Korean Job Discussion Forums

[waggo]

Any cunning ideas for tricking a "moody" Middle school Conversation class into actually speaking a few words.....I need something really devious... I dont want them to see what Im upto....Coz they'll just go back to yawning and hitting each other under the table again.

[Son Deureo!]

Middle school classes can be so rough. So much English has been beaten into their heads, but all the joy of communicating with it has been beaten out of them.

With uncommunicative classes, the best luck I've had has been by getting their goat. Start talking about how much you're looking forward to your next trip to Japan. Hypothesize openly about romances you suspect may be blossoming in your classroom. It may be too late to get much mileage out of this anymore, but I got a conversation started that I couldn't have stopped if I tried by calling Ohno my hero.

You have to walk a fine line with this strategy, you don't want them to hate you, and be sure to listen to them when they speak out against you.

Good luck!

[Blue Flower]

it's good to see I'm not the only one with this problem - If they are being particularly quiet, which i find really frustrating - then i make them run down the stairs and back up, to liven them up. sadly doesn't work, though it does waste a few minutes

[schwa]

These kids sit through mind-numbing lecture-style classes all day in which creative thought is discouraged & voicing personal opinions is essentially forbidden. Not to mention the fear of holding unpopular opinions which leads to being ostracized by their peers. These are the daily frustrations they face in korean. Now add in the stress & difficulty of trying to express an even halfway complex idea in fumbling, basic english. Small wonder so many of these kids clam up.

So where to start. Keep the teacherly discourse to a barest minimum -- once you start to drone they stop listening. Dont underestimate the value of 'repeat after me' -- theyre accustomed to it & it serves to get their mouths moving. Really basic questions with an easy pattern response help build some confidence. What did you have for breakfast, what did you do last night, etc. Ask one or 2 better students first, then ask everyone the same question.

Now we're starting to make some noises in english -- easy, nonthreatening stuff. If you stick to this pattern with minor variations from class to class you'll find some kids will start planning answers beforehand. Consistency -- they know what to expect.

Another useful area of interest is school. You might think they'd want to forget about it at the end of the day, but in fact its a huge part of their lives & they like to talk about it. Ask them what they studied today. What did you learn in science, math, history, whatever. They study & know some pretty advanced stuff & its a good stretch for them to try & explain it in english. Ask about their teachers. Who's your best teacher? Why? Who's your worst teacher? (That one usually gets them going!)

General knowledge quizzes (jeopardy-style or whatever) will usually engage middleschool kids -- they like to show off their considerable knowledge. Of course any lesson you can structure as some kind of competition will draw out increased participation. These kids have a ton of vocabulary so reward a one-word answer. But offer a bonus point if they can say it in a grammatically correct sentence -- they'll really try.

Thats a few small suggestions. The key thing is to not let the kids drag you down -- if you become frustrated & stern, it reinforces the kids' obstinacy. Get to know something about each student, joke with them, start every class as a clean happy slate. Kids this age are a challenge but you can get through to them.

[schwa]

One more thing I'd like to add, especially to new teachers. Consider how you speak. These kids' listening ability is nowhere near the level of stuff they are studying in textbooks. A lot of idioms & verbal phrases you take for granted are meaningless to them. An aside or quick change of subject will generally lose them. Slow, clear, & simple catches their attention, & repeating yourself helps too.

[Len8]

I was in the EPIK programe a while back, and did sometimes manage to get the students to talk. I am now at a university where I have to call the role at the end of each class. I am able to do this now in Korean after numerous failed attempts. I can still remember my first attempt at a different university, and how I wanted to run out of the classroom, because of the silence. I think the students were quiet out of sympathy, although every now and again someone would politely correct me. Now why am I bringing this up? In the middle and highschools there is a class role on the front desk (property of the home room teacher). You as teachers could practice calling the role out in all of your classes just to set the tone of your class. Don't worry about your pronounciation. If it's way off the mark your students will gladly correct you. Your doing this could create the right mood for them to speak. Maybe. I regret now that I didn't try this when I was in the Epik programe.

[Blue Flower]

[crazylemongirl]

Getting middle school kids to talk first up, do what do in the west introduce small talk.

I actually start all my lessons with middle school kids (I work in a hogwon so my numbers probably aren't as big as the public school) with a brief small talk session. I talk to them each individually about, how are they, how was school, what did they do on the weekend, what's a good movie they've seen, wrestling etc.

It's kind of a win, win situation. The kids are speaking in english (great), about themselves (most people like to talk about themselves), and it's unreherased. Also you get to find about the kids and what makes them tick.

I will try to think of more strategies when i'm not hungover.

CLG

[Len8]

Blue Flower. No they didn't miraculously talk, but I also tried to throw in a few korean words as I was calling the role. Sometimes they would laugh at my poor pronounciation, and imitate what they thought I sounded like. I took that as an inndication that it might be something I could drag out into a conversation of soughts. Later I would ask in Korean how to say certain things, and sometimes I would get a reply from one of the belligerant ones. It was a start anyway. Many of course would just plant their faces on their books in total disinterest.

While calling the role I would also throw in a Korean English joke that I got off the thread in another posting. Often some of the not so interested ones would pick up and listen. Sometimes a student would be missing, so I'd ask them why. They would try and explain to me in Korean, and I'd say I don't understand, although I'd get the gist of it. I'd try and get them to explain in English, and help them along at the same time.

They also seem to know whom they follow on the role, so sometimes I'd ask "who's next?" They would know, and sometimes with "whose next" , and "I'm next" written on the board I'd actually get them going through the whole role on their own using those two sentences.

Just a few ideas that I tried