Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi,

I will be arriving in South Korea in April and I will be teaching middle- schoolers. This is my first ESL job. I would like some advice on lesson plans and activities. Your help will be much appreciated!

Thanks!

There are a lot of general grammar games here
www.mes-english.com/games.php

Many of those were designed specifically for junior high and high school students.

A lot of the materials and activities on my site were made for and road-tested with Korean middle school students:

http://www.englishraven.com

You might also like to look at the site for my Pearson Longman textbooks (called Boost!):

http://www.boostskillsseries.com

The 20 books there were made especially for late Elementary and early Middle school grades, and are divided into specific strands for Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking and Grammar. In addition to the free samples of lesson materials there (60 units worth!), you can register for free to get access to the teacher resource center on the site, and then access literally hundreds of teaching and lesson ideas, as well as 240 supplementary lessons.

Plenty there for you to chew on!

Best of luck with the new job,

~ Jason Renshaw

I always recommend activities that get students out of their seats, and speaking/thinking as much as possible in English. Your lesson may be the only exposure to English as a communicative tool each day or week, so let them speak as much as possible.

I pulled this straight from my site, the Flashcard Hub (www.flashcardhub.com). It's an idea I've used for years and which has worked for all age groups.

***

Purpose: to practice vocabulary and improve word recognition, as well as promote circumlocution

Info: This activity works best with medium-sized classes. However, Guess the Word may be used in small classes without competing teams, as students will take turns guessing the word in question. With large classes, this activity doesn't work effectively because so many people are shouting words, descriptions, and clues.

Step One: Before the class, the teacher prepares roughly ten to twenty words for the game. The words should focus on key vocabulary from the lesson, or recently studied words as a review.

Step Two: The teacher divides the class into two teams of roughly five to ten students. One student from each team comes to the front of the classroom and sits in front of the whiteboard. This is the "hot seat." Both students should face their classmates and not the board.

Step Three: The teacher writes one of the prepared vocabulary words on the board. All the students, with the exception of the two in the hot seat, can see the word.

Step Four: Both teams provide clues to their respective teammate. He must guess the word based on these clues. Neither team can say the word, offer a translation, or spell it. In addition, only English is allowed when giving clues. The first student in the hot seat who guesses the word correctly receives a point.

Step Five: Students in the hot seat switch, with another pair of students now coming to the front of the classroom. Play continues. The teacher writes another word on the board and the teams again give clues. Go through all the words, so each student has at least one chance to sit in the hot seat.

I hope this idea helps. Good luck with the new job. Teaching is so rewarding!

Chris Cotter
Free flashcards at www.flashcardhub.com.
Just print and teach materials at www.headsupenglish.com.

Thanks everyone for your help. I really appreciate it!