So - I thought I would start by reposting my blogs from my previous blog that I just recently deleted. I deleted it because I needed to come up with a better name, and a better address. Never use the name of the school your going to be teaching in unless you plan on staying there a very very long time.
I apologize for the first post being long - but this is a repost of the 4 blogs that I managed to write while at the school I was at.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Hello Fellow Teachers,
I teach here in Korea, and I am sharing life here as I go, in this blog is strictly about teaching. You won't find negative comments about my co-teacher or my job place here, in fact you won't find negative comments on my facebook or in anywhere else. A word to the wise. Don't. It can affect your job references and get you black balled so you can't get a job here in Korea at all. So if your having a hard time, talk to your friends face to face that you trust. If your having a hard time, I suggest looking for jewels of hope in your kids, and other staff. You can do this, just breath through it and find a way around the obstacle and don't pull a midnight run. You won't be able to come back the Korea at all.
This is about learning from students, with students, with my co-teacher and from my co-teacher. To put it simply, as a teacher you never stop learning how to teach. There are more methods than you can possibly use in a day, let alone a year. Depending on the students, depending on the school, class size, and level of your students, your going to incorporate a multitude of methodology to work in your classes, and find that your going to change it individually for some students.
You have to add some flavor to your teaching, some zest and spice and make it work for all your students, not just your high or low students.
In my school where I teach, I have all levels in my main English classes. In Korea, teaching English starts at 3rd grade. My morning classes consist of teaching 3rd through 6th grade. How long have I been at this now? Teaching over seas, a brave and very new, 7 months. Currently, I have 5 months left on my contract. What I am going to do after that year? Well, I haven't gotten that figured out yet. When I will I know? When my recruiter writes me and tells me jobs are out. That happens in July, so I am now for the time being just waiting. My contract is for a year at a time, as are all Native English contracts for Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea, and many other countries.
We have challenges, and that is reaching all our students. Fortunately for me, and my students, I am in a small school. A small Korean elementary school may consist of 4 students in a class to 20 students in a class. A dream size, for any teacher. My classes are anywhere from 10 to 16 students. This is a dream for any teacher. You can reach your students on a more individual level, and tailor your lessons to make it so that you are teaching all your students, meeting thier needs, and level and creating a classroom for success.
When you have a class for 25 to 45 like some of my other Native English teachers do, and you see 200 to 300 students in a day, that is not possible, some of the students get it, and some of them? Well, they get lost in the system like any other child in a large populated school.
Challenges in my school at this time with English. Many of my students can't read, and can't write sentences on thier own. They can come up with verbal conversation English on thier own, but in reading and writing? This is an area that is extremely week, as well as grammar and punctuation. Grammar and punctuation, I might add, don't get taught really until 6th grade, and is introduced with present, past and future tense, but that is just scratching the surface in 6th grade. It gets more detailed with writing, reading, and grammar, and punctuation in Junior High and High School. Some students end up doing very well, and some of them do not do so well.
The stress on my younger kids is on phonics. My co-teacher and I want them to learn phonics in Kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade and some writing. So, with that in mind, my afterschool classes, which unlike my morning classes that consist of just 3rd through 6th, my afternoon classes are 2 days a week with each grade. K-6th, and I work with phonics, and writing letters with 1st and 2nd grade, and letter sounds, and vowel sounds, and stories and some crafts thrown in to make it fun for them. My 3rd through 6th grade are working on Readers Action Theater, which consists of role playing theater to increase thier conversational skills.
Something that is common about talking with a ELL student in Korea, is that you notice in thier writing and in thier speaking, that they drop articles and small verbs. In many Asian languages, articles and small verbs just don't exist. A conversation may look something like this:
Teacher: How is your day?
Student: I fine teacher, how your day?
Teacher: I am fine. I am glad your day is fine.
Student: Teacher? You lunch now?
Teacher: Yes, I am going to lunch. Are you going to have lunch?
Student: Yes, I have lunch now. Teach like Korean food?
Teacher: Yes, I like Korean food. What is food do you like best?
Student: I my like kimbap (Vegan sushi roll). It good. Teach you like kimbap?
Teacher: Oh, you like kimbap. I like kimbap, but I also like kimchi
Student: Oh teacher kimchi! It good teacher. Bye teacher!
Teacher: Yes kimich is good. See you later.
There's a lot of restating in the conversation. Though the student may or may not repeat it, you restate it to help them hear the English that needs to be spoken. The kids slowly start putting those little parts of the sentences together when they speak, and as they do, the writing tends to improve. More often than not, because I often hear my students reading what they wrote outloud and then fixing what they hear and what they read.
Now - that being said, I have students who are so low, they can't read, and can barely if at all write. English isn't something they are picking up easily and they struggle. Mainly its due in part that thier missing the basics. Phonics never sunk in with them, and they just can't detect the sounds, and can't make the transitions. These students get frustrated with you in the class, they speak in thier native language, whatever that may be, and expect that you know thier native language and translate it. This may or may not be true. If you don't know the language your not teaching, say Korean for example, you start to pick it up, and at some point you start to learn what all that yelling at you is in Korean or other native language. More often than not, thier asking you how to say it in English, or write it in English. This is where having a co-teacher who is native to thier language is exceedingly helpful. These low kids struggle with English and make teaching a challenge. Do not give up. Keep at it -eventually, thier level of English does increase with time and patience, and your level of understanding through miming and learning the language of the culture comes together and you find a way to communicate.
and with that thought, I leave you - its time for me to decide what to teach my darling 2nd graders for the afternoon. More to come later I assure you.
Good luck and may you find a ray of sunshine in your teaching every day.
Daily Question Posts
At the Elementary school I was at, I had to post a daily question.
Every day I try to come up with something new. Sometimes I get answers, sometimes I have no answers.
I get many answers on holidays. Students are very curious about the U.S. and about western holidays.
In Korea, holidays are special for them. There are many holidays that are based around family and children. Festivals are held for things like rice, potatos, and other things that are important to them for daily living. There are also festivals for buddah and for thier past emporers and queens, and independence from China, Japan, and other oppressors.
Todays question was about pany's. The school has them in the garden pots already and so I thought to spur some imagination and creativity I would ask them if they could see the faces in pansy's. I posted a picture in the question box of a pansy, and then a picture from Alice in Wonderland of pansy's with faces.
We'll see if I get any answers today. !
Have a great day teachers.
Remember even on a bad teaching day, there is a jewel that comes out of it. It might be small, and it might not seem all that significant, but even the smallest diamond chip has value. I try to pull something out of my bad days, as well as to savior my good days.
Take care
Linda
Hi, I am Linda Lockwood, and I teach K-6th at Maeryu Elementary School. As I have been sharing my power-points and suggestions with other teachers in my area, I felt it necessary to put together a short paper to assist other teachers in GEPIK. So, Steven Barnhurst and I have sat down and compiled this little bit of writing to aid you in the teaching of your students.
Scenario:
You are teaching 3rd through 6th grade and your liking your job, but wait, there's something you need to know. There's these little guys wandering around; their short, and they say at most hi and hug you. They are the Kindergartener, 1st, and 2nd graders. What you didn't realize is that you’re about to be asked to teach them English.
“Wait - what? What do you mean I have to teach little people? It doesn't say I have to teach little people! I don't know anything about little people. Are you kidding? Really?”
Don't panic. First, it is important to realize that if you lay the groundwork when they’re little, teaching them English when their older will be a snap. These guys don't put their heads down on their desks and ignore you. By their very nature, they are at their prime for language learning. Remember what Noam Chomsky says about the language window; you’re in an advantageous place to be teaching them English.
If you aren't familiar with Noam Chomsky, roughly paraphrased, is that window in which we are able to learn other languages aside from our native language fluidly, is between the age of 0, when we're born, to the age of 12 to 13 at which point the window snaps shut and the ability to learn languages becomes more difficult. This is in part due to the fact that we've filtered out all the sounds that aren't native to our own language. With that said, here are a few tips to aid you in the little ones’ education.
· A Couple of Methods
o Over-Exaggeration
o Priming
· What to Teach
A Couple of Methods
Over-Exaggeration:
It’s important to remember that it is basic human nature to be attracted to energy. Movement and excitement are the things that catch our eyes and grab our attention. The same principle applies to teaching children, especially the younger ones. It helps to have had a few drama classes in your background, but if not, you can just what some YouTube videos of overly zealous people making asses of themselves. Its imperative to realize that over acting here is the key. The more up-beat and excited you are when they do things well and the more encouraging you are when they don't the more these little guys will want to learn from you.
For example, if the child draws an lowercase ‘L’ diagonally, but also draws it from top to bottom, praise him/her for doing the latter. Then, you should ask him/her, in a manner that makes it seem that you wish to see this amazing feat once again, to write the ‘L’ another time, then lay your finger on the paper to guide him/her, and therefore avoiding any discouragement and embarrassment. Another important aspect of over-exaggeration is body movement. When presenting the a bit of information, associate it with an overly flamboyant body movement that the children are able to repeat. When present the ‘L’ sound, simply associate it with a word, such as ‘lick,’ and pretend to be licking ice cream. Go ahead and feel free to share your ice cream with the kids by holding it out to them. They go nuts over the extra level of pretend interactivity.
Priming:
To get the Children ready to learning English, you must prime their minds. Go ahead and choose several topics that you will bring up before starting the lesson of the day. These topics should be always what you state off, and act as sort of a safe zone where the kids have a good grasp on the concepts. This will provide them with the initial success they need for encouragement and begin to bring the English vocabulary and grammar system to the forefront of their minds. Derivations of these topics should be slight and regular, as well.
For example, polite greetings, weather, and day of the week are all good primers. The class would look something like this:
Teacher: “Good morning, class.”
Students: “Good morning, teacher.”
Teacher: “How are you?”
Students: “I’m …., how are you?”
Teacher: “I’m ….., thank you for asking. How is the weather?”
And so on…….
The derivations of this topic can include “Good afternoon,” “Good day,” “How’s it going?” and so on. Make sure that they are only slight, thereby emphasizing success while helping children to generalize the knowledge.
In addition to this, priming not only includes preparing them for English, but also to the specific lesson. It is a good idea to start with the basic introductions from above, and then proceed to warm the students up to the lesson. Using the on going example, ‘L’ can be introduced by first holding a picture of or pointing to an ‘L’ and then having the entire class enthusiastically make the sound “LLLLLLLLLah! LALALALALA!” et cetera. In the ideas portion, I will also point out some excellent video resources for introducing letter concepts and so forth.
What to Teach
Ok, so you can get their attention and get them ready, but what are you going to teach them. Think about when you were in Kindergarten or first grade. What were you learning? There were songs, there was spelling, there was this thing called math, some kind of science, and social studies, there was PE, and, on the fun days, art and music. Obviously we're not going to teach them social studies, science or math. But we are going to be teaching counting, colors, letters, and words, and we're going to attach it to everyday life.
Looking at Linda’s Box of Magic:
What is the method I used, you ask ;)? It’s a challenge and if you haven't taught the little ones in a while (or never at all). All that knowledge, if you’re like me, is sitting in the back of the mind, and the renewed use of this information is like old, worn gears starting to move with that horrible screeching sound of rust coming loose. In the start, there was a little run of trial and error. The results I found were this:
· Draw pictures on the board and have them spell them, or guess what it was while I was drawing. Honestly? Lame.
· Flash cards? Lamer.
· Making 2nd graders do hand writing practice and play hangman? Boring.
Back to the drawing board! So I went and read articles, which smart thing to do by the way, go find articles and start reading. I advise you go and find some articles on preschool too. I say this because you have to remember that Korean age is different from the western idea of age. I was told a child of mine was 4, but really, she wasn't even out of pull-ups yet; she might have been just barely 3 in western age. Links to articles below.
Weather:
Teach the basics of weather that we say daily, incorporate temperature as well(cold, warm, hot, cold and freezing). Also use songs, like Itsy Bitsy Spider, because it has to do with weather and you can do the song movements to go with it. The kids will at first be clueless, use YouTube to find you a song version of itsy bitsy spider.
Fruits:
My next level was fruit and veggies and in this one, I added colors. Fruit and vegetables lend themselves to colors. It’s easy to teach the name of a fruit or vegetable and add in the color as well. I created a chant. It’s easy.
Banana, Banana, nananana. (clap)
Grape, grape, grape (act like your squishing a grape with your hands)
Apple, Apple, Apple (Act like your eating an apple)
Watermelon, Watermelon, too, too, too,
(Act like your eating it and spitting the seeds)
Lemon (Make a lemon sour face and say "Lemon")
Clothes:
From there, I moved on to clothes. Clothes are colorful, and you can teach basic things that you wear every day. If your power point doesn't work, because the computer isn't working, you can use yourself as a human flash card. Also, check beavers.com, which has a song that work for clothing.
Transportation:
Ok, so you've seen the weather outside, you've eaten and gotten dressed, its time for school. How are we going to get there? Time for transportation! Remember the song? “The Wheels on the Bus”? They think the songs are just as fun as we did when we were kids. As adults, we tend to think these songs are silly and trite, but to kids, these songs are still timeless. I covered everything from planes, trains and automobiles, to transportation like buses subways, and taxi's to working vehicles like fire trucks, garbage trucks and police cars. Moving on from there I linked to people who help you. You can link transportation in, like fire trucks and fire fighters, police car and policeman, et cetera.
While writing this, I consulted a fellow teacher and here's something that is helpful to
add to the mix of teaching!
Looking at Steven’s Sack of Wonder:
Steven had this to say :
My friends, I encourage to not work too hard. Its easy to find things that others have already made (resources listed below) to aid you in teaching ESL. I love to incorporate podcasts, YouTube, interactive online or ppt games, and printable board games in my lessons. Because there is no set curriculum for these groups, it is important to teach them what they can use immediately and what they will need to know before reaching the 3rd grade.
I focus on sentence structure and phonics with these groups. For example with my kinders, I teach the alphabet from A to Z. When I get to a letter, such as ‘L,’ I teach the sound, how to write, and a few words high frequency words that start with it. Then incorporate a podcast (Sesame Street).
A note about phonics and teaching A B C's and 1 2 3's :
When your teaching things about weather, food, clothes, or what ever you chose to
teach. Remember to work phonics into the lesson.
If your lucky enough to have your Kinders for more than 20 minutes. I only get them for
that short amount of time so I can't stress phonics as much as I would like to. However
you can work beginning writing into the program. Letter writing, phonics of each sound of the letter and you can work Dolce sight words into the mix.
Dolce sight words:
If you don't know what they are, are words that do not follow the rules of phontic
structure. You can't sound them out. Children have to learn them based on sight and
repeat. The word “are” for expample. If it followed the phonetic structure, the “a” would say its name “a”, but instead says “r”.
Writing and Phonics:
If you can put writing and phonics into your program do so! The earlier you do it, the
better the kids will be speaking and writing when they get into the curriculum in
3rd grade. You can also base your Kindergarten through 2nd grade lesson plan curriculum you create on the written curriculum of the 3rd through 6th grade. I can't express enough
the earlier you expose the younger children to language, the easier it will be later.
A final note from Linda and Steven,
Just remember to breath in the new experience and do not panic. There is always room
for growth as an educator. Just tell yourself, “Little people are not scary! After all! We
were all once a little person too!” If you have never taught or have spent your time
teaching middle or high school students, little kids can be daunting.
Our last piece of advice is break up your time with them. 5 to 10 minutes per activity.
Make up games to give them “wiggle” time. 2 minutes of physical wiggling games, is
worth 30 minutes of teaching. Play with your kids. You'll create good repore with them and they will want to work harder for you!
If you have any more questions or need of resources, please by all means drop a comment in the box below, and I will be happy to answer your questions.
I wish you good luck in your new endeavor of teaching littles!
Key Phrase! Have FUN and your students will learn with you!
Linda and Steven
Here is a short list of links of resources we have been using to teach K-2nd grade.
This site is very useful for making your own work sheets, and helping with your lesson plans, it also has traceables for your beginning writers.
This site is great for using tie-ins for your K-2nd kids. It will break up your lessons too, and that is helpful when you see kids losing interest. Doing a craft tie-in breaks up the lesson and creates hands on English learning.
This is an article I strongly recommend you read. Its long but it will give you a solid base from which to work with and grow as an educator. I read it after I was asked to teach K-2 and had not done so well the first couple of weeks. It changed how I was teaching them and helped me gain perspective. There's always room for growth as a teacher.
4.) Flash Duck http://www.flashduck.co.kr/
Flash duck is a great site for creating and making work sheets and workbooks for your little ones. It has a lot of tracable worksheets, and fill in the blank. However, this is a site that is not free. Your co-teacher will have to help you sign up for this site, but it is worth the membership and will save you a lot of headache in trying to find materials. It’s a site worth having for little ones as well as for your after school program.
