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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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 Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:05 am Post subject: help with high school needed |
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I think it's just a matter of "i've been out of the game too long" and I've just forgotten how. I have NO idea what to do with the high school class that was dumped on me (freshman).
Give me adults or uni students I have at least something in common with and I can put together a decent lesson. Give me a bunch of anklebiters and I can come up with a decent fun lesson. But this class falls right in the middle; too old for the babyish fun and games, too young (and not enough english or life experiences) to do the serious stuff.
I'm stuck, and I've already lost 2/3 of them. The core of 5 guys I have is really gungho, but I have no idea what to do with them. The other 5 guys have been gone for weeks and the 5 girls disappeared because they refuse to speak with boys  Oooh cooties!
Anyone with pointers for me? It's been a good 12 years since I've stepped into a public school class, and the first time to do it teaching EFL. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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At what kind of institution are you working? How large is the class? What level are they? How often and for how long do you see them?
It's hard to know what to suggest knowing nothing about the context. |
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Rteacher
Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Western MA, USA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:25 pm Post subject: |
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This isn't related to basic teaching content, but I recommend incorporating a lot of audio-visual aids including music, DVDs, ect... If there's an overhead projector hooked to an internet computer, use it to illustrate points in the lesson, using examples from Korean culture whenever applicable (eg: in a discussion about "celebrities" go to the official BOA website and play the short video clip; when the topic is "what to do in Paris?" go to the Eiffel tower interactive webite...)
There are also a lot of interactive EFL grammar sites (including Dave's ESL Cafe...) Some also have crossword games and English-Korean vocabulary multiple choice exercises...
http://www.englishpage.com/
http://a4esl.org/ |
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ChuckECheese
Joined: 20 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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Show them a movie. I recommend "Team America." I am sure your students will get a kick out of it.  |
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kimchi_pizza
Joined: 24 Jul 2006
Location: "Get back on the bus! Here it comes!"
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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Define your role first. Are you "Hey John, what's up!" teacher or a "Good afternoon Mr. Johnson" teacher? Then teach accordingly.
Teach straight up fun, colloquial, hip hop English from back home on the streets or prepare them for their upcoming TOEIC/TOEFL tests.
I recommend the latter. They need an adult teacher more than a cool, fun "friend". They are old enough to understand respect for their teacher and they will respond better in the long run. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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| ChuckECheese wrote: |
| Show them a movie. I recommend "Team America." I am sure your students will get a kick out of it. |
I brought a copy of Team America back with me but so far have been too hesitant to lend it to any of my Korean friends. Unfortunately KJI's accent is so far off and there are so many missed opportunities for inside cultural jokes. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| At what kind of institution are you working? How large is the class? What level are they? How often and for how long do you see them? |
Except for the last question, I thought it was clear from my OP:
high school
5 students
low beginner
2-3 times a week for 50 minutes
I thought when I started this was supposed to be a serious study class, so I planned accordingly. By the time I found out this was extra-curricular and was supposed to be fun, I had already lost 10 students.
A/V support is zero. I have a whiteboard and that's about it. I do have a computer of the teacher's desk, but it is sporadically connected to the internet. But doesn't really matter though becuase someone stole the mouse ball.
Next week, I plan on doing a vocab and writing theme: Have each student list 10 Koreans words they don't know in English (that they WANT to know), we'll translate them together, talk about how to use them in a sentence, then when all the words have been discussed and sentencified, we'll write stories using what we learned. That should be a good week of classes. Maybe the actual words they want to know will give me some insight into the topics that we can talk about later.
After that? *shrug* Music lessons? Discuss English songs they want to know, maybe translate Korean songs into English (although, that is probably beyond them and I would end up doing all the work) |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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So you have some extra lessons at your high school, 2-3 times a week, with a class of 5 low-level students? Why? Is this just to fill up your schedule or is this an over-time class? Sorry, but the idea sounds rather strange. If this is just to fill up your schedule why not see if you can't fill it up with something else, like teaching a writing class to some of the higher-level students?
On the other hand, since remedial education is so lacking here it might be a good opportunity to start with the basics and do a chapter of a beginner's conversation book each lesson, along with some fun stuff that ties into whatever chapter you're doing. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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my boyfriend's having that problem, too. he's been given a class like that of high school girls and i guess his material wasn't "fun" enough.
i say, bring in Scrabble, Boggle, Life, Monopoly, and Risk. bring in a silent movie and ask them to describe what's happening. maybe have lessons on "fun" topics like animals or something.
that's all i got right now. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:39 am Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
| So you have some extra lessons at your high school, 2-3 times a week, with a class of 5 low-level students? Why? Is this just to fill up your schedule |
It's not my high school, but yes, it's to fill out my schedule. I teach uni during the day, and got these guys dumped on me for 2-3 evenings a week (yes, legally, the HS is stamped on my ARC).
| Quote: |
| since remedial education is so lacking here it might be a good opportunity to start with the basics and do a chapter of a beginner's conversation book each lesson, along with some fun stuff that ties into whatever chapter you're doing. |
I'm trying that, but (sigh) I think I've been teaching older students so long I've forgotten what interests and motivates the younger students... as I've said I already lost 10 (of 15) students. The remaining 5 are enthusiastic, so I want to make sure I don't kill it with yet more boring lessons.
I think the book we've got sucks (I haven't been using it), but I'll have to look at it again and dumb down my lessons a little. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Does the HS have a regular waygook teacher who teaches there during the day? Why not talk to him, or to the VP about doing a different sort of class? |
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