Teacher Discussion Forums

I teach english in four public middle schools in Korea. One of my schools is extremely low level: some of the students cannot read very well, and most of them cannot write a simple sentence. How can I teach these students the core basics of writing and sentence structure? I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

One activity I've done with a second grader is make a sentance puzzle. I have words written (or typed on a computer) on seperate pieces of paper, and we can move tham around to make sentences. You can use adjectives to try and make them longer, or once they know how to make sentences with these, see who can make the longest sentence that makes sense.

Sounds like they might need a crash course in basic literacy. You mustn't assume anything!