Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aphong420]

So, I have one third grade High School English Conversation class per/week that is completely indifferent to paying attention and doing work. This wasn't a problem at all last semester - but I can't get my kids to do any work this semester. My co-teacher says this is occuring because colleges in Korea do not care about the 2nd semester of these students' senior year. Because of this, the students also do not care about their 2nd semester.

I'm wondering if anyone else has this sort of problem - and what they're doing to remedy it. I'm generally expected to teach out of a textbook - that lacks quality material. I create powerpoints around this, adding my own vocabulary, idioms and phrases. I always try to end every class with a conversation activity or game that gets them out of their seat. This formula worked great last semester ..... this semester - not so much....


Any suggestions?

[Snowkr]

Are you just teaching conversation to 3rd graders?
I work with the lower grades in high school and find that even though they opted for my class, they are really not that interested in paying attention either. Some are great though.

I usually just call them out on their behavior and try to make them look ridiculous in front of the others if they start messing around. Fortunately there are enough good students in the class that can help to keep them in check.

I would also recommend getting them up in front of the class and making them speak, interview one another one by one, or just constantly be in their faces. I've been doing that with my high schoolers in the after school class and it shuts them up pretty quickly.

The truth is, they really don't see the class as valuable. It's just one more thing they have to do to pass the time.
PM me anytime if you come up with something new and effective.

[The_Conservative]

[ajuma]

Most of them are probably pretty wiped out from studying for the uni entrance exam coming up in November. There is a saying that if you sleep more than 4 hours a night you won't get a good score on the exam!! Since English conversation isn't something they'll be tested on, little wonder that they're not very interested at this point.

You might want to gear conversations around things that are uppermost in their minds. Ask questions like "If you do poorly on the exam, what will you do?" "What will be the best/worst part about going to university?" "Will you live at home or on campus? What are the pluses/minuses of each?" "How do you think uni will be different from high school?" Maybe some group work to come up with the answers?

[richardlang]

What type of curriculum are you using with the third grade students? You need to find something that interests them. Most of my students are false beginners when it comes to making spontaneous, more-than-two-sentences responses, at least verbally. Use conversation dialogues, have them read them aloud, and then ask them to produce a new, short dialogue using optional phrases along with the original dialogue.

[genezorm]

teaching 3rd grade high school is tough
at my school they dont even bother because
1) english conversation / speaking is not on any tests
2) they are probably too tired to care even if you are a whitey

[mikekim]

Well there is a listening test, so you can find a transcript and teach around that.

Otherwise make it a free period. They will stop coming to school pretty soon anyways. They don't care and you don't have to either.

[tiger fancini]

I'm teaching 2nd grade at a high school, and they are also (the majority) not interested in conversation. One thing I am doing is focusing on their writing, and trying to get them to make decent sentences. I am still shocked by the amount of students who think that a one-word (written) answer to a question is acceptable! I constantly tell them that those sort of answers are "elementary school style", and that they won't be getting high test scores answering like that! It's slowly sinking in with some of them, after 3 months of working there.