Korean Job Discussion Forums

[taobenli]

I'm not putting this in the teaching forum because it's equally about general interaction as it is about teaching...

I live with a Korean family for the short time I'm in Korea. This has been very useful since I can practice the Korean I've learned with the parents (who don't speak English) and I have a free place to stay and meals. I am also doing informal English stuff with the kids' friends who come over to play as well as the kids in this family. (You can debate the legality of this if you want, but no money is changing hands).

The kids are in 5th grade. They are kind of lukewarm to me, and I'm trying to figure out how to get closer to them. With a lot of other kids I've taught and interacted with I've been able to strike a nice balance between "teacher" and "friend." But with Korean kids IN KOREA (as opposed to expats more familiar with Western culture) I've found it hard to get this balance- I am either not respected as a "friend" or viewed as kind of scary and distant (or just boring?) as a "teacher."

I am not the most outgoing, "clowning around" kind of woman in the world, but not shy either. Any tips? How to win kids of this age over and adopt the proper role?

(One teaching question: how to get Korean kids- who seem pretty wild and silly!- to listen well without making the lesson boring? I did a game last time all the kids were over and they got too competitive and fought with each other. Would role playing- like using made-up menus from a restaurant, etc.- go over well?)

Nomu nomu thank you!

[Rteacher]

There are different types of kids within every culture, of course, but most of them like candy, stickers, ice-cream, and games.

I've had success with educational card games like "School Zone's" Go Fish and Crazy 8's, (and Harry Potter Uno...)

There are many types of Bingo (like "Math Bingo", "Food Bingo", "Picture Bingo", "Sight Word Bingo" etc.) which you can either make yourself or buy (which I usually prefer to do...)

Of course, there's also Scrabble (and Pictionary) for brighter students...

The best place I know of for all kinds of EFL materials is the basement floor of Kyobo Books in Gangnam ...