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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2005 10:48 am Post subject: Adult Beginners |
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Damn I got stuck with one of these classes, one the most dreaded I can think of. And it's supposed to be conversation! Of course the school sells them a book that is for advanced students. After a minute of talking to them I realize that was a waste of money for the students, and we'll need basic materials. I think they are just slightly above absolute beginners. It's an hour three times a week. I don't know why exactly but I really dislike adult beginner classes. Maybe it's the things like,
Q: "What did you do on the weekend?"
A: "Yes"
that feeling so dispiriting, for some reason.  |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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well only the best one showed up last night...
hopefully I scared the others off...
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Col.Brandon
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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Your student can say, "Yes"? Luxury!
My student says, "Neh?" But she's cute. |
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animalbirdfish
Joined: 04 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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Those are some of my least favorite classes to teach, but I've done it and brought them up to a fairly conversant level.
Are you allowed to supplement with materials of your own choosing? Could they possibly hand in the books and get a refund, or buy new books?
Please post what you end up doing with them because I think a lot of folks on this board would be interested to know. Even I still dread teaching adults at this low a level. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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For adult beginners I usually use my own materials.
I find the majority of them can at least phonically read, so I work from some very simple samples. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:35 am Post subject: |
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| Yes, fortunately I can use whatever materials I can find. I think "Exploring English" is pretty good. |
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Freezer Burn
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:49 am Post subject: |
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Use www.Bogglesworld.com, theres a few roleplay type lessons available.
I teach a beginner and an 'advanced' (ahem) adult class, I prefer this rather than the kiddies though, the adults actually want to learn, they are the ones paying for it so they generally seem to be more up to the lesson put in front of them.
I have found that the lessons revolving around everyday activities, like shopping, restaurants etc.... something they can take home and use in front of there friends and family work pretty well. where else are they going to learn their new language skills (ahem..damn something in my throat tonight)
Also teaching new vocab, Household items and even really simple Fruit, Vegetables and different foods, most beginners have limited knowledge on even basic comman vegetables.
Conversation classes are tough, but put the onus on them, tell them that if this is a free talking class you will only speak if you are asked something particular, what I do sometimes is put one person up front and have the class ask questions, it kills a lesson and your not talking at all except to correct some grammar. |
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ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 5:20 am Post subject: |
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This is the kind of class that you really need to prep for. Hopefully, it's a small class (8 or fewer) so you can really get to know each other. I'd start off each class with a theme (as some posters suggested: restaurants, food, shopping), give them some vocab (try to use some words they already know to make them feel confident and a few that they don't to make them feel that they're learning something), and a couple of basic sentences ("I will go to the supermarket. What will you buy? I will buy....."). Have them prepare what they will say, then interview 3-4 other people...yourself included.
Use the last few minutes of class as "Q&A" time. You ask each student one question, then they must ask YOU one (different) question.
I really like teaching low-level, slow, scared students. I find that I can really see a lot of improvement in them...a lot more than I can with advanced students!
PS: If you feel that the students will be p*ssed if you don't use the book, use it as a basic outline for the "theme of the day". |
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Hanson
Joined: 20 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:02 am Post subject: |
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| I really like teaching low-level, slow, scared students. I find that I can really see a lot of improvement in them...a lot more than I can with advanced students! |
Agreed! I love teaching low-level students! I usually start with the basics in making questions.
Start with yes/no questions (do you, can you, are you, have you) and throw in a "Find Someone Who..." activity. Excellent first class.
Then, move on to show open questions (wh- questions) with the verb 'to be' (Where are you from? Why were you late? When were you born? What are you doing?) and the verb 'to do' (Where did you go? Who did you meet? Why do you like Pop music?). You can then move on to present perfect (auxiliary verb 'to have') questions (Where have you traveled? What have you learned? Who has he met?).
This can take as long as you want and there are a million resources you can use for teaching questions. Once the students are familiar with how to make questions, you can then move on to teach whatever you want (restaurant, movies, food shopping).
For what it's worth... |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:04 pm Post subject: Re: Adult Beginners |
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| jajdude wrote: |
Damn I got stuck with one of these classes, one the most dreaded I can think of. And it's supposed to be conversation! Of course the school sells them a book that is for advanced students. After a minute of talking to them I realize that was a waste of money for the students, and we'll need basic materials. I think they are just slightly above absolute beginners. It's an hour three times a week. I don't know why exactly but I really dislike adult beginner classes. Maybe it's the things like,
Q: "What did you do on the weekend?"
A: "Yes"
that feeling so dispiriting, for some reason. |
False beginners are usually scared stiff. I'd definitely suggest warming them up first with something fun, active and very simple. And MODEL everything... physically demonstrate what you want them to do. I often find that by making them do something really strange and silly the first day or so, getting them to laugh and actually talking about the need to actually DO in a conversation class, they will come out of their shells much more quickly.
As it is conversation, they do need something to talk about. As they are likely all false beginners, they very likely have much more English in their heads than it seems. So... you have a problem of needing to simplify while dealing with the fact that simple will almost certainly be intellectually boring. The key here is to not underestimate what they KNOW vs. what they can DO.
I suggest giving them materials to work from. If not your text, then anything else will do. Given that Koreans have almost all had years of reading and writing, you might test this in some way. Bring in a range of texts and see what they can get out of it. You'll be looking for the gist. Do they get that whether or not they can articulate it? If so, you will likely see rapid improvement if you are challenging them. Don't be afraid to do that!
Following up on the above, have them work from some sort of context. Text is good. Strongly suggest some preliminary work with the text at the beginning of class and preferably before class.
Try to keep in mind basic Pavlovian reality: an approximation is a success, particularly in the very early going.
Try not to get bogged down in corrctions and focus on what is being communicated
Let them move, mime, draw... whatever... as long as they communicate!
Make it relevant to them, where possible.
Rgarding the book: it can be simple enough to modify the text, which would save your students money. No reason why the dialogues or text in the book can't be simplified by you ahead of time or on the board. Heck, you can have the students help you by changing, for example, a travel dialogue about, say, Paris to one about Cheju-do or Seoul... or someplace most of them have visited or know about. Simplify the length of sentences, replace words, change tenses.
Grammar: Since they likely have a grounding in grammar you may be able to build their comfort level by including a short bit on grammar in each class. However, I would encourage you to draw this directly from whatever your source material is rather than pulling grammar activities from the text or a grammar book. A simple example might be to ask the students to identify a grammar structure in the text then talk about its usage, try altering it or using it in other sentences, etc., etc.
Good luck with this group.
Last edited by EFLtrainer on Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Good replies. Thanks. It is a small class. I'm sure I can handle it. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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| jajdude wrote: |
| Good replies. Thanks. It is a small class. I'm sure I can handle it. |
I'm sure you can, too. I just wish there was a lot more discussion about things like this. These boards are such a wasted resource in that sense. The best-trained, most educated, most skilled teachers on the planet should make better use such resources as these.
And if I seem to be responding at too basic a level, it's to try not to miss something useful, to post in such a way that new teachers can get something out of it, and because to teach is to learn twice. 
Or maybe it's just from teaching a lot of kids over the years, or from being a trainer.... 
www.geocities.com/killiankob |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| I've only had these as one-on-ones and I really like them. My lesson starts as "free talking" and when we want to talk about something, I give the student a list of vocabulary. Each student has a notebook. For example, I went to a coffee shop with one student (if I only have one student in the last class period, the boss lets me take him/her out to a bar or cafe nearby) and we saw another foreigner. So we scribbled a map of the world and practiced the names of English-speaking countries and their adjective forms (Canada/Canadian, etc). After that, we went and said hello and asked where he was from. |
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