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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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 Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: Evidence of tool use among your hagwon students? |
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Okay so I've diagrammed a sentence on the blackboard. All they have to do is plug in a verb and an object. Today I (verb) (object). I've even written the Korean terms for verb/object to make it easy for them. The first few kids grab the low hanging fruit. Today I played a computer game. Today I ate rice. Great. The rest of the kids sit there stunned. They can't possibly think of another verb besides play and eat. After 5 years of studying english there are no verbs beyond play and eat in their minds.
Now I also noticed they were frantically trying to study for their vocab test whenever my back was turned. They had, before them, this wonderful little book full of highly useful nouns and verbs. Many of them they were currently trying to commit to memory. Hrm.
I examined their word list. It's full of wonderful little verbs they could plug into the sentence on the blackboard.
Locked glass box full of chocolate. And a hammer. How to get that chocolate? Well, I'm out of ideas. (Granted answering a question does not have the reward of eating chocolate.)
Even after 3 years of teaching, I'm always stunned how little these kids are ever able to take the very simple tools before them and actually put them together without being told exactly what they're required to do.
Last edited by mindmetoo on Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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gsxr750r
Joined: 29 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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Side By Side.
It's the supplemental glue providing the simple grammar structure to put the pieces together.
Make a game of guessing sentences for the pictures. Bribe with stickers.
It just works. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Today I smoke car |
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gsxr750r
Joined: 29 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Did you burn your lips on the exhaust pipe, Jinju? |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| gsxr750r wrote: |
| Did you burn your lips on the exhaust pipe, Jinju? |
no, that would be dumb.
Another one
Today I go iguana |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Evidence of tool use among your hagwon students? |
It's blatantly obvious that many at my p-school are still wrestling w/ how to use their opposable thumbs. |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| At my last place, they would do vocab tests also. I would take the sheet and ask for the word in a sentence and never got an answer. those tests are pointless. |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:12 am Post subject: |
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Evidence of tool use among your hagwon students?
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:17 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Even after 3 years of teaching, I'm always stunned how little these kids are ever able to take the very simple tools before them and actually put them together without being told exactly what they're required to do. |
I was very dismayed this last year to see the same phenomenon among adults. For many people the choice of verb tense often seems quite random. I really thought people shelling out their own money would make more of an effort than the middle schoolers I used to have, but sadly, no. |
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nautilus
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:36 am Post subject: |
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| i've managed to get my students to use thumb and forefinger to pick up objects so far. They are also able to recognise the correct chair when entering class after repeated attempts. Next: advanced english fluency. |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:53 am Post subject: Re: Evidence of tool use among your hagwon students? |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
Okay so I've diagrammed a sentence on the blackboard. All they have to do is plug in a verb and an object. Today I (verb) (object). I've even written the Korean terms for verb/object to make it easy for them. The first few kids grab the low hanging fruit. Today I played a computer game. Today I ate rice. Great. The rest of the kids sit there stunned. They can't possibly think of another verb besides play and eat. After 5 years of studying english there are no verbs beyond play and eat in their minds.
Now I also noticed they were frantically trying to study for their vocab test whenever my back was turned. They had, before them, this wonderful little book full of highly useful nouns and verbs. Many of them they were currently trying to commit to memory. Hrm.
I examined their word list. It's full of wonderful little verbs they could plug into the sentence on the blackboard.
Locked glass box full of chocolate. And a hammer. How to get that chocolate? Well, I'm out of ideas. (Granted answering a question does not have the reward of eating chocolate.)
Even after 3 years of teaching, I'm always stunned how little these kids are ever able to take the very simple tools before them and actually put them together without being told exactly what they're required to do. |
That's why you're a teacher. You teach them what to use and how to use.
I do, however, know what you're talking about. You gotta remember that they're really only speaking English with you. It's pretty understandable why they're like this.
Do you know what "the feel" is? I remember it from watching basketball on TV. Quite a few years ago. One player was talking about "the feel". It's when it's like they can never miss a shot. Everything goes in. I think there's a point in teaching English where you get "the feel". You figure out exactly what it is you should be doing to improve their English and make them think on their own.
I like going around the class and asking them what they did or what they're going to do on the weekend. Today was a good day for that because they don't have to come to the hagwon tomorrow (vacation - Yes!). And there's no school.
With past tense, I like to go around the class not allowing students to use a verb that has already been used. Or I ask, "What else did you do?" |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| How is that so different from mmt was doing? If the students refuse to speak, they refuse to speak. All the lesson planning, excitement-making, and just plain good teachering in the world is sometimes just not going to do it. Being a foreigner makes it tougher when you're dealing with kids, too. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:26 am Post subject: Re: Evidence of tool use among your hagwon students? |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| Even after 3 years of teaching, I'm always stunned how little these kids are ever able to take the very simple tools before them and actually put them together without being told exactly what they're required to do. |
You have just described 90% of my uni students. Example you provided above, included. |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| Hater Depot wrote: |
| How is that so different from mmt was doing? If the students refuse to speak, they refuse to speak. All the lesson planning, excitement-making, and just plain good teachering in the world is sometimes just not going to do it. Being a foreigner makes it tougher when you're dealing with kids, too. |
Wow. That's informative. Let me open Word and copy and paste that. |
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crsandus
Joined: 05 Oct 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:23 am Post subject: |
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I thought the title of this thread was the reference to the recent news about chimps using weapons and tools to hunt monkeys for food. eg. Koreans are barbarians and you finally found some sign of intelligence from them.
Man I'm really getting cynical from reading so many threads from this forum.  |
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