Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ThreeDogNight]

What about teaching these pre-schoolers? I mean, can you really teach them anything? I don't believe this, but making it here a year is going to be sheer madness.
I teach kids 6-11. Now the parents in the older group are allowed to watch us teach through the internet. Problem is, the books we use are complete crap. The stress is too much!!!

[crazylemongirl]

You can find stuff on kindy

Here
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=5541&highlight=kindy

Here
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=4673&highlight=kindy

Personally I have a love/hate relationship with mine, but in general (though this may seem somewhat counter intuitive) they littlies pick up language quicker than the older ones, but also forget just as fast.

CLG

[waterbaby]

I teach preschool kids as young as 3 and 4 western age and I'm surprised how much stuff they pick up. Most of it is just parrot learning - I ask a question and they say the response. But they do associate picture flashcards with their English words and take great delight in following me about chanting inane English words and phrases just for the hell of it.

I also teach preschool kids a bit older - about 5 or 6 years of age and these guys are not yet in Korean elementary school but they're learning to listen to, speak, read, and write English. I can have free talking conversations with these kids in my class every day. They use all the english words they can muster and try really hard to communicate something.

The best thing about teaching them is that you can see their progress. 3 months ago, they didn't know their ABC's but now many of them can read basic words and tell me things like they just got a new puppy and they like to ask me a lot of questions about my personal life ...

What books are you using?

I've used Mr Bugs Phonics 1 & 2. 2 sucked big time and I found it really difficult to teach and the kids were so bored with it but 1 has been really good. I now use Scholastic Phonics A which is great for helping the kids to learn to read and to develop their vocab... but it's just a little dull to teach. I use the Scholastic book together with Let's Go 1 which is a pleasure to teach. My older students are going through the Up and Away in English series which is not too bad. Wish they had songs though.

As for cameras and the Internet... urgh! It's just a big marketing/PR exercise. All these hagwons out there ... such a competitive market... always looking for a new way to get the jump on the next guy .

How much flexibility do you have with the material you deliver? Can you bring some of your own stuff into the classroom to supplement the books you're teaching?

It may sound like a major pain in the butt (argh! unpaid prep time), but making extra resources and worksheets can really make your teaching week a lot more enjoyable. Have you seen the link under the Job Discussion Forum with a whole lot of links to sites for teachers? An extra hour or two on the net each week can get you a WHOLE bunch of resources very quickly.

Here's that link.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=3158

Cheers, WB

[whatthefunk]

I actually ditched my books in my preschool classes. I had a really hard time keeping the kids attention using the books, so I stopped using them. I still follow the basic patterns found in the books, but I teach the kids using almost entierly games and worksheets. The kids find it much more enjoyable, I think its alot easier, and the kids seem to be picking things up faster.
Check out a book called 'Teaching English to Children in Asia' (can't remember author now, but I will find out), it helped me alot in my younger classes and has a great list of games in the back.
If you still want to use your book, only use it for a little bit of the class time and then use the rest of the time to do activites and stuff. I usually walk into class with a list of about 10 activites/games, and then go through the list, changing activities when the kids start to lose a little intrest. It takes alot of preparation, but its well worth it.

[wormholes101]

[chi-chi]

Just talk to them.
I had students barely bigger than apples, and most of them couldn't speak Korean yet.
Why they were there for two hour English classes, I don't know.
But I had a mission. To teach these nose pickers some English.
It began with all of them in their own little world in class, which I won't even describe because if you've seen it you know. I didn't know what the hell to do, we didn't have any resources at first.
So I just started talking to them. After we got books, they would often get bored with those, so I would just start telling them about my day and talking to them about the bugs outside the windows. Then I would sing songs for like 20 minutes. Goofy but cute.
By the time I left, these kids knew a gazillion English songs, including what the songs were about (helped by use of a picture book.) Unlike my older students, they knew how to say such things as "where's the cd player?" "I love you!" and all sorts of goofy, handy expressions that are just too embarassing to list. (Yes, sometimes kids will pick up what you say out in the hall-mostly goofy stuff from me, but some not-so-cute stuff from the other teachers.)
Damn. I miss those kids.

[OiGirl]

[ryleeys]

My kindergarden kids are expected to cover one lesson from three different books every week. So when my director told me I wasn't doing enough story time, I damn near fell over laughing.

I'd also rather be neutered than allow my students' parents to watch my class over the webcam. Not that I'm doing anything that needs hiding, but you just know that the parents would be questioning why Min Soo got 3 minutes and 42 seconds of attention and Jin Mi only got 3 minutes and 28 seconds. And what's that, Eun Ji fell out of her chair and hit her head while you were writing on the board! How dare you not stop that from happening?

[tomato]

Hello, Three Dog Night!

Here are some previous threads which were started by someone saying, "Help! I have to teach kindergarten! What will I do!"

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=16204&highlight=

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=14162&highlight=

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=11817&highlight=

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=5804&highlight=

I've been at it for 4 years, and here are some of my favorite ideas:

rhythmically greeting the children

If you are of musical bent, take a scrap piece of lumber, draw quarter notes, eighth note couplets, and a quarter rest. Then ask a carpenter to cut it out for you.

At the beginning of each class, greet each child in 4/4 rhythm. Say "Hello, Michael!" in even quarter notes.
Say "Hello, Jane, shh!" with a quarter rest at the end.
Say "Hello, Melanie!" with an eighth-note couplet on the third beat.

easy picture books

My favorite English bookstore is Kim and Johnson in Pusan.
Take the subway to Beomnaegol, which is station #18.
Walk out exit #1 and it's on the second floor in the building right in front of you.
They have a good selection of books published by Creative Teaching Press, which are adaptable for this purpose--or for almost any purpose.
Their phone number is 051/645-0515. Their e-mail address is:

[email protected]

But don't limit yourself to picture books written in English.
There is a wealth of picture books written in Korean which you can translate. There are oodlums of picture books with only one word or very few words on each page. If you know Korean, this will be good practice. If you don't know Korean, this will be a good place to start.

For that matter, the book doesn't have to be written in English or Korean. Keep an eye out the next time you go on a visa run.

As you read the book, elicit a response from the kids after every page.
After you show a picture of a dog, slap your knees while saying rhyhmically, "This is a dog. This is a dog."

give the children turns drawing

You say the children can't draw anything recognizable?
That's okay, have them draw lines, circles, or anything else simple.
Draw a line and then say, "Who else can draw a line?"
If every hand shoots up, and David is behaving exceptionally well,
choose David.

"Let's all say in a loud voice, 'David drew a line!'"
"Let's all whisper, 'David drew a line!'"
"Let's all say in a puzzled voice [scratching your head and frowning] 'David drew a line?'"
"Let's all cry [taking out your handkerchief and sobbing], 'David drew a line!'"
If David drew a circle when he was supposed to draw a line, that's okay too. Just substitute the word "circle" for "line."

spelling words with alphabet tiles

I once had the good luck of walking past a construction site which was throwing away small tiles of about the same size and shape. I took them home, painted letters on them, and have been putting them to good use ever since.

Lay down the letters for the word BLUE, fingerspell the word, and then take one letter out.
"Who can put the letter L back in?"
Sounds absurdly simple for us, but we're not four-year-olds!

gross motor activity

I try to time this activity for the halfway point in the class.
Jumping, marching, and stamping can be adapted for animals, colors, letters of the alphabet, or any other subject matter.

"What color is this? This is red. Let's march for the color red.
This is red! This is red!"
"What color is this? This is blue. Let's run for the color blue.
Thisisbluethisisbluethisisblue . . ."
"What color is this? This is green. Let's stamp for the color green.
THIS IS GREEN! THIS IS GREEN!"

In order to adjust to a more sedentary activity, it might help to make tiptoeing the last gross motor item.

sign language

Sounds complicated, but you will be surprised how easy it is to teach sign language.
Just make a simple pattern, such as "This is red, this is blue" or "This is a car, this is a truck."
You will only have to look up a few words each week.

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


monotone musical activities

You don't have to be Mozart to administer this activity.
"Red" has one syllable, so sing the word on G.
"Yellow" has two syllables, so sing the word on G-G.
Call on volunteers to play the appropriate number of G's on the xylophone.
Such a task may be an insult to you or me, but not to four-year-olds.

saying goodby

You don't have to be Mozart for this activity, either.
All you have to do is call for a volunteer to play the xylophone, then
sing "Goodby" on E-G-E while pointing to the correct keys with your finger.



As a disciplinary measure, you can choose the three best-behaving students for this activity.

Then you will probably look at the clock and complain that your classtime was so limited.

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

I loved my one year teaching pre schoolers. All the advice here is good, I can't add anything. Just a comment on the cameras. I had them, and the main thing that makes them useless is that mine had no sound. If you're going to do something do it properly at least. The way it was, I could be having a very productive session, just sitting at the table, but because it didn't look dynamic the parents would get tetchy.