Korean Job Discussion Forums

[poet13]

This came up while during a lesson plan called, "prepositions of location."

I was standing behind one boy and in front of another.. I asked, "Where am I?", hoping to get 'between'. Instead one boy said, "You are in front of so-and-so.". Another boy said, "No! Teacher is behind so-and-so."

So now I had to explain why they were both correct and I accidentally said "It's relative." Oops. They know relative as someone in their family from a prior lesson plan.

My explanation was thus.
I took a towel, pretended to pour heating oil on it, and pretended to set in on fire. Then I gave it to a boy and said hold this for five seconds. We counted five seconds off the clock while the boy went through the appropriate theatrics of having a hand on fire. I asked the class if five seconds is a long time. Someone shouted "forever!". So then I took the towel back, put it back in the closet, and asked the class, "Who's wants to play Starcraft?" Lot's of hands. "Ok, go ahead. You have five seconds."
They understood easily the concept of relative. Great. But I realized that was a time-based illustration of the concept of relative. I had a really hard time thinking of a equally understandable position-based illustration. Standing between two students seems lame.

Anybody out there have some kicky suggestions on how better to illustrate relative in regards to position?

EDIT. Accidentally had, "in front of so-and-so...", and "...in front of so-and-so...".

[poet13]

Anybody?

[kimchi story]

If I had nearly the savvy to come up with that killer illustration of the relativity of time I'd like to think I might have reduced the illustration to the simple definition that five seconds is a long time and a short time. You were between the boys and in front of one and behind the other. A perfect segue to the idea of 'It depends'.

[poet13]

It depends.... yeah, ok, but I was thinking more along the lines of something visual and concrete rather than the abstract of a conditional.

[kimchi story]

Sorry boss, just threw that one out there.

[chickyabroad]

How about facing the class with a book in one hand and asking them if it is on the left or right? Then asking which is your left or right hand.

That's not quite thought out all the way, but it's at least a little more concrete.

[Hanson]

How about using height. I'm almost 6' 4", which students think is Giant-esque. But put me on an NBA basketball team, and my nickname is "Shorty".

As far as using locations, I'd ask "how far is it to the ________" (insert place all the students know from around town - HomePlus, or something). Then, depending on their answer, you could emphasize that it would be a short distance by car, but a long distance if you crawled there.

It's like the sentence "it's right around the corner" or "spitting distance" can mean very different things to different people thinking in different terms.

I have a picture I often use where there is a living room in which the couch/sofa goes away from our viewpoint (not facing the viewer, but sideways, and against the wall). It's on the left of the picture. Next to the sofa (from our perspective) is a coffee table. But to the mother who is sitting on the sofa, the coffee table is in front of her. Whose perspective are we using?

Lame, but the students usually get it.

[poet13]

Ok, good ideas all around.
Hanson. The third example you used is interesting. I can adapt something for the classroom I think. The first two examples are good also, but fall into the same trap I fell into. That is, I used a time illustration instead of position. You used height and distance. I especially like the second example of driving vs crawling.

chichyabroad. With a more advanced class sometimes I will get into a "Who's on first?" type routine. I start by asking someone to give me something, a pencil, a book, anything small. They give it to me with their right hand. I act offended. They ask why. I say you gave it to me with the wrong hand. I say no, you gave it to me on the left. A chorus of "No, teacher, that's his right hand!" "It's still the left!" They say NOOO!, So I make one student get up and stand beside me and point and ask, "Left or right?" They have to say "left". If you are quick and responsive, eventually (I dont know why this works, but it does) someone will eventually goof and say, "Teacher, right is left!" We then have a good laugh. The part that they really take out of it is the word perspective, and a solid understanding of My left, Your right, On the left, To the right, etc.

[Privateer]

I'd use pictures.

Show them a picture of someone facing a sofa and elicit 'The sofa is in front of the man/woman'. Then show them another picture, this time with someone with their back to the sofa, and elicit 'The sofa is behind the man'.

For round 2 reinforcement, you can show a chair 'facing' a table and then facing away from a table.