretty advanced level. They're in the second year of middle school but they've been learning English for close to 4 years and are currently in an essay writing class.

In terms of grammar and whatnot, they're quite strong. However, they lack the confidence and practice to speak properly. That's where I'm supposed to help. If they were weak in reading or grammar, I would pick up a topic and roll with it. But since they're at a decently high level, they're bored going over grammar and reading. They want to just talk.

Thanks!

[edwardcatflap]

Use the course book to find out what vocabulary topics and grammar are on their syllabus then use that information to plan grammar based or vocabulary based speaking lessons. If the grammar is present perfect for example, plan a lesson around the students talking about their experiences with activities such as guessing whether their partner is telling the truth or not, or developing their own life experience quizzes and so on. If it's narrative tenses you need to get them to plan and tell stories. If it's modals, put them into groups and get them to draw up a set of wacky rules for their school or something. If the relevant unit in a book's topic is history, get them to have a balloon debate when they each pretend they're a character from history, if the topic is sport, get them to describe a sport and the others have to guess what it is etc etc...Use the vocabulary in the book as a starter and feed in more challenging vocab according to their needs. Buy a general book on speaking activities then design your lessons to concede with what's in their course book. Include some general fluency activities such as role plays and discussions on subjects they show a particular interest in but make sure you give them some useful phrases they can use to start them off. Hope this helps a bit

[cheezsteakwit]

check out the website - eflclassroom.com.

There is a ton of stuff there to get conversations going. If I remember correctly, there is a 'Resources' button to click on to get access to some helpful conversation starter PPTS.

At any rate, as a new teacher , that website is a great resource.

[Seoulman69]

Lots of good advice here but they are all missing the most important point.
Middle school kids are afraid of peer appraisal, either negative or too positive. Therefore you need to find a way to take each student away from the class so that they can speak to you privately. This will lower their performance anxiety and allow you to gradually increase their self confidence regarding their English speaking abilities. This takes a long time but the results are long lasting.

[lowpo]

I have to follow the book to the "T" at my school.
When I first started I had the students write sentences with the grammar words or a group words from the chapter. When they finished I would help correct their grammar. Then I would tell the students that they would have to say the sentences to the class.
When we came to the reading part of the book.
1. I assign a paragraph to a student to read out loud in class.
2. Then I would give the students time to read the story to themselves.
3. After they read the story. I ask the students questions from the story
and hey would have to answer the question. At first they
could use the book to help answer the questions.
4. After they started to become better at answering the questions in class.
Then they would have to start answering the questions from a story
with the book closed.
5. Then I started having the students start writing questions from the
story. The next class the students become the teacher. They come
to the front of the class and start asking questions to the students.
Writing a short speech
1. Since the students are also writing in your class. Have the students
write a short speech. Then have them give the speech in class.
2. After a student gives a speech. Ask the students questions about the
speech.

[kleenx]

Thanks guys for the many advice. And thanks cheezsteakwit for the website!

Honestly, the hardest part is probably getting them to speak. Like Seoulman69 mentioned, they're confidence level is a bit lacking due to their peers.

I taught one class yesterday and they opened up a bit but I did a lot more of the talking than they did. The class, for now, consists of 3 students. It will expand to about 6 soon. I don't necessarily have a book to follow. I am trying to run the class as a "free talk" class. They are allowed to talk and such during class as long as its in English. Also their only HW is to speak to each other in English whenever they can (they go to the same school). These are students who wanted this class (they asked the principal for a speaking only class) so I am hopeful that they will listen.

I was looking online and some of the websites suggest that I shouldn't nitpick at the grammatical errors at first. While I agree that nitpicking may make them less confident, is it ok not to correct them? Because if I don't, they will assume what they are saying is correct and it may be harder for them to fix it later on. Right? I'm unsure about how to go about this.

Thanks

[edwardcatflap]

[some waygug-in]

If you correct them, do it in a way that won't single anyone out.


Make a list of grammatical errors you notice and then perhaps at a the end of the week, do a segment where you go over those errors.

Don't indicate who said what, just list them as "common mistakes".

Write out the sentence and then ask students to suggest corrections.

If they can correct them, great. If they can't, then teach them the correct

way to say it.

Some students may say they want you to correct them, but many will get

all indignant and argue with you. Then complain about you to management. It's a tricky game to play, so be careful.

[Unibrow]

Get to know them. Ask them what they did on the weekend, what they would dress up for on haloween, etc.

[ajuma]

OMG!! The class from hell!! 3 middle school students in a conversation class!!!

Now that that's off my chest. I have a question. Are they boys, girls or mixed? (probably mixed...which is FAR worse than single gender!)

One thing you could do is start off the class the same way each day. Ask each student to tell you something interesting that happened to them that day. At first they'll probably say "Nothing". But push a little. Did anything funny happen? Were any of the the teachers especially mean? Did anyone do anything stupid in their class?

Take turns with who goes first each day. Have the other 2 students ask questions about what happened, then go on to the next student.

Korean students live very narrow lives. Besides knowing who the pop stars are, they know NOTHING about the rest of the world, so don't even try to get them to talk about current events.

Whatever grammar topic you're going to be teaching, go on line and search for grammar games. There are a million of them out there.

As for correction, it sounds like you're just getting to know the students. some waygug-in is right in that you need to listen for the mistakes and make a general list of things they did wrong. After you get to know them well and everyone is more comfortable, you could gently say: Um...again? Which will make them think about what they just said and hopefully correct it.

Later on, after you know them better, you could be more pro-active. You could bring in a bell or some kind of noise-maker and when someone makes a mistake, you (or, preferably the other 2) could hit the bell, alerting the student that they've made a mistake. This will ONLY work if everyone is super-comfortable with each other and don't mind looking a bit stupid in front of their friends.