Korean Job Discussion Forums

[celticjay]

I'm teaching a winter camp this week and it's going alright. I was wondering if anyone had any good lesson ideas for middle school students. My classes are roughly 10-20 students and the duration is one 90 min session. Their language ability varies which makes it difficult to engage the entire class. Tomorrow we are cooking spaghetti, but Thursday and Friday I'm not sure what I will do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[blunder1983]

This is what I've come up with so far.

English monopoly. Using the ESL version (google ESL monopoly) We're looking at the past tense with it.

Scavanger Hunt using the photo function of their phones. Need to see if they're allowed out of school before I finish the write up for it

Treasure hunt. Pretty self explanatory.

Making candy. We're doing two sessions, one chocolate truffles and coconut ice one rice crispy cakes and Rocky Road (chocolate plus nuts marshmellows popcorn etc) one day will have them making a name for their sweet company and designing labels. The other will be combined with a "hunt" above.

Videos. See the thread a little way down for great ideas on tasks for them to do with the videos.

Making a play (multiple lessons) first day = comics, initally rearranging comic strips, then filling in a blank one, then making their own.

Day two = writing a story. Looking at beginning middle and end and having them choose a theme.

Day three = Fleshing out the story, adding dialogue and prop decisions

Day four = Filming with a digital camera. (If you only can take shots make it in to a storyboard)

Fashion (my kids are all girls) Day one = Looking at fashion vocab, descriptive words and clothing types.

Day two = In pairs they design clothes (using real fabric stuck on to A4 paper) and accessories. They must write a description of each item and present it to the class.

Murder mystery = Not 100% on how to do this, will probably have 3 sides to a story, the kids have to remember it and split off into different groups and try and put it together, without looking at the inital references.

Paper airplanes = Have the kids design airplanes (loads of designs on the web) then set up targets with various English tasks. Have them in groups try and hit as many targets and get points for completing the English tasks on them. The group with the most points wins.

Secret codes = Make up codes (a=b or a=z) and have the kids decode them, then have them write notes and get the other groups to try and decode it (monitor them for making up plausible codes, make them make it easy). Also do hidden messages. Bicarb of soda + water, brushed with lemon? makes it appear. Something like that.

Thank you letters = Doing this this week, thanking their relatives for the Xmas gifts they got and briefly covering resolutions.

Board games

Card games

Thats about all my ideas. What have you done so far? Share and share alike

[adopi]

your kids must be extermely advanced to be able to break into groups on your word, assemble a plan of action and then present it in front of the class. OR...you speak Korean and you aren't telling us. My kids understand basic english....if I were to try to describe a murder mystery...it would take me an hour and a half just to describe those words to those kids....or in fact the entire concept of the game you are trying to describe....as well what are the benefits of cooking in your class........other than reading directions...but all in all....do you just want to eat. hmmmm...I just see no educational purpose in what you are trying to do....sounds like an American or Canadian version of filler...which I'm American...and i've done all those things in my classes....SIMPLE seems to be the way to get through to these kids....not complex games....where it will take you forever to have them understand.....wow....good luck with that.....

but I would like to know if you speak korean...that would totally make sense to me....I have no skills in Korean other than JO-A...and more of a grunting charades type language I've invented over the past few weeks...


works great with ordering chicken from bestria..

G

[denverdeath]

adopi, sometimes simple is fine. However, blunder has lots of good ideas there...he also said he was a little unsure about the murder mystery. A lot of his activities can have the kids interacting with others as well as the teacher in an active way. They are not passively sitting and (maybe) absorbing a few target words/phrases/sentences, or maybe also falling asleep. Think of it. I made a salad with a group of middle school girls before. A LOT of English was used prior to, during, and after the lesson. Commands like cut, slice, dice, mince, etc. Vocab like lettuce, salad bowl, dressing, among others. Expressions like "gather round", "toss the salad", "dish it out', "everyone sit down', "quit throwing food at Bahk-sah", and the like. Beforehand, they learned "raid the fridge". Korean doesn't have to be used. Extend "take with(out) asking" into "take with surprise" into "steal" into "raid". If nothing else, they may have some new words or expressions to get them an extra point on the TOEIC they'll no doubt take at a later time. More importantly, they'll remember the fun they had doing the activity together. Maybe not everyday, but those kinds of activities should be used. I understand your comment about the murder mystery, but there is a goal achieved with those sort of activities if they are done with care. Also, try to teach them to gamble with the cards...play blackjack in English only...teach them that a queen is a queen, not a "q". Teach them "double down", "stand", "hit". Teach them how to shuffle the cards in a simple western fashion and then have them deal the cards in a clockwise motion, not counter-clockwise(which is done in Korea), after you have demonstrated how to play a few hands. The whole time, stress the use of English only. Use Pringles potato chips as chips. My five morning classes loved it and begged to play again and again...which, of course, I denied. However, they have the knowledge to use it elsewhere if needed. It is possible that they'll find themselves sitting at a blackjack table or playing with a western friend for fun sometime in their life.

[blunder1983]

Sigh oh dear, MW is that you? I fear it is.

Murder mystery isnt too hard, its all about how you present it. You can do simple things with one story not matching the rest. The example I've seen is a radio breaks at 5pm and is being "used" at 8pm.

All you need is the korean word for whodunnit (supplied by a kind K teacher) and the explanation is done.

As for cooking then look at the bazillion other threads on camps, I'm far from alone in using as a teaching aid. Not only do you have instructions and plenty of new vocab you can also use it for adjective work, and later on grammar and other such things. Correcting sentences and the like.

Perhaps you'd care to contribute, what do you do in camps?