Korean Job Discussion Forums

[I_Am_Wrong]

A class of four second year Middle School students for fourteen 50 minute sessions during Winter break and I get to pick out the text book....great. Had one class of free talking and the kids are humorous and intelligent. They're not too bad but still have a lot of the common problems with grammar when forming conversational sentences and often don't know what to say. So I go to the bookstore looking for a book that would include interesting topics; sentence/speaking modelling; listening exercises; speaking practise; review.

Is there no such thing as a perfect book? I sifted through so many books over several hours and ended up leaving empty handed. Maybe the problem is that I don't really know what I'm looking for...but I think I do and I know I haven't found it. However, this happens to almost everytime I look for a textbook. I finally found something I like for Elementary classes; the Backpack series of books although this series also includes lots of reading. I really want a book for middle school students doesn't overburden on reading but models conversations, provides listening, and has practise. I've wasted so many hours in English bookstores...I don't think I ever want to go back.

[mindmetoo]

My feeling is I'd rather pick the book myself than let my boss do it. It takes a bit of time, I suppose, but in the end it's worth it. The only thing I don't like is having to pick a textbook that's advanced enough for the kids who have been in the program for a year and simple enough for new kids coming in at their level.

Despite the grammatically odd title, I like the American Start with English series for my speaking classes because it has a lot of good English speaking drills. It's very systematic. (You, of course, have to break up the drills with some fun stuff.)

The Backpack series I find too fluffy. I don't teach middle schoolers anymore but when I did I used to let them pick the discussion topic for the next class and then I'd write up a reading/comprehension lesson and then discussion questions. I had great fun with that. Videogames, donuts, ice cream, '80s new wave music, Mexican food, doc martin shoes, the history of the PS2, etc.

For some reason my girls kept saying "we want to learn about Japanese men!"

[Zenpickle]

For elementary beginners, I have had the best results with the "Hip Hip Hooray" series. And I like using "Express Yourself," a conversation book for adults that can be adapted for high schoolers. It's full of errors, but I like the format where the students read a short essay on a controversial topic and answer Scruples-like questions on it.