Korean Job Discussion Forums

[braunshade]

I have a class of 18 grade 7 and 8....and I have no idea what to do with them! They are miserable, bored, and silent. I have them twice a week for FOUR hours each lesson.

The activities and exercises that have been provided to me do not work.

Do you have any game/activity ideas for this age group? I really need to get them speaking........

[ella]

Snowball fight: have them each take out a sheet of paper and write five things about themselves on it - but not their name. When they're done, they wad up their sheet of paper into a ball.

Divide the room in half. Have one half stand against one wall and the other stand against the other wall, facing each other. When you say "go," they have ten seconds to throw the "snowballs" at each other. At the end of the ten seconds, they have to grab whatever snowball is closest to them and sit back down. One at a time, as you call on them, they unravel their snowball and read it aloud to the rest of the class and all the other students have to guess who it is. All English-only, of course.

[braunshade]

Thanks for the tip...............but I wonder if it will take forever for them to write 5 things down?

I need to fill up 4 hours and I want to try to tie it in with the books we are reading.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Pop songs. Listen and fill in the blanks. Practice pronunciation. Listen and repeat. Sing along. Watch the music video. Describe the band members. Pop songs are the best way to fill time with MS students while keeping everyone's attention.

[xox]

i did the snowball thing before it worked well but after awhile it started getting generic with kids saying the same stuff over and over and no one able to guess.
for my kids they just like a lot of games to compete with each other.

[ella]

Three things, then. Divide them into teams, tell them to write well because the other team members will have to guess who it is, give points for correct guesses.

[braunshade]

Hmmmm....thats a good idea too!

[ella]

(You'd think someone would want to hire a teacher with good ideas!)

[inspector gadget]

With great difficulty, I just finished teaching girls for a year. Just try to be creative and teach subjects that they are interested in, ask them what they want to learn about. Also do lots of current events stuff.

[bosintang]

[sock]

Ha, ha! Just let them sit next to their friends! They'll be speaking in no time.

If they aren't responding to me, then I have two strategies: first, I use candy as a bribe. I'll bring a bag of candy and we'll go over whatever exercises they have to do. If they give a correct answer, one candy. Next time they must do two answers for a candy, and I try to wean them off the candy quickly while still encouraging them to speak. If the material is at their level, they'll begin speaking up. If you don't want to spend money on candy, you can offer a prize of a "no homework pass" to whomever gives the most correct answers/speaks up the most in class each day. That will get them talking.

Second strategy is to play games occasionally that require them to speak. They do love hangman. But you can also play "stop the bus" (essentially scattergories, name a letter of the alphabet and several different categories, they must name something from each category beginning with the selected letter--first person who can do so says "stop the bus"). You can also play a version of taboo. I get a box of flashcards that has pictures & the English name. At first I will describe the card, and they have to guess what it is. When they have opened up a bit, I have someone else do the describing, usually offering big incentives for them (candy, homework passes, maybe a gift card to the movie theater or an ice cream shop or whatever hangout spot). I find that one or two big bribes in the beginning get them to open up and then I don't have to use bribes any more. Make a powerpoint presentation of funny or strange photos you googled off the internet. Make them describe the pictures--they have to try to add as many details as possible--describe the who, what, where, why, when, how of the picture. Longest sentence or explanation wins.

If you see that they are bored and restless, you need to address those needs before any learning is going to take place. Give a quick 2-3 minute break, have the kids stand and stretch, go get some water, etc. Start initiating discussions about topics that are important to them, and don't be afraid to play the devil's advocate (the more outrageously the better) for the sake of stirring up some controversy. Ask them who should make decisions regarding their education--them or their parents? What is a better pet, a lion or an elephant? Whatever. Tell them fun-but-appropriate stories about yourself, mischevious things you did while you were growing up, and have them share embarrassing/funny/happy memories about themselves as well. First writing about it, then giving a little speech to the class about it.

Seriously, you just need to keep things lively. Even native-speaking kids from your own country get bored out of their minds and tune out when the teacher starts talking about grammar and homework. Every 10 minutes or so, you should be changing the way you are teaching. Everybody learns differently, so try to do some kind of visual exercise, maybe then speaking, writing, reading, and whenever possible, include some kind of physical activity. Sometimes they just need to get the blood circulating and the oxygen flowing to their brain.