Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joe_doufu]

Hello all, I'm a new hagwon teacher in Anyang and I've got a bit of a problem. Our students are using a whole range of textbooks from beginning to intermediate levels, and I don't have a single one of the teacher's editions. Much of the material in the student's books is for reading and writing, and there are a lot of exercises clearly intended for homework, like fill-in-the-blanks and matching. Also there are several "craft" projects in some of the books, but I don't have materials. Finally, I don't yet know what pages the students are on in the books, so I haven't prepared lesson plans.

Somehow, I need to make SPEAKING activities from these books. I don't think just having the students read every word is going to cut it. Do you guys have any good ideas? My only idea so far is, for the advanced students, to occasionally prompt them to "Make a sentence using [this word]". Apparently the previous foreign teacher played a lot of Hangman. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[some waygug-in]

You could try getting them to play some games in which they have to speak.

My kids like pictionary. You can use any set of picture cards for this.

I found that it's best to use picture cards or they may often mis-understand what they are supposed to be drawing.

You can also play 20 questions with the same cards.

If you want to get them saying some complete sentences, try playing
Sorry. You have to have cards with matched pairs though for this game.

EX: Do you have an elephant? - No sorry.

Do you have a banana? - Yes, here you are.

A game that gets them making questions is called "Bananas".

One student comes to the front and sits in a chair facing the class.
He or she can only answer "bananas" to every question asked.
Other students have to try to make him/her smile.
Whoever makes the questionee smile gets to try.

You may have to write out some questions on the board to get them going, and it is good to change the answer word from time to time.


You can find other good game ideas in the Idea Cookbook on this site or you can get yourself a copy of "Teaching English to Children in Asia" by David Paul, published by longman.

Hope this helps.


What I've found with games is - the simpler the better. If the rules are in anyway complicated, you won't be able to explain the game to them and they won't be able to play it correctly, so they probably won't enjoy it much.

[joe_doufu]

Thanks. So far, I haven't even found any picture cards around here, certainly not for these books. What I really want to do is to find ways to use the "homework" and "reading" material in the books to create on-the-spot speaking exercises.

[d503]

Are their any pictures in the books?
Do you have a photo copier?

For kids with beginning (non-reading) English skills, I make picture cards from the pictures in the books. I then have them "do the homework, usually fill in the blanks) orally as well as physically.

You make a bunch of magnets from the words and pictures and toss them up on the board, you have a student come up to the board to make the sentence with the magnets and then, read it. I let the other students help..they like to shout things like see it it is the -w-h-a-t one.

It gets them familiar with the words and keeps them talking...(magnet tape can be bought in a big role from the kyobo bookstore)

for classes that are reading, use the homework as examples and have them make their own. if they are really good have topic days..tomorrow you are gonna talk about ..some topic in the book, have a couple of students do it a day, have the non-presenting kids ask one or two questions a piece.

hope it helps.

you can also go hunting for teachers quides or ask your school to order them for you.

[trevorcollins]

What are the books...?

[Kimchieluver]

For an informed answer, I too need to know what books you are using.

[joe_doufu]

I did OK with something like Pictionary yesterday, thanks.
We use a LOT of books for different classes, including "Backpack" and "English Time" series. I think we're going to buy new books soon, as many of the students have been through every book we have, so I'm going to make sure we get teacher's guides with them.

I like the idea of copying the books and cutting up the words so they can make sentences, that's definitely do-able.

[Shutterfly]

I use the English Time series as well. I do not have Teachers Editions either. However, I find that E/T is divided really well, and I am able to pull and work from the lessons quite easily. In the back of E/T they have a picture dictionary, you can take words from there and make flashcards, then they have to make sentences from the words. Keep the flashcards withing their levels though.
My kids also really like taking "conversation time" pages from the book and making it into mini plays, divide your kids into groups, assign each of them a different dialogue and see which groups performs with the best intonation and pronunciation.
Don't be afraid to be creative!

[some waygug-in]

Here's a simple game idea that requires no real prep:

Look at whatever page of whatever book you are using. On the board, draw a target - large. On the target, write several words from your book, it's best if you have enough words to make 2 or 3 complete sentences.

Divide the class into 2 teams (or 3 if that's better). Roll up a piece of paper into a ball. One person at a time has to stand about 4 meters from the target and try to hit words. Alternate, one throw per team.

Each team has a blank paper and a pencil. They have to write down the words that their teamates have hit.

Scoring: After they get enough words to start making sentences, they have to make sentences out of the words. One point for each
correct sentence.

You can also do the same thing using the alphabet, and they have to spell words.

********************************************

Bingo:

Draw up a blank bingo card, make enough copies for each student.
Some extra if you would like.

Choose about 30 words from your book (or short phrases).
At the start of class, give each student a blank card.
Write the list of words on the board, the students have to fill in their own cards (this may take some time as some student won't want to do any writing. To avoid this, you could fill out some cards randomly before class, but that's a lot of work)

To play, have the students take turns choosing one word or phrase at a time. As each student calls out a word, you circle it on the board. Play continues until someone has a blackout.

These are fairly simple ideas that can help you out for a class or 2.

Best of luck.

cheers